What may we not expect from a king who has been nourished on philosophy and the Nine Muses?
Thomas More[1]
When you know what a hero he now shows himself, how wisely he behaves, what a lover he is of justice and goodness, what affection he bears to the learned, I will venture that you will need no wings to make you fly to behold this new and auspicious star. If you could see how all the world here is rejoicing in the possession of so great a Prince, how his life is all their desire, you could not contain your tears of joy. The heavens laugh, the earth exults, all things are full of milk, of honey, of nectar. Avarice is expelled the country. Liberality scatters wealth with bounteous hand. Our King does not desire gold or gems or precious metals, but virtue, glory and immortality. (2)
Mountjoy to Erasmus on the ascension of Henry VIII
In my mind, Henry VIII's life is an example of a life of promise gone terribly wrong. Henry VIII apparently had everything a person could ask for. Not only was he rich, intelligent and talented, but even his appearance made one courtier comment,
[the king is] extremely handsome. Nature could not have done more for him. He is much handsomer than any other sovereign in Christendom. [3]
Perhaps that was the source of his problem. In his early days, the gifts of life fell abundantly in his lap, but it made him greedy for more. When Henry Tudor's life didn't go the way he expected, he became the tyrant that history remembers all too well.
Henry was born at Greenwich Palace on 28 June 1491, the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Near the sea, Greenwich Palace was a favourite Palace of the Tudor royals- later Henry's own two daughters would be born there too.
Whilst Arthur, the heir to the throne, grew up in his own establishment, Henry grew up at Eltham Palace with his older sister Margaret and his younger sister Mary. At one stage, this establishment also included Edmund, the children's baby brother, but death soon severed Edmund from their lives before he reached the age of three. Next Arthur died at just fifteen, leaving Henry, then eleven-years-old- as his father's only legitimate male heir.
There is a line of belief that Henry VII planned a religious life for his second son,[4] remembering full well the recent history of the War of Roses, when royal brother fought against royal brother. By placing his second heir in a religious order he probably hoped that Arthur would gain a brother's support rather than hindrance.
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