Carolly Erickson, The Last Wife of Henry VII

The Last Wife of Henry VII

Carolly Erickson

St. Martin's, October 2006, $24.95

ISBN: 0312352182

This is a biographical fictional account of Catherine "Cat" Parr, the real survivor, having become King Henry Tudor's only widow. Interestingly, Cat in some ways matches the deviousness of Henry by outlasting four spouses; Henry being her number three. Henry was drawn to the intelligent and beautiful Cat when she was still a teen, but they married others until she became number six on his death card, though by then he was aging and obese so that she became his final chapter. In fact, after Henry died Cat married her lover. Whereas her predecessors, new rivals, and his two daughters are looked upon as losers, she laments that Henry's Church of England is more corrupt than the Papacy it replaced, as priests expected to be bought, which she used to achieve her desires.

Carolly Erickson's tale is interesting, as it brings out the Machiavellian marital machinations of the fifteenth century English aristocracy in which loving relationships took a back seat to power marriages. Though over titillating at times, as if the reader is a voyeur, THE LAST WIFE OF HENRY VIII is a fascinating look at the last woman standing.