The Autobiography of Henry VIII (with notes by his fool, Will Somers) by Margaret George

Henry VIII is known in history books as a cruel, bloodthirsty monster. This was an interesting take on someone who has always been portrayed in a bad light.
I've always had a keen interest in the kings and queens of old, especially about this king Henry VIII and his 6 wives and then later about his great niece, Mary, Queen of Scotland.
This book appears boring and I'll admit some parts here and there were really slow. But I sped pretty quickly through the 931 pages of history, betrayal, marriage, divorce, treason and madness. I won't go into too much detail in case any of you are brave enough to pick it up for yourself but here are some tidbits.

This book is written as a novel. The autobiography part of the title is due to it being written from the first person standpoint. This is basically Henry VIII's journal with inserts from his jester, Will Somers. So it's not all cut and dry facts.

It covers all 6 wives. Many know of Henry's first wife, Katherine of Aragon and his second Anne Boleyn... but not many know of the other four. Out of all 6... four died of natural causes. Only two were beheaded.

1. Katherine of Aragon - divorced
2. Anne Boleyn - beheaded
3. Jane Seymour - died right after childbirth
4. Anne of Cleves - divorced
5. Catherine Howard - beheaded
6. Kate Parr - Henry's widow

Little side note:
The relationship between Henry and Mary, Queen of Scotland was one of uncle and great niece. Henry's sister Margaret married the Scottish king and had James. James married Marie de Guise, a French princess and had two sons (both of whom died) and then had Mary, who became Queen as an infant. Henry had plans for Mary to marry his son Edward (by Jane) and to unite the two countries but it never happened.

It is worth the read because what I didn't know was that some of these wives were on good terms with the king their whole lives. He was friends with them even after their separation.

Anyway... what interested me the most was Henry's relationship with God. Henry was a messed up guy. He took down the pope and became the head of the church of England. But throughout the book when he wasn't under the influence of one of his wives or an advisor, Henry maintained his faith as well as he knew how. He shows the typical human natire of trying to follow God and failing miserably but always going back to God for forgiveness.

My opinion of Henry's VIII has been altered slightly. I do think he was cruel at times but also human and vulnerable to the whims of others.

This book was a good one to read. There was one or two explicit sex scenes that I skipped over so if you pick it up, be aware of that.

Over all - a biography type book - I'd give it a 5 out of 10.