Member Review

Per usual, The King's Pleasure is yet another incredibly well researched and well written book by Allison Weir. Having read all the books that she's written about Henry the VIII's six wives, I struggled at parts of this one, knowing what horrors were to come. I'm glad I continued, though. Reading things from "his perspective" made me feel that maybe he did have some sort of a conscience. We may never know what underlying illness(es) might have led to his moral downfall or if he was just a malignant narcissist. His famed ability to charm (or manipulate) and his surety in his own righteousness & abilities could certainly point to NPD but there's likely no way to know, for sure, either way.
Poor dear Henry the VIII. He lost his mother at such a tender age. She was likely responsible for any tenderness he had or wished to have. Alas, he was only all knightly virtues and chivalry as long as he was getting his way. He molded/encouraged his wives to be a certain way, then he later changed the rules and put three away for being as he said he desired. He seemed to have such potential before he squandered it on the alter of vanity and selfishness. He not only prized education, the medical sciences and the arts, he established schools for and encouraged apprenticeships in these subjects. If only he hadn't been so short sighted and reckless, with others' lives, when it came to having a male heir. Sadly, now he's mostly remembered for the wives he killed and the deaths he caused.