Behind the Palace Doors

ALSO BY MICHAEL FARQUHAR

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories
of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings
,
Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors

A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing
True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers
and Others Who Let Freedom Swing

A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers
,
and the Extraordinary True Stories of History’s
Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes, and Frauds

A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans: Pirates
,
Skinflints, Patriots, and Other Colorful Characters
Stuck in the Footnotes of History

House of Tudor

HENRY VII

(
reigned 1485–1509
)

HENRY VIII

(
r. 1509–1547
)

EDWARD VI

(
r. 1547–1553
)

MARY I

(
r. 1553–1558
)

ELIZABETH I

(
r. 1558–1603
)

The body count among England’s elite was staggering: Three kings, a Prince of Wales, and numerous royal dukes were either murdered or executed, or died in battle during the epic struggle at the end of the fifteenth century that became known as the Wars of the Roses. It was essentially a vicious family feud between two branches of the Plantagenet royal dynasty—York (represented by the white rose) and Lancaster (represented in red)—over who would rule the island kingdom.

Emerging from this murderous clash was a relatively obscure member of the House of Lancaster, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who, in 1485, defeated the Yorkist King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, seized the crown, and established the House of Tudor as Henry VII.

Although the new king would be always be paranoid about potential rivals—and with good reason, as several imposters popped up during his reign and gained support as supposed members of the defeated House of York—the Wars of the Roses were effectively over. The restoration of peace and stability was symbolized by the marriage of Henry VII to Elizabeth of York, heiress of the rival royal house, and the birth of two sons secured the new dynasty. Only one, though, Prince Henry, was left to carry on the Tudor line after the sudden death of fifteen-year-old Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1502.

Henry succeeded his father in 1509, two months before he turned eighteen. The late king had left a secure realm and a full treasury for his son, but the remote and suspicious monarch was never popular with his people, mostly because of his punishing tax policies. The accession of Henry VIII was therefore greeted with wild acclaim. “This day is the end of our slavery, the fount of our liberty,” rhapsodized Thomas More; “the end of sadness, the beginning of joy.”

Although More would one day join the scores of Henry’s beheaded associates, his enthusiasm for the new reign was well founded. The new monarch embodied youthful vigor and hope for the future. A true Renaissance prince, he was athletic and strong, superbly educated, an able musician, and a gifted composer. Furthermore, Henry VIII looked like a model king.

“His Majesty is the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on,” reported the Venetian ambassador in 1515; “above the usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair and bright, with auburn hair combed straight and short, in the French fashion, his throat being rather long and thick.… He speaks French, English, and Latin, and a little Italian, plays well on the lute and harpsichord, sings from book at sight, draws the bow with greater strength than any man in England, and jousts marvelously. Believe me, he is in every respect a most accomplished Prince.”

Almost as soon as he became king, Henry married his late brother’s widow, Katherine of Aragon, who had been kept isolated and in near poverty by Henry VII after Arthur’s death. It was as much an act of chivalry as it was of statecraft for the young monarch to rescue the sad princess and make her his queen. He was, he declared, “Sir Loyal Heart,” and so he would be—until Katherine failed to give him a son, and he fell in love with a black-eyed temptress by the name of Anne Boleyn.