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Judith Arnopp   Most people would agree that England’s most memorable monarch is Henry VIII. The bloody years of his reign, the executions, the break with Rome, his complex sex life have all left their mark on our imagination. He is so synonymous with England that you might even assume that a magnificent memorial stands prominently in Westminster such as the one his parents share, or the superb edifice that enshrines the resting place of his daughter Elizabeth. But you’d be quite wrong to think so.   Indeed, although buried at Windsor alongside his third wife, Jane Seymour, there is no glorious shrine, no guilded angels, just a slab set in the floor. Where once people trembled before King Henry, now many of us do not even notice when we walk over him. Death is a great leveller. In the sixteenth century monuments were intended to mark wealth, status and power, and the building of them was usually undertaken during the lifetime of the person for whom the tomb was intended. ...

by Barbara Kyle  This is the story of how Mary Queen of Scots lost her kingdom. Twice.    Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, about age 15        Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scotland when she was five days old. At the age of six she was sent to France to join the French royal family in preparation for her marrying the king's heir, Francois. The two teenagers were wed, and a year later, in 1560, Francois became king. Mary, at seventeen, was queen of France.     Elizabeth 1 of England At this time the young English queen, Elizabeth Tudor, was in  the first year of her reign. S he feared a French invasion through Scotland, and t o prevent it she sent an army to back Scottish rebels who had risen up against their mighty overlords, the French. A leader of the Scottish rebels was Mary’s half-brother, the Protestant Earl of Moray, and with Elizabeth’s help he and his fighters beat the French army, ending French domination in Sco...

Judith Arnopp The Hever Portrait The subject to Anne Boleyn’s true physical appearance has been discussed time and time again in books, blogs and journals, yet it is a subject that remains endlessly fascinating, the varied opinions and theories almost as intriguing as the woman herself.  Almost instantly recognisable, Anne Boleyn’s portrait graces thousands of book covers, mugs, tea towels, key rings…her face is everywhere. But is it really her face that we are seeing? Do the portraits show us what was Anne really like? I don’t intend to hold a full debate on the portraits here but none we have are contemporary and the closest  are copies made of likenesses painted in her life time.  National Portrait Gallery portrait After her execution it wasn’t wise to have representations of a fallen queen gracing one’s walls so during the remainder of Henry’s reign and the years of Edward and Mary’s rule, her face and many artefacts belonging to her, slipped away. It wasn’t until he...