Henry VIII


In the summer of 1550, Princess Mary and her continental supporters, the Imperial Habsburgs, hatched a plan to spirit the recusant princess out of an increasingly Protestant and intolerant state. Ships from the Imperial navy were kept at anchor off the coast of Maldon whilst sloops made their way up the Blackwater estuary to the Essex market town to rendezvous with Henry VIII’s eldest daughter. Had […]

The near escape of Princess Mary Tudor


A dowry is the money, goods, or estates that a wife brings to her husband at their marriage. The giving of dowries was a common practice in societies around the world and still continues in some countries and amongst certain classes. The ‘golden’ age of dowries was reached in European societies in the 15th to 18th centuries, when royal dowries amounted to colossal fortunes or exchanges […]

Right royal dowries



Royal sobriquets are often colourful, grandiose or emotive – Ivan the Terrible, Bloody Mary, Good Queen Bess, the Sun King or Suleiman the Magnificent. Some are obscure – William the Silent, the Universal Spider (for Louis XI of France) or John Soft-Sword. But few are as dull as Henry VII – the accountant king. It is true that the founder of the Tudor dynasty earned some […]

Henry the Accountant – was there more to Henry VII?