Henry VIII

David Starkey looks at what impresses the contemporary visitor to Henry VIII's palaces

‘Pastime with good company’ – how the image of ‘Bluff King Hal’ glosses over the harsh realities of life-and-death court intrigues played out among the nooks and crannies of the king’s private apartment.

David Starkey visits the Lincoln Center for a night at the opera.

The transition of Henry VIII from Renaissance monarch to the Reformation patriarch, supreme head of the Church of England can be charted through the visual images of spectacle and power emanating from the royal court.

Thomas More is often thought of as a family man who died for his principles, not as a burner of books and heretics.