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Continued on page three...

What if Queen Elizabeth was an imposter in drag?

Thats a central premise in Steve Berrys latest book, The Kings Deception,whichmixes Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and terrorists in an international adventure of contemporary

political intrigue and Tudor treachery.

In a June 7, 2013 article in the Daily Mail (excerpted below), Christopher Stevens, notes that Mr.Berrys interest in the subject began after a chance question about mysteries in the area during a tour

of Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England. He began researching it and to his surprise and delightuncovered many hints and references to it in books and ancient manuscripts.

The intrigue began on an autumn morning 470 years ago, when panic sweptthrough a little group of courtiers in a manor house in the Cotswold village of Bis-

ley in Gloucestershire. The king, Henry VIII, was due at any hour. He was travel-

ling from London, in great discomfort - for the 52-year-old monarch was grosslyoverweight and crippled by festering sores - to visit his daughter, Elizabeth. Theyoung princess had been sent there that summer from the capital to avoid an outbreakof plague. But she had fallen sick with a fever and, the night before the kings arri-val, his favorite daughter, the only child of his marriage to Anne Boleyn, was dan-gerously ill. In the morning, Elizabeth lay dead.

Elizabeths governess, Lady Kat Ashley, and her guardian, Thomas Parry, had good reason to fear tellingthe king. It would cost them their lives. Four of Henrys children had died in infancy. The ten-year-old

Elizabeth was Tudor Englands most valuable child in many ways. She could surely be married to aFrench or Spanish prince to seal an international alliance-and her own children would secure the Tudor

dynasty Henry so desperately craved. Now she was dead, and when the king discovered it, Parry and

Lady Ashley would surely be executed. Their sole duty had been to keep the princess safe: failurewas treason. The penalty would not even be beheading, but death by the most gruesome torture

imaginable.

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We are ready to roll out our new Fall/Winter Wine List (see below). Manythanks to those who participated in the wine tastings and offered their opinionsand suggestions to the Food & Beverage Committee. Weve kept some of themost popular wines in place and added a nice variety of new reds and whites.Stop by and give them a try.

Sparkling Wines & Champagne

Freixenet Cordon Negro BrutKorbel Extra DryVeuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut

Red Wines

Pinot Noir, Silver Ridge

CALIFORNIA

Bright aromas and flavors of cherry, ripeblueberries and dark currant with earthynotes.

Zinfandel, Rancho ZabacoCALIFORNIAJammy blackberry and spicy black pep-per, caramelized flavors, toasty notes

Malbec, Concha y Toro Xplorador

AREGENTINAScents of blackberries and a hint ofviolets. Soft and chocolaty on the palate

Cabernet Sauvignon, Dreaming Tree

CALIFORNIAClassic aromas of blackberry, cherry andherbal notes wrapped by toasted vanilla

Chianti, DaVinciITALYJammy flavors of ripe plums, cherries

Shiraz Thomas Hyland, Penfolds

AUSTRALIAJuicy blackberry fruit aromas and fla-vors, chocolaty, ripe tannins and savory

oak nuances.

Red Blend, ApothicCALIFORNIALush blend of Syrah, Zinfandel andMerlot, black cherries with a hint of va-nilla, chocolate and mocha

Cotes-du-Rhone Belleruche

M. Chapoutier, FRANCEFresh notes of black currant and Morellocherry; full, silky persistent finish

White Wines

Chardonnay, Penfolds Koonunga Hill

AUSTRALIAScents of lemon cream and toasted oak;juicy flavors of peach and pineapple;supple acidity

Dry Riesling, Chateau St. MichelleWASHINGTONFlavors of white peach and mandarinorange, with a clean finish

Pinot Grigio, Goose WatchNEW YORKBright and rich, yielding crisp flavors oflimes apricots and minerals

Sauvignon Blanc, StarbouroughNEW ZEALANDBright, nicely balances fruit and citrusflavors with green, vegetal flavors

White Blend Conundrum

CALIFORNIAArray of ripe, concentrated flavors -pear, honey fig, vanilla, peach and nec-tarine and a dash of spice

Pinot Grigio, CavitITALYDry, light and crisp with appealing fruitflavors and refreshing scents

Albarino, Martin Codax

SPAINGraceful on the palate, with citrus andgreen apple flavors and a touch of lime.The key aromatic and flavor notes arepear, passion fruit, and apple.

