Whilst the young King HenryVIII basks in the pageants and games of his glittering court, his doting queen's health and fortunes fade. Henry's affection for his older wife soon strays, and the neglected Katharine decides to use her power as queen to dangerous foreign advantage.Overseas battles play on Henry's volatile temper, and his defeat in France has changed the good-natured boy Katharine loved into an infamously callous ruler. With no legitimate heir yet born, Katharine once again begins to fear for her future...

In the royal bedchamber at the Palace of Richmond, the Queen of England lay alone. 'She,should rest now, the doctors said. 'Leave her to sleep.Yet, tired as she was, Queen Katharine, who was known to the people as Katharine of Aragon although it was ten years since she had left her native land to come to England, had no desire to sleep. It was long since she had known such happiness. She had come through humiliation to enjoy the greatest esteem; she who had once been neglected was now courted and treated with great respect. There was no woman in England who was accorded more homage than the Queen.During the month just past she had celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday; she was reckoned to be handsome and, when she was dressed in her jewelled garments and her lovely hair with its tints of reddish gold fell loose about her shoulders, the looks of admiration which were bestowed upon her were those given toa beautiful woman, whether she were Queen or beggarmaid.

'Sir Loyal Heart'

The King's Indiscretion

The Secret Life of Thomas Wolsey

Spanish Intrigue

Murder in Pamplona

The French Disaster

The Perfidy of Ferdinand

Henry at War

The Flowers of the Forest

Bessie Blount

The French Marriage

The Open Rift

A Venetian Embassy and a Cardinal's Hat

The Death of Ferdinand

The Princess Mary

Prentices and Clubs

The King Triumphant

Bibliography