An interesting view of Henry's life and his men - sorts them all out very well. While describing the men's relationships and their historical context, I also learned more about the political and household setup during Henry's reign. Neither too dry nor too descriptive and no creating fictions of character/personalities - the portraits drawn are supported with extensive resources.

This book is an amazingly well-researched book and a fascinating look at Henry VIII! While I have read several books regarding him, most of what I previously read was focused on Henry VIII and his wives. This book moves the center a bit to look at the men that served, advised and manipulated him. Because I don’t have a strong background in this history the book was a bit of a stretch for me. What I learned from reading the book, however, made it so worth the time it took to carefully read and reflect on it! It is for that very reason I confidently and enthusiastically recommend this book to others, who like me, have an interest or curiosity about Henry VIII, but not necessarily a strong prior knowledge of this time period. I was honored to receive a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher, Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest review.

‘The retinue plays the king’ the phrase made immortal by W Shakespeare in his King Lear says it all. The book by Tracy Borman is all about the retinue of Henry VIII: the bold, the bad and the ugly.
There were so many men around Henry VIII, I lost my count at Cromwell. Some of them were so memorable, they made their way into The Tudors TV series. Some of them deserved a mere paragraph in Borman’s book. However, all of them together is what made Henry VIII who he was and vice versa.
I have read a lot of fiction set in Henry VIII times. I read Philippa Gregory and Jean Plaidy, Alison Weir and many others. I am yet to surmount The Walf Hall. Also, I have to admit to being changeable fan of the Tudors. Thus, I can say I know a bit of the time period. Plus, I have my personal interest in Henry VIII and his unstable and even hysterical nature. I was married to a man like that.
So, reading this book helped me to make sense of some chapters of Henry VIII reign. It made me see the men around him better. The book made me understand some of his favourites or enemies better and to see where and what have started and ended.
It also made me to draw a conclusion: father and son. All men around Henry VIII can be summed up in the following way: Henry VIII was always looking for a father he never had and a son he always wanted. All his favourites were trying to fill the gap of either fatherly love, care, and encouragement or help their king to get a son he ached for.
Tracy Borman did a great job painting a colourful picture of the times and tastes. She made all the men around the king human giving them all their vices, weaknesses and hungers. What an unpleasant bunch of dressed up boys…
The language of this narration is very easy and light. The book reads well and fast. The reader is left to make his/her own opinion of the characters who populate the pages.
I am grateful to the author for a work like this.
This is the book I would recommend to anyone interested in Henry VIII times.

Fascinating read on Henry VIII and the intricacies of his reign, not only his 6 wives, but how influenced he was by all the men who surrounded him from his birth to his death. The comprehensive details researched and relayed to us by Tracy Borman, are impressive.

I am a Tudor nerd, and have read so, SO many books about Henry VIII, his wives, his closest friends and counsel. So I was thrilled when I discovered this book by author, Tracy Borman, that not only focuses on Henry VIII, but the men in his life....not his queens. And what an absolutely incredible book it is! The research done is impeccable, the author's love of the subject coming through clearly. The writing was thorough but easy to understand. Not only did I learn so very much, but I walked away from the book feeling as though I knew these men personally. What a rare and wonderful treat for this reader!! A new favorite treasure and a definite recommend.

Fascinating read on Henry VIII and the intricacies of his reign, not only his 6 wives, but how influenced he was by all the men who surrounded him from his birth to his death. The comprehensive details researched and relayed to us by Tracy Borman, are impressive. Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. After reading many, many books on King Henry the VIII I still felt this presented new information and more details about some of the men who surrounded him.

I have read every book, I think, ever written on the Tudors. This has got to be one of the most interesting ones! It is the quintessential book on Henry the Eighth and how he got to where he did and why, with every detail you will nee and want to know! What an interesting read! Absolutely for the Tudor or the history lover, this is one of the best! Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the perusal. I couldn't put it down!

