Praise for 'Henry: Virtuous Prince': This book is Starkey's masterpiece. It combines the populist touch with deep insights of scholarship.' John Guy, Sunday Times 'Excellent...the really crucial events in the history of the British Monarchy since the Middle Ages are assessed with authority, wisdom and wit...This is Starkey at his fluent and entertaining best.' Sunday Telegraph 'It is brilliant, beady-eyed history, and every page of it has an intimate fascination...Starkey has eschewed the easy wisdom of hindsight...his strength is that he questions everything...he seeks fresh evidence...his writing is uncluttered and conversational, and he cuts through the back-story...with grace, clarity and wit...accessible and entertaining' Guardian 'Starkey has the mind of an historian but the eye of a court painter.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times
How and why did Henry VIII turn from a glamorous Renaissance prince into this country's greatest tyrant? David Starkey's magesterial concluding biography, published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry's accession to the throne, tells this remarkable, bloodthirsty story. As a young prince, Henry distinguished himself as an accomplished author, poet and musician. A true man of the Renaissance, his shift in character to an all-powerful tyrant is one of the most vivid and significant aspects of British history. Frustrated by the lack of a male heir, King Henry's impatience with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, only increased after he became infatuated with the beautiful Anne Boleyn. Anne's refusal to become his mistress led to a divorce that set the course of British history for the next 500 years, and catapulted the King to the height of his personal power. Forbidden by the Church to have his marriage annulled, Henry ordered his lifelong friend, Thomas More, to implement his wishes on divorce and religion. More could not accept his old friend's denial of the Pope's authority, and was eventually allowed to resign. In 1535, Henry had him executed for high treason.The most powerful monarch to have ever ruled Britain, Henry VIII soon established the Church of England giving himself complete control over Church and State.
Yet behind this image was a man deeply traumatised by a bitter divorce. With so many of those closest to him siding with Catherine, his personal life had begun to spiral out of control.