Customer Reviews
Thorough and thoroughly engaging! - By: Kendra, 01 Jan 2008 
Antonia Frazer makes history alive & completely interesting. This book separates fact from fiction regarding the Wives of King Henry VIII. There are many pieces of information regarding Henry & his wives that historians disagree upon. Frazer discusses WHY she came to the conclusions she did & discusses the alternative viewpoints of other historians. This detailin particular really impressed me. (Of course, it was a little disappointing, however, to discover that Katherine Howard didn't actually cry out her love for Thomas Culpepper from the scaffold, though!)
This book provides more than a brief overview to all six of these fascinating women. It really discusses their lives--as related to Henry & to the times--in much detail, covering many important points while clarifying misconceptions & legend from fact.
Great reading about six fascinating women! - By: Sissel M. Østdahl, 23 Aug 2007 Antonia Fraser's book focuses on the six queens as individuals, one chapter about each queen. They are very different personalities & no doubt there was quite a bit of jalousy between them. Anne Boleyn (2 - The Most Happy?) may seem the most colourful & famous of the six, but this book shows that both Catherine of Aragon (1, Arthur's Dearest Spouse), Jane Seymor (3 - Entirely beloved), Anna of Cleves (4 - An Unendurable bargain), Katherine Howard (5 - Old Man's Jewel) & Catherine Parr (6 - Obedient to Husbands) were all every bit as interesting.
I felt very sympathetic to these ladies. Maybein particular, Anna of Cleves, whose marriage to the King was never consummated & finally nullified. After 6 months as Queen, the docile lady Anna submit to the King's will & spent over 17 years as a "good Sister", never to return to her native Germany. Her burial place is, however, magnificient, her fine tomb to be foundin Westminster Abbey.
The book also explains a lot about the King's relationship with his queens as a young man, when he was a strapping attractive youth, not only the old, sick & fat man who is usually pictured/paintedin history books. It would not have been difficult for a young woman to fallin love with, as the book says, "this fine figure of a man, with his tall blond good looks".
The reason for the many marriages & their unfortunate/cruel outcome, was Henry VIII's desperate attempt to get at least one male heir to the throne. His marriages failedin ensuring this succession, & therein lay the unique fate of his six queens & the religious & political developmentsin England during Henry's reign.
There was, of course, Edward, Prince of Wales, his son by Jane Seymour. But Edward was not strong & died at an early age. In the end, his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, became Queen Elizabeth I of England, butin quite a different connection & not as a succession to her father.
I enjoyed Antonia Fraser's book immensely & learned numerous new facts about both the King himself & his six interesting queens.
This is a book which is not a tedious history lesson, marred by too many dates & facts. Apart from an interestin six unique women & a very special timein English history, one does not need any particular qualifications to read & enjoy this book. And at the same time, learn!
sympathetic personal biography - By: Roman Clodia, 09 Jul 2007 
If, like me, most historical narratives are a bit hard going (all those dates & wars!) then this is a perfect antidote: Fraser focuses on the personal lives of Henry & his wives, relegating the politics to the background.
She manages to keep all the wives distinct & give them their own persoanlity which is excellent, as well as charting Henry's development from 'angelic' young king, to bloated monster (her words, not mine).
My only slight quibble was the pacing, since we lost some sense of time between Catherine of Aragorn's long marriage & the shorter interludes that followed, but that really was minor. The end after the death of Henry felt unnecessary too, but that's personal taste.
Where Fraser really excels isin taking the sterotypes & school-kid images of the wives & revealing the 'truth' (or one truth) behind them. She keeps a balance too, never siding with one wife over another.
Altogether an excellent read with a fine sense of period.
An excellent account of the women in Henry's life - By: Catfish, 07 Aug 2006 Antonia Fraser writes a very sympathetic account of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. She lets none of these wives to standin Henry's shadow - instead, each one has certain characteristics of her own, whether uncommon intelligence, courage, unwavering influence, beauty, or skill of manipulation. Luckily for us, Ms Fraser abandons the view of Henry as despicable tyrantin favour of an intelligent ruler who often consulted his wives on political matters, discussed various aspects of the arts with them, & so often proved to be a much more gentle Henry than history tends to show. This is a lovely, well-researched narrative that includes excerpts from letters & diaries; each section is divided into 3-5 chapters that focus on an individual wife & her relationship with the king.
