alison weir

With publication of the sixth book in her Six Tudor Queens series in 2021, Alison Weir introduces Henry’s last wife, Katharine Parr.   Of Henry VIII’s six wives, Katharine Parr was so much more than […]

When writing this book, I was unable to use most of the vast amount of research I did on Katheryn Howard’s fall because it was written entirely from her viewpoint and she was kept very […]

The notorious Lady Rochford was born Jane Parker, the daughter of learned Henry Parker, Lord Morley; her mother, Alice St John, was a distant cousin of King Henry VIII on his grandmother Margaret Beaufort’s side. […]

Henry VIII always kept the feast of Christmas with ‘much nobleness and open court’. It was incumbent upon kings to dispense hospitality throughout the twelve days of the festival, and in Henry’s reign more than a thousand […]

As Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen is written wholly from Katheryn’s point of view, the reader never gets to see the reaction of Katheryn’s husband, Henry VIII, to her fall from grace. We see only […]

Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Her mother was a queen, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin and grandmother of monarchs. Some thought she should be queen of England. Beautiful and tempestuous, […]

Many historical fiction fans in their thousands have this month been reading The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, the final book in her remarkable recreation of the life of Thomas Cromwell that, in […]

For the publication of the fifth book in the bestselling Six Tudor Queens series Alison Weir has created this special True or False quiz about Katheryn Howard. Click below to take the quiz!   A […]

The story of Katheryn Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, is one of the saddest and most shocking episodes in English history. It is also the subject of a very modern debate. Was Katheryn a promiscuous […]

Most people think of Anna of Cleves – or Anna of Kleve, as she should be known – as the luckiest of Henry VIII’s wives. Having re-researched her story in depth for Anna of Kleve: […]

Until last week, I would have stated firmly that there were no portraits of any of Henry VIII’s wives as young teenagers. But, wandering around the Basilika of St Lambertus in Dusseldorf (the former capital […]

Why am I calling my next novel in the Six Tudor Queens series Anna of Kleve? Why not Anne of Cleves, as its subject is usually known? Firstly, I had decided at the outset that […]