White Zinfandel, Beringer

CALIFORNIAFresh red berry, citrus and melon aromasand flavors with subtle hints of nutmegand clove

TN3 returns the University Club onFriday, October 4th for their signa-ture instrumental rock and roots inthe Grille Room from 8-10 p.m. Alacarte dinner will be available from 5-9 p.m. Please let us know if you willbe joining us for dinner! Call theclub at 518-463-1151.

First Friday performances at theClub are free courtesy of the U ClubFoundation. First Friday brings to-gether an entire city for the arts, withthe goal of introducing a wider audi-ence to the unique quality and vital-ity of artists and venues in Albany.

Murders. Kidnappings. Untimelydeaths. They are all a part of the his-tory of Albanys Hudson/Park andCenter Square neighborhoods. Backby popular demand, and led by boardmember Tim Varney, the HauntedHistory Walking Tour explores boththe sinister deeds and the handsomearchitecture of a bygone era in thearea bound by Washington Avenue,Willett Street, Madison Avenue andSwan streets (round trip 1.5 miles).

The narrative is not suitable for chil-dren or the faint of heart. Tickets$15-Checks payable to the Univer-sity Club Foundation. Proceeds to besplit with Historic Albany Founda-tion. Tours leave the Club at 6 p.m.

Tours are limited to 20 people andreservations are required. Call His-toric Albany at 518-465-0876 to re-serve your spot. They fill up fast!

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vation. History Matters supports thecost of their travel and he accepts noappearance fee.

This very special event will mark thestart of the public phase of the Uni-versity Clubs "Raise the Roof"capital campaign to repair and pre-serve our National Register-listedclubhouse. The goal of the campaignis $150,000.

We are extremely grateful that SteveBerry, through History Matters, isleveraging the popularity of hisbooks, and his obvious love of his-tory, to foster support for our project.

We hope you will be able to join usfor this very special and historicevent.

As noted on page one, there are anumber of levels of participationavailable. Honorary Committeemembers and major donors will beinvited to an intimate chat and spar-kling wine toast with Steve and LizBerry with a very special array oftasty hors doeuvres. Honorary Com-mittee tickets are $100. In addition$75 tickets will be available for aMeet the Author reception that willinclude open bar and light fare. And,$30 tickets will be available for cashbar and cheese and fruit and the 7:00p.m. book talk and signing. All ticketlevels will include the talk and booksigning. Proceeds will benefit theFoundation.

Copies of Mr. Berrys book will beavailable for purchase courtesy ofThe Book House in StuyvesantPlaza.

RESERVATIONS ARE

NECESSARY

Please call the Club at 518-463-1151.You may also make reservations atwww.UniversityClubAlbany.com,where you can pay using Pay Pal.Checks should be made payable tothe University Club of Albany Foun-dation.

3

Elizabeth continued from page one...

Their only chance of concealing thetruth, and perhaps buying themselvesa few days to flee the country, was totrick the king. Their first thoughtwas to find a village girl and dressher up in the princesss robe, with amantle, to fool the king. Bisley was atiny hamlet, however, and there wereno female children of Elizabethsage. But there was a boy, from a lo-cal family called Neville. He was agawky, angular youth a year or soyounger than Elizabeth, who hadbeen the princesss companion andfellow pupil for the past few weeks.And with no time to look furtherafield for a stand-in, Parry and LadyAshley took the desperate measureof forcing the boy to don his dead

friends clothes.

Remarkably, the deception worked.Henry saw his daughter rarely, andwas used to hearing her say noth-ing. The princess was known as agentle, studious child, and painfullyshy -not a girl to speak up in front ofthe king who had beheaded hermother.

