Hardback received ecstatic reviews: 'Neither Starkey nor Weir has the assurance and command of Loades' SIMON HEFFER, LITERARY REVIEW; 'Incisive and profound. I warmly recommend this book' ALISON WEIR.Surprisingly few books on this hugely popular subject of English history.Author is a recognized authority on the Tudors with nine books to his credit. 'David Loades is one of our finest Tudor historians' ALISON WEIR.The story of Henry VIII and his six wives has passed from history into legend - taught in the cradle as a cautionary tale and remembered in adulthood as an object lesson in the dangers of marrying into royalty. The true story behind the legend, however, remains obscure to most people, whose knowledge of the affair begins and ends with the aide memoir 'Divorced, executed, died, divorce, executed, survived'.David Loades masterly book recounts the whole sorry tale in detail from Henry's first marriage, to his brother's widow, to more or less contented old age in the care of the motherly Catherine Parr.