Fatal Throne has SEVEN authors! Candace Fleming coordinated this collaborative effort and enlisted six female authors to each write a chapter telling the story of an individual wife of Henry VIII. MT Anderson did the Henry sections that appear between each wife. What an interesting way to craft a novel!
Not only was Henry a good catch because he was King, but for his time, he was handsome, athletic and quite charismatic. Later in life he suffered from a rather disgusting leg wound and gained a LOT of weight. Not so handsome and athletic then. (But still he was the king!)
Most of his wives initially served as ladies to the previous wife, which makes the intrigue of being a court rather venomous. But, at least in this fictionalized account, each of Henry's wives thought that they were truly different, that they truly loved Henry, and that the outcome of their marriage would indeed be different. We know how that ends. I should include here that King Henry was most interested in having an heir to the throne. That combined with his lustful personality means that there is some sexual content in these pages.
The timeline of the story is a bit convoluted. Each wife begins at the end of their reign and then jumps back to when they met Henry, so there is quite a bit of back and forth. Some wives (authors) told a better tale as well. I learned the most about Anna of Cleves, wife number four. She was considered ugly and the marriage was never consummated. But I liked her best! She ends her story this way and it is a great summary of the book:
Once upon a time, there were six Queens who married the same man, one after another.
The first was a beauty, with red hair, blue eyes, and ivory skin. She gave the King a child, but it was a girl. So he banished the Queen and took her child from her.
The second, whose beauty was as dark as her soul, also gave the King a daughter. And for this, he cut off her head.
The third, as mild as milk, gave the King a precious son, and oh, how he loved her for it. But the womb that gave life to the boy stole life from the mother. She died of childbed fever.
The fourth Queen... ah, the fourth Queen. The King called her ugly and put her aside.
The fifth Queen was young and the fairest of them all. Her eyes sparkled. He laughter was music. The King adored her, but she love another. So he cut off her head, too. The sixth Queen was learned and the King did not like it. He would've cut off her head, but she begged his forgiveness for being clever and he let her live.
They are all dead now, those beautiful Queens, all dead. And the King is dead. All his men, too. And the precious son for whom he remade the world.
But the ugly Queen? Ah, she lived child. She lived.
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