An engaging and detailed account of Henry VIII and the powerful men within his court. I was enthralled from the first page. I don't often buy physical nonfiction books - I get them on my kindle to preserve space on my bookshelves - but this is one I'm making an exception for. It is already ordered!

5 stars

I read the Kindle edition.

“You shall, in your counsel-giving unto his grace, ever tell him what he ought to do…For if (a) Lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.” – Sir Thomas More

This is a wonderful history of the men who surrounded King Henry VIII. Born both high and low, these men surely shaped the king’s reign through their influence with him. They were advisors, courtiers, friends, servants – and even his rivals.

While most often remembered for his split with Roman Catholicism and his six wives, it was these men who perhaps had more influence on Henry than his wives. The Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon was probably Henry’s closest friend and sometimes advisor. The scheming and ambitious Cardinal Wolsey whose drive to wealth and control of his king overrode his good sense and essentially drove him to ruin, Sir Francis Bryan who was another friend and confident of the king, Sir Thomas More…Thomas Cromwell…The poet Thomas Wyatt , Hans Holbein the painter who immortalized Henry in his famous painting, Thomas Boleyn, Francis I who was the King of France, Charles V of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire who Henry ultimately didn’t trust but forged on and off again alliances with Charles and many, many others.

Ambassador to King Charles V Eustace Chapuys was very intelligent and a keen observer of human nature. His frequent writings and reports back to Spain were insightful and often noted the changeable nature of the king.

Cardinal Wolsey took an immediate and intense dislike of Sir Thomas More for his closeness to the king. It’s no wonder that after Wolsey’s fall, More’s name appeared at the top of the list of forty-four charges against the Cardinal. Most of the charges were outlandish and clearly made up, but the drive by his detractors had gained momentum and there was no turning back. It is believed that Wolsey’s failure to gain an annulment or divorce from Queen Catherine was his final downfall. Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey was long-time trusted advisor to Henry, but he overstepped his bounds one time too many.

Thomas Cromwell was a protégé of Wolsey’s and carried many messages between Wolsey and the king during Wolsey’s exile. Wolsey also believed that being a Cardinal protected him against a charge of treason. He was sadly mistaken. Henry could and would do anything he desired to do.

His wives also had a great influence on Henry’s demeanor. As time passed he grew more fractious, mercurial and vindictive. Some of this must have been down to his wives’ influence and their perceived “wrongs” against Henry.

Henry was passionate about sports of all kinds: hunting, tennis, dancing, shooting and especially jousting and so on. He was also drawn to intelligent, educated men such as Sir Thomas More and Desiderates Erasmus. He was easily manipulated as Cardinal Wolsey was to discover and very changeable. In his later years he became more paranoid and suspicious of his ministers and confidants. He would profess undying affection one moment and utterly destroy them the next, sometime even having them beheaded – as he did to so many people. He was also a raging hypochondriac.

Upon Wolsey’s fall from grace, Thomas Cromwell came to the king’s notice. He was not formally educated, but he was intelligent and quick to learn. He was more intelligent and articulate than most of the nobles at the court even though he was a lowly son of a blacksmith and bar owner.

Cardinal Wolsey died of dysentery on his way to (probably) the Tower of London. While some believed that he committed suicide, this has largely been disproved. The Cardinal was known to be very ill on his journey southward.

Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey’s protégé, quickly ascended a rise to power as the king’s newest counselor and confident. Cromwell had reasons of his own to promote the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine and to make Henry the richest King in Europe. He secretly desired a break with Roman Catholic Church as he was a protestant. Cromwell was witty and humorous, and spoke the bald truth, even to his detractors. These were qualities that the king appreciated.

While Archbishop Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell did much to further their Protestant agenda, Sir Thomas More, as now the Lord Chancellor, was horrified. He was firmly opposed to King Henry’s move to annul his marriage to Catherine and any break with Rome. His sympathies clearly lied with Catherine. When the clergy of England formally announced the Submission to the King in religious affairs, More resigned his office as Lord Chancellor. He promised never to speak publicly of King Henry’s “Great Matter” or speak openly of his criticism of the upcoming break with Rome. But More did not keep silent.

