I enjoyed this book. Henry The Eighth certainly had his faults, but things are very rarely black and white.
Yes, he was a terrible husband, and not much of a father, but everything he did was because of his desperate need for a son and heir. Henry did not want to see England plunged in to another 'Wars Of The Roses' whereby cousins fought each other for decades in an attempt to sit on the English throne. Does this excuse the terrible decisions that he made? Of course not, but to label him as a monster is too simplistic. I have studied the Tudors for decades, and I happen to believe that Anne Boleyn (much as I adore her), WAS guilty of SOME of the crimes levelled against her. I won't dwell too much on Anne Boleyn or any of Henry's wives, because that is another book altogether. Alison Weir has attempted to portray these tumultuous events of Henry's reign from HIS viewpoint, and I think that she has done a good job in doing so. The reason I have not given this book 5 stars is because I think that it is overly long, and Ms. Weir often writes of things that are not particularly relevant to Henry's story. I also do not believe that Henry did not have sex for seven years once he began wooing Anne Boleyn. Yes, he was besotted, yes he was deeply in love, but come on now........SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT SEX? A man in the prime of his life? No way. I suspect that Henry and Anne were intimate long before that, or IF Anne was holding him off till she got the wedding ring, then he was almost certainly 'getting his needs met' with the many women at court who were willing to 'be nice' to their King. Another thing that I disagree with with Ms. Weir on is Anne Boleyn's date of birth being 1501. I personally believe that Anne was born in 1507, but again, that is another story and another subject. Henry was a very complex Man with a great many facets to his character. To those he loved, he was kind, extremely generous, attentive, considerate and loyal.......but woe betide those people who got on the wrong side of him. What we know for sure is that many of the people that Henry loved and trusted ended up betraying him. Small wonder that he became so paranoid and bitter in his later years. I recently read a 'book' whereby the 'author' labelled Henry as a 'sociopath with Multiple Personality Disorder'. Is there such a thing?????? Naturally I consigned this 'book' to the bin, with a determination that NEVER again will I read anything by this completely inept and incompetent author.
Alison Weir gives us a more rounded and PROFESSIONAL view of Henry, in which she does not attempt to sugarcoat the truly awful things he did, but neither does she go to the other extreme by branding him as a complete monster with no redeeming qualities at all. We must look at Henry and his reign from the context of his time. We are talking about a man who lived half a millennium ago, and who can not possibly be judged by the standards of the 21st century mind-set. Henry's opinions of women being the 'weaker' sex' and 'feeble in mind' was the attitude that ALL Men had towards women back then, be they a KIng or a Peasant. If Henry was a misogynist, then so was every other Man that lived during that time. I suspect that in another half a millennium, people will STILL be fascinated by Henry The Eighth and his six wives. It is a subject that will never go out of fashion. I recommend this book. I very much enjoyed it.
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