Good to be the Queen? - By: Kurt Messick, 28 Apr 2006 Antonia Fraser's 'The Wives of Henry VIII' is a wonderful account of the lives of the six women who married the controversial Tudor king. Fraser has written extensively on many subjects, but is particularly interestedin British royal history. Her writing is clear & accessible, & almost invariably interesting.
Fraser says 'the six women have become definedin a popular sense not so much by their lives as by the way these lives ended.' Largely, they became identified (as most historical figures do) as stereotypes. Fraser's stated intentin the book is to examine the real women behind the stereotypes, to find the human strengths & frailties behind the historic labels.
Divorced, beheaded, died...divorced, beheaded, survived
-Catherine of Aragon-
Divorced
Stereotype: Betrayed Wife, bigoted Catholic
Reality: a learned woman, politically astute, perhaps not entirely blamelessin the break-up (but then, what can one expect? Divorce was presumably out of the question given religious & political considerations, so might she have felt safe to be more forward than anyone should be with the formidible Henry?)
-Anne Boleyn-
Beheaded
Stereotype: Temptress, Protestant activist
Reality: she was more Protestant because the Catholic church wouldn't recognise or grant the divorce. She played a demur & devout characterin court, but then, could she have publicly appeared as anything else, given the unprecedented events going on about her & because of her? She didn't have a chance to build up a power base, & suffered greatly for it. Indignatio principis mors est. Little known fact: Anne was actually divorced from Henry on the eve of her execution.
-Jane Seymour-
Died
Stereotype: the Good Woman, Protestant yet Catholic
Reality: 'Jane Seymour was exactly the kind of female praised by the contemporary handbooks to correct conduct; just as Anne Boleyn had been the sort they warned against. There was certainly no threatening sexuality about her.' Henry would look back on Jane as the wife with whom he had been uniquely happy. She died as a result of the stress of childbirth (a not uncommon fate of women of any class), Henry's only legitimate male heir.
-Anna of Cleves-
Divorced
Stereotype: Ugly Sister, Lutheran & Catholic
Reality: an interesting & difficult marriage to put together. 'Paradoxically, the Kingin his last forties, gross, no likely object of desire, was far more difficult to please than that handsome boy of 1509, ready to fallin love where policy directed him, whom any girl might easily lovein return.' By this time, of course, Henry had a reputation of being at the least an unlucky husband. Solemn, looking older than her age, Anna was almost instantly disliked. Perhaps this saved her from a worse fate, if Henry had come to know her & then fall out of love with her.
-Katherine Howard-
Beheaded
Stereotype: the Bad Girl
Reality: Katherine was expected to produce the 'spare' to the heir produced by Jane. 'Katherine was, on her own admission, one who knew how to "meddle with a man" without conceiving a child.' Her affair with Culpeper not discreet enough, Katherine suffered the fury of Henry, who blamed his Council for forcing on him 'a succession of such ill-conditioned wives.'
-Catherine Parr-
Survived
Stereotype: the Mother Figure
Reality: not well educated but not unintelligent, a caring but politically astute person. 'As for the King himself, it was remarked that as Bishop Gardiner pronounced the now familiar words of the marriage service, an expression of real happiness crossed that bloated face.' She had taken as her motto 'To be usefulin all I do.'
Fraser goes into detail about the lives, & the aftermath, what became of these women, even to the extent of recounting the period neglect & restorations of their graves. Speaking of Catherine of Aragon, she writes: 'It is rare to find the Queen's grave without fresh flowers placed upon it. Nothing is known about those who over the years have performed this touching act of respect. One can however safely assume that, whatever their own religious view, they agree with this estimate of the character of Catherine of Aragon: loyal, pious, courageous & compassionate.'