When Thomas Cromwell ran afoul of Queen Anne, he was put on dangerous ground with the King in spite of garnering him millions (in today’s money), of pounds to add to his treasury. When Henry’s displeasure with Queen Anne became obvious Cromwell then schemed to get rid of Anne and install Jane Seymour as the new Queen. He knew he must be careful, however, for Anne was both astute and vindictive. He carefully constructed a plan whereby he could have Anne accused of adultery. Her love of flirting with men in her chambers was well known, for she did not surround herself with ladies, but preferred the company of men. Thus Cromwell was not only the architect of Anne’s marriage to King Henry, he was also the planner of her ultimate downfall.

Within ten days of her death, King Henry was betrothed to Jane Seymour. She was to give Henry his much longed-for son. Henry was overjoyed and named him Edward. Jane, sadly, was to die only a few days following the birth of Edward.

The Pilgrimage of Grace caused another serious threat against Cromwell. Started by those staunch Catholics who lived in the North of England against what they saw as the unfair dismantling of their monasteries and abbeys. They mostly directed their ire against Cromwell and his councilors; this also was to affect the king mightily.

Henry’s fourth wife was Ann of Cleves. He disliked her from the start and claimed he only married her to assure him an alliance with Cleves against the new treaty signed by the Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France. For his part in the marriage, Cromwell was arrested and sent to the Tower. He demanded that Cromwell, from prison, find a reason to annul the marriage. A reason was found. Ann was content to live in England as Henry’s “sister” from that time until her death.

At first Henry did not mourn Cromwell’s death, but later he came to realize that Cromwell ran his offices so smoothly and efficiently that Henry didn’t even realize how much he relied on him. He then missed him.

Henry’s fifth wife was Katherine Howard. She was very young and she failed to disclose her former love relationships to Henry. But worse was the fact that Henry was now getting to be elderly by 1500’s standards, and he by this time was also obese and his leg pained him almost all of the time. Katherine started up a love affair with Thomas Culpeper, a young man who was of questionable virtue. He raped a young woman in the village, but Henry pardoned him. He was controlling and mean and perhaps Katherine, once ensnared, couldn’t see a way out of the relationship. For whatever reason, she was soon found out and suffered the ultimate punishment, along with her lovers.

Henry’s sixth wife was Catherine Parr. She was about thirty when they married and since one doesn’t refuse the King, had to marry him in spite of the fact that she was in love with Thomas Seymour, the late Queen Jane’s brother. Catherine was to outlive Henry. She did much to bring the family together – Mary, Elizabeth and Edward and they more often came to court. Stephen Gardiner who was then a Bishop and a staunch Catholic contrived to have Queen Catherine arrested on charges of treason because of her Protestant beliefs. However, his plan backfired when Henry put his foot down and told Gardiner to get lost.

After Henry’s death on January 28, 1547, there was a great deal of fighting over the Protectorate of his son, Edward, then aged just nine. Also, the arguments over the interpretation of Henry’s will went on and on. Edward Seymour grabbed the opportunity to name himself Lord Protector and shut out everyone else. However, he was to get his. Some amendments were made to Henry’s will following his death of which Henry would not have approved.

This was a period in time that I would not like to live. Or if I did, I would want to remain as far from the court as possible. It was filled with backbiting and treachery. The level of scheming and fabrications created by those closest to Henry were astounding. There was no one be they high or low who escaped Henry’s wrath and mercurial temperament – save his good friends Charles Brandon and Thomas Wyatt.

This is a very well-written told tale of the men who were closest to King Henry VIII. It is very well researched and thought out. I am in awe of Ms. Borman’s attention to detail and the patience with which she pens her books. I have read many of her books, and have very much liked them all. I tip my hat to the author and will read any more of her future writings.

I want to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press for forwarding to me a copy of this most interesting and well-written book for me to read, enjoy and review.