The Lion in Winter

Summary

Henry has just turned fifty, an age at when in his time, men were either old or dead. Not Henry. Though arthritis comes occasionally and new battle wounds do not heal the way the old ones did, he is still very nearly all he ever was.

Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England’s castle in Chinon, the play opens with the arrival of Henry’s wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173. The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, and their Christmas Court guest, the King of France, Philip II Augustus.