Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Six lives summed up in a school rhyme. The women who married Henry VIII have become defined not by the way they lived but by the way their lives ended. They are seen as victims of a bloated tyrant, deserving pity, but not respect. However, have we under-estimated them and are historians right to have merely portrayed them as bit-part players in Henry's story? In this DVD Dr David Starkey reveals them to be vibrant, powerful individuals who showed great dignity when faced with exile from the King's favour, or even the executioner's axe in the Tower Of London. The series focuses on the stories of the women themselves, revealing in intimate detail their experiences of sex, childbirth and the glamorous, dangerous life at court, including the deadly intrigues that dethroned them.
