From golden god to obese tyrant – the evolution of Henry VIII In the run up to the UK publication of Wife After Wife in July, I’ve been thinking (again! Not obsessed – no, not at all) about how Henry VIII changed over the course of his reign, both in temperament...
catherine of aragon Over the coming weeks I’ll be posting mini-bios of Henry VIII’s six wives. I hope these will be of interest to those reading Wife After Wife and pondering on the historical counterparts of Harry’s wives. So to our first Mrs Tudor, Catherine of...
Anne Boleyn Recreated in Wife After Wife as ice queen Ana Lyebon No character polarises Tudorphiles quite like Henry VIII’s second wife. Watch them spar in Tudor Facebook groups: Conniving seductress! Iconic feminist! She knew exactly what she was doing! She was a...
Jane Seymour And so we come to Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, reincarnated in Wife After Wife as his secretary, Janette Morrissey. What interesting things can I find to say about Jane? Not a lot, to be honest. Did I say boring? I look at this painting and I’m...
Anne Of Cleves Henry’s fourth wife was Anne of Cleves, reincarnated in Wife After Wife as Anki from Cleveland. People often feel sorry for Anne, rejected by Henry when she didn’t match up to her portrait. Like a disappointing profile pic. But I think of her as the...
catherine howard And so to Wife #5, Catherine Howard, reincarnated in Wife After Wife as wild child Caitlyn Howe. Poor Catherine, a pretty, lively young thing thrown into the path of the ageing, widening, ulcerating (he wasn’t appealing by now) Henry, age 17(ish) to...
