Overlord : The Life and Reign of Henry VIII

Henry VIII is one of history’s best-known characters and England’s most famous monarch. Drawing on archival sources from across the British Isles, Steven Veerapen shows how Henry created an image of himself as a law-abiding and benevolent emperor. By fair means and foul he did all he could to realize a hitherto overlooked British dream.

The true story behind the infamous life of Henry VIII. Henry VIII is England’s most famous king. He is simultaneously the virtuous Renaissance prince gone wrong, the psychopathic, paranoid tyrant, the religious disruptor and the much-married glutton. This groundbreaking study of Henry’s life examines and destroys many of the long-repeated myths about this complex monarch: he was not particularly gluttonous, not particularly prudish, and not particularly messy in his religious changes. Nor did he see himself as simply King of England. Drawing on archival sources from across the British Isles, Steven Veerapen reveals how Henry fashioned an image of himself as a law-abiding and benevolent emperor who dreamed of uniting England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and swathes of France under Tudor rule. Yet the image was false and the dream a nightmare for his queens, his ministers and many of his subjects. This new portrait shows Henry for what he really was: a self-aggrandising actor who, by fair means and foul – murder plots, marriage negotiations and military ventures – did all he could to realise his imperial fantasy. 'Brilliant, provocative and engaging ... A genuinely fresh biography of England’s most famous king' - Gareth Russell, author of Queen James