If you want to know what made Henry the serial husband, trant and monastery destroyer he became, read this book. Knighted at four, king at seventeen and surrounded by doting women all his life, it's small wonder he became one of history's most hated men. Despite its title, Starkey is no revisionist. For, despite his ruthlessness and cruelty, Henry is shown also to have been generous, romantic, hedonistic and literate.

Henry: Virtuous Prince by David Starkey is a fantastic read, refreshing my own memory of Henry VII's reign and going further in depth to the upbringing of the son who would become a tyrant than your typical history lessons, all presented with Starkey's dash of wit, never putting too much of himself into the story, but laying the path and making sure all the moments that you would want to see are along the way. The scope of the work cannot be understated, all the key players are accounted for and have themselves been fleshed out all in service of the history of both Henry VII and his son Henry VIII. I found myself enjoying the sections of the book focusing on Henry VII and his duties, defenses and plans to secure his place both as king and as a key part of English history the most, far more than I expected, and felt myself far more understanding by the end of the book of the complexities of both Henry's characters. You get a real sense as to why things started going the way they did, and why the public loved and hated both at various points in time. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone wanting either a good refresher or an introduction to the subject that is carried in a far more interesting way than the typical history book.