The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

The intriguing family drama of England's most powerful king and his battle to perpetuate the Tudor dynasty
A tale of six marriages, adultery, execution, and the most notorious divorce case of the sixteenth century
A skilfully woven narrative based on original documents, personal letters, eyewitness accounts, and the handwritten letters of the four children themselves
Shows how the childhood experiences and relationships of Henry's four children shaped their later lives - and the destiny of a nation

The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

Description

Behind the façade of politics and pageantry at the Tudor court, there was a family drama.

Nothing drove Henry VIII, England's wealthiest and most powerful king, more than producing a legitimate male heir and so perpetuating his dynasty. To that end, he married six wives, became the subject of the most notorious divorce case of the sixteenth century, and broke with the pope, all in an age of international competition and warfare, social unrest and growing religious intolerance and discord.

Henry fathered four living children, each by a different mother. Their interrelationships were often scarred by jealously, mutual distrust, sibling rivalry, even hatred. Possessed of quick wits and strong wills, their characters were defined partly by the educations they received, and partly by events over which they had no control.

Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, although recognized as the king's son, could never forget his illegitimacy. Edward died while still in his teens, desperately plotting to exclude his half-sisters from the throne. Mary's world was shattered by her mother's divorce and her own unhappy marriage. Elizabeth was the most successful, but also the luckiest. Even so, she lived with the knowledge that her father had ordered her mother's execution, was often in fear of her own life, and could never marry the one man she truly loved.

Henry's children idolized their father, even if they differed radically over how to perpetuate his legacy. To tell their stories, John Guy returns to the archives, drawing on a vast array of contemporary records, personal letters, and first-hand accounts.

The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

Author Information

John Guy, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge

John Guy is a Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge. His books include the bestselling Tudor England, The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction, A Daughter's Love: Thomas and Margaret More, Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim: A 900-Year-Old Story Retold and 'My Heart is My Own': the Life of Mary Queen of Scots, which won the Whitbread Biography Award, Marsh Biography Award, and was a Finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle (USA) Biography/Autobiography of the Year Award. A regular contributor to BBC radio and television, he also writes and reviews for national newspapers and magazines, including The Sunday Times and The Literary Review.

The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

Reviews and Awards

John Guy is that rare cross: a scholar who also writes for the popular market. It shows here, as he sketches with verve and fluency the education and the beliefs, as well as, briefly, the reigns of these last Tudors. But where he excels is in illuminating the relationships between the squabbling siblings. They say if you've got lemons, make lemonade, and in Guy's hands the story of The Children of Henry VIII is fresh, sparkling and sharp. - Literary Review

[A] smart, lively little book enriched by the reliable pleasure of Guy's prose, his pen dancing as deftly about his compact historical portraits as Horenbout's brush once did over his stunning miniatures. - The Sunday Times

Guy, whose prose is commendably readable, has a real gift for bringing Tudor history to life for 21st-century readers... - The Independent on Sunday

This may be a well known story, but Guy presents it with typical narrative flair and attention to detail, producing a book with obvious appeal. - BBC History Magazine

The stunning psychodrama that was the Tudor court is brilliantly evoked in John Guy's little book - The Lady

Well-written, well-researched and a lot of fun. - The Glasgow Herald

The Children of Henry VIII

John Guy

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On 25 February 1603, Queen Elizabeth I' s cousin and friend - Katherine Howard, the countess of Nottingham - died. Although Katherine had been ill for some time, her death hit the queen very hard; indeed one observer wrote that she took the loss 'muche more heavyly' than did Katherine's husband, the Charles, Earl of Nottingham. The queen's grief was unsurprising, for Elizabeth had known the countess longer than almost anyone else alive at that time.

Posted on March 23, 2015

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