So when she stood at Bisley

manor, in the dimness of an oak-beamed hall lit by latticed windows,it was not so surprising that the kingfailed to realize he was being duped.He had no reason to suspect hisdaughter had been ill, after all, andhe himself was tired and in pain. Butafter he left later that afternoon, thehoax began in earnest. Parry andLady Ashley realised that if theyever admitted what they had done,the kings fury would be boundless.

They might get out of the country tosafety, but their families wouldsurely be killed. On the other hand,few people had known the princesswell enough to be certain of recog-nizing her. This boy had alreadyfooled the king, the most importantdeception.

The tale about the Bisley boy wereenough to convince the 19th-century

writer Bram Stoker, most famous asthe author of Dracula. He includedthe story as the final chapter inhis book, Imposters. Stoker hadheard persistent stories that a coffinhad been discovered by a clergymanat Bisley during the early 1800s,with the skeleton of a girl dressed inTudor finery, even with gems sewnonto the cloth. It seemed to chimewith local legends persisting for cen-turies that an English monarch hadbeen, in reality, a child from the vil-lage.

Above all, Stoker believed, it wasthe most plausible explanation whyElizabeth, who succeeded to thethrone in 1558, aged 25, never mar-ried. Her most urgent duty, as thelast of the Tudor line, was to providean heir yet she described herselfas a Virgin Queen, and vowed shewould never take a husband, even ifthe Emperor of Spain offered her analliance with his oldest son. Shestayed true to that oath, provoking awar which almost ended in Spanishinvasion in 1588. But Elizabeth didnot waver and never even took anacknowledged lover. She was fondof proclaiming that she was more ofa king than a queen. I have the heartof a man, not a woman, and I am notafraid of anything, she declared. Hermost famous speech, to her troops atTilbury as the Spanish Armada ap-proached, was cheered to the skies asshe roared: I have the heart andstomach of a king, and of a king ofEngland, too.

We hope you will join the UniversityClub of Albany Foundation on Fri-day, October 25th to hear all about

this fascinating theory and Berryslatest book, The Kings Deception.

Steve and his wife, Elizabeth, havetraveled the world researching andpromoting Steve's many books, andsaw the effects of dwindling fundsdedicated to preserving our heritage.They launched History Matters toassist communities around the worldwith historic restoration and preser-

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SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

OCTOBER 1Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ 4:15 PMMixed Bowling 7 PM

2 Lunch 3 Lunch 4 Lunch & Dinner

TN3Grille 8-10 PM

5

Club Closed

6

Club Closed

7Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ NoonBowling 7 PM

8Lunch & Dinner

9 Lunch

Albany RoundtableSpeaker Noon

10 Lunch 11 Lunch & Dinner 12

Club Closed

13

Club Closed

14

CLUB CLOSEDCOLUMBUS DAY

15Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ 4:15 PM

Mixed Bowling 7 PM

16 Lunch 17 Lunch 18 Lunch & Dinner 19

Club Closed

20

Club Closed

21Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ NoonBowling 7 PM

22Lunch & Dinner

23 Lunch 24 Lunch 25 Lunch & Dinner

Evening with SteveBerry 6-8 p.m.

26

Club Closed

27

Club Closed

28Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ NoonBowling 7 PM

29Lunch & Dinner

YOGA @ 4:15 PMMixed Bowling 7 PM

30 Lunch 31 Lunch NOV. 1Lunch & Dinner

Russ Kennedy inGrille Room 8-10 pm

2

Club Closed

Officers: Colleen Ryan, PresidentNate Maloney, Vice PresidentTim Varney, SecretaryMatt Badalucco, TreasurerWarren Abriel, Past President

Directors: Mark BrognaKevin ClancyMeredith HelgersonJeffrey HillDavid Hochfelder

Geoffrey HoderathAmy Hines-KramerKen McCauleyFrank Nemeth