Have we got King Henry VIII all wrong? Famous womaniser was a 'vulnerable, insecure and loyal' king, says expert

  • New book suggests autocratic monarch was not as fearsome as suggested
  • Historian Tracy Borman has found letters from those who served Henry VIII
  • Evidence shows Henry VIII looked kindly on his jester and  'lavished care' on him
  • He bequeathed a generous legacy to Thomas Cawarden, his master of revels  
  • Borman: 'He doesn't deserve the caricature we've come to know and despise' 

By Shari Miller For Mailonline

Published: 04:40 EDT, 21 October 2018 | Updated: 04:40 EDT, 21 October 2018

Fearsome or fearful? A new book reveals the lesser-known side of King Henry VIII

Fearsome or fearful? A new book reveals the lesser-known side of King Henry VIII

He has been known for centuries as one of England's most fearsome monarchs, a single-minded autocrat, who had no qualms about divorcing two of his wives and beheading another two.

But Henry VIII also had a side that was 'vulnerable, insecure and loyal', according to a new book about the infamous Tudor monarch.  

Using documents from those who served the king, including his servants, barbers, physicians and jesters, leading historian Tracy Borman has uncovered a wealth of evidence suggesting that Henry VIII was far from the boorish tyrant history has made him out to be.

Speaking to Dalya Alberge for The Observer, Borman, who is joint chief curator for Historic Royal Palaces, said: '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.'

For example, among the household accounts and letters found in the National Archives, British Library and private collections, Borman discovered that Henry looked kindly on his jester, Will Somer, who likely had learning difficulties and gifted him with clothing.

Borman, whose research features in her new book, Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him, explained: 'Household accounts show he was appointed a 'keeper' to look after him, and Henry lavished unstinting care and attention upon him for the rest of his life.'

Historian Tracy Borman has uncovered documents from servants who saw the 'real' Henry

Historian Tracy Borman has uncovered documents from servants who saw the 'real' Henry

Henry, who had six wives, was also found to have bequeathed a generous legacy to Thomas Cawarden, his master of revels, while other letters from courtiers disclose that the king grew close to his physician, William Butts.

This friendship was much to the courtiers' chagrin, as Butts was known to hold radical views on religion and may well have influenced Henry's views on splitting from the Catholic church. 

Divorced: Catherine of Aragon
Beheaded: Anne Boleyn

Divorced and beheaded: Henry VIII's wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn

Died: Jane Seymour
Divorced: Anne of Cleves

Died and divorced: Henry's third and fourth wives, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves

Beheaded: Catherine Howard
Survived: Catherine Parr

Beheaded and survived: Henry's fifth and sixth wives, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr

Borman concludes that while Henry was still in many ways deserving of being called autocratic and fearsome, he 'just doesn't deserve the caricature we've come to know and despise'.

Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him: The Secret History Behind The Tudor Throne by Tracy Borman, is published next month by Hodder & Stoughton.  

WHO WAS HENRY VIII? 

Henry VIII was a domineering king

Henry VIII was a domineering king who broke with Rome and changed the course of England's cultural history.

His predecessors had tried and failed to conquer France, and even Henry himself mounted two expensive, yet unsuccessful attempts.

He was known to self-medicate, even going as far as making his own medicines. 

A record on a prescription for ulcer treatment in the British Museum reads: 'An Oyntment devised by the kinges Majesty made at Westminster, and devised at Grenwich to take away inflammations and to cease payne and heale ulcers called gray plaster'.

The king was also a musician and composer, owning 78 flutes, 78 recorders, five bagpipes, and has since had his songs covered by Jethro Tull.

He died while heavily in debt, after having such a lavish lifestyle that he spent far, far more than taxes would earn him.

He possessed the largest tapestry collection ever documented, and 6,500 pistols.

While most portraits show him as a slight man, he was in later life very large, with one observer calling him 'an absolute monster'.


 

 

 

 

 

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King Henry VIII was a 'vulnerable, insecure and loyal' king, says expert

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