He is the notorious Tudor monarch who married six times, divorcing and executing wives in his relentless quest for a male heir. But we may have got Henry VIII wrong all these years, according to a leading historian.
Tracy Borman has discovered a fragile underside to the most famous and feared king in English history – through some of the men in his life. She has focused on the “servants, barbers, physicians, fools and other lesser-known characters whose job it was to attend to Henry’s every need”, many of whom have been mere footnotes in the history books until now.
She told the Observer that while Henry VIII has gone down in history “as a fairly one-dimensional, gregarious king-turned-monster who sent two wives to the block and divorced two others”, evidence relating to lesser characters in his life reveals a “vulnerable, insecure and loyal” man that goes beyond the tyrant of legend. That insecurity may partly explain why he behaved so monstrously, she concludes.
“A study of Henry through the eyes of the men, rather than the wives, has never been done before and offers a genuinely new perspective,” she said.
Our obsession with his six wives has led us to neglect a whole other side, suggests Borman. While “not painting him as a saint in any way”, she argues that he “just doesn’t deserve the caricature we’ve come to know and despise”. She said: “Henry was described by one man who he let into his confidence as being the most timid man you could meet. It blew me away because I’ve studied the Tudors for years, Henry in particular. I thought I knew him, but it was like meeting him for the first time when I looked at him through the eyes of his men.”
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