Young Henry
The Rise of Henry VIII
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
England's most famous and ruthless king...
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING about YOUNG HENRY:
'Perfect' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Excellent' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Well researched, unbiased - very good indeed!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
When Henry became the unexpected heir to the precarious Tudor throne he inherited both his brother's wardrobe and his wife, the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. He became king in April 1509 with many personality traits inherited from his father - the love of magnificence, the rituals of kingship, the excitement of hunting and gambling and the construction of grand new palaces.
After those early glory days of feasting, fun and frolic, the continuing lack of a male Tudor heir runs like a thin line of poison through Henry's reign. After he fell in love with Anne Boleyn, he gambled everything on her providing him with a son and heir. From that day forward everything changed.
Based on contemporary accounts, Young Henry provides a compelling vision of the splendours, intrigues and tragedies of the royal court, presided over by the ruthless and insecure Henry VIII.
'Explains a lot about the man who became Henry VIII...Robert Hutchinson vividly shows us the monster in the making and teaches us to feel a modicum of pity for his plight' DAILY MAIL
'Brings the future king's personality vividly to life, with all of its brilliantly contrasting and capricious elements' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE
'Shines a light on Henry's youth, and details the people and the events that drove him....it is good to be reminded of the evils of absolute monarchy' TRIBUNE
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although Hutchinson, a British journalist and former publishing director, points out that Henry VIII was not the "great libertine with an insatiable debauched appetite that some fiction writers would have us believe," his fifth book on Tudor England (Elizabeth's Spy Master) should still please those fans of the salacious television series The Tudors who would like to set Henry's early reign in its proper factual context. Hutchinson delves into the forces that shaped Henry VIII from his birth in 1491 to the birth in 1533 of his daughter Elizabeth. Hutchinson is admirable at pulling out amusing tidbits from the primary sources he obviously plumbed to write this breezy account of how Henry's cloistered youth influenced his public role as monarch. Hutchinson points out that the early Tudors realized their hold upon the English throne would always be precarious, and thus ruthlessly eliminated rival claimants and were obsessed about producing enough male heirs to ensure the succession. While often enlivened by Hutchinson's irreverent commentary, the book bogs down in detail at times, and skips over pertinent information at others. 16 pages of color photos.
