Henry VIII's Last Victim

Henry Howard had rank, talent and royal connections but under Henry VIII, proximity to power could become a death sentence. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, moved at the glittering centre of Henry VIII's England: heir to a great noble family, cousin to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, pioneering poet, soldier and courtier. His rise carried him from aristocratic privilege to military command in France, but his brilliance was matched by recklessness, debt and repeated clashes with authority. Jessie Childs follows Surrey through Tudor court intrigue, religious conflict, battlefield ambition and the lethal instability of royal favour. As Henry VIII's health failed and the struggle over succession