Lauren Mackay – författare

The tragic story of Anne Boleyn has been retold over the centuries, yet two key figures in Anne’s life—her father Thomas and brother George— are often relegated to the margins of the history of Henry VIII’s turbulent reign. Well before Anne’s coronation in 1533, Thomas was regarded as one of Henry’s most skilled and experienced ambassadors, and George was a talented young courtier on the rise. But Anne's downfall was to have a devastating effect on her family – ultimately costing her and her brother their lives. A family whose success and prestige had been shaped over generations was destroyed in a violent and brutal episode as the king sought a new wife and a male heir. In this first biography devoted to the Boleyn men, Lauren Mackay takes us beyond the stereotypes of Thomas and George to present a story that has almost been lost to history. This book follows the Boleyn men as they negotiated their way through the ruthless game of politics among the wolves of the court, and establishes their place in Tudor history.

The reports and despatches of Eustace Chapuys, Spanish Ambassador to Henry VIII’s court from 1529 to 1545, have been instrumental in shaping our modern interpretations of Henry VIII and his wives. As a result of his personal relationships with several of Henry’s queens, and Henry himself, his writings were filled with colourful anecdotes, salacious gossip, and personal and insightful observations of the key players at court, thus offering the single most continuous portrait of the central decades of Henry’s reign.Beginning with Chapuys’ arrival in England, in the middle of Henry VIII’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon, this book progresses through the episodic reigns of each of Henry’s queens. Chapuys tirelessly defended Katherine and later her daughter, Mary Tudor, the future Mary I. He remained as ambassador through the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, and reported on each and every one of Henry’s subsequent wives – Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katharine Parr – as well as that most notorious of ministers Thomas Cromwell. He retired in 1545, close to the end of Henry VIII’s reign.In approaching the period through Chapuys’ letters, Lauren Mackay provides a fresh perspective on Henry, his court and the Tudor period in general.