A matter of Conscience Henry VIII: the Aragon Years Judith Arnopp 'A king must have sons: strong, healthy sons to rule after him.' When Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales dies unexpectedly, his brother, Henry, becomes heir to the throne of England. The intensive and often bewildering education that follows offers Henry a model for future excellence; a model that Henry is doomed to fail. On his accession, he chooses Catalina of Aragon, his dead brother's wife, to be his queen. Henry plans to reinstate the glory of days of old and fill the royal nursery. The country erupts in joyful celebration when he quickly impregnates his bride. But the king's golden dreams are tarnished when their first child is stillborn, the second dies at just a few months old, and subsequent babies are born dead or perish in the womb. Christendom mocks the virile prince. Caterina's fertile years are ending yet all he has is one useless living daughter, and a baseborn son. He needs a solution but as Rome turns its back, stubborn to the end, Catalina refuses to step aside. And then his eye is caught by a woman newly arrived from the French court. Her name is Anne Boleyn. A matter of Conscience: the Aragon Years offers a unique first-person account of Henry VIII; the 'monster' we love to hate is set aside to show a man on the edge of despair; an amiable man made dangerous by his own impossible expectation.
