![]() ![]() In his remarkable debut Thomas Penn recreates an England which is both familiar and very strange - a country that seems medieval yet modern, in which honour and chivalry mingle with espionage, realpolitik, high finance and corruption. On a cold November day this girl, the sixteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon, arrived in London for a wedding upon which the fate of England would hinge. Now, in what would be the crowning glory of his reign, his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Although he built palaces, hosted jousts, gave out lavish presents and sent ambassadors across Europe, for many he remained a usurper, a false king. ![]() ![]() Henry VII had clambered to the top of the heap - a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's crown who through luck, guile and ruthlessness had managed to win the throne and stay on it for sixteen years. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and counter-coups. ![]()
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