My current work is a doctoral dissertation focusing on the mother-daughter and step-mother-daughter relationships in the early modern English monarchy. This time period has fascinated us for centuries and offered rich fodder for media and literary endeavours. What makes this time period so unique? The women who defined it. We know their names, and we know their stories. We know that their reigns were defined by their mothers, and yet we have not examined the influence of that relationship. This research aims to begin to fill that gap.