The Private Life Of Henry VIII: A Biography Of His Six Queens

Few monarchs have had a private life so public as Henry VIII’s. History and contemporary gossip have busied themselves with the stories of his wives. As a result he became not only the first sovereign to be looked on by succeeding generations as a person rather than just a name but also as an unrepentant womanizer.In this new biography, the author shows that this is far from being the whole truth. For almost 20 years, or half his reign, Henry led an almost untroubled married life with his first wife, and foreign diplomats, versed in the ways of continental royalty, found the English court almost Puritan by comparison. When Henry’s habit changed, his private affairs were so overlaid by matters of state policy that any judgment attributing romance or lust to his behaviour is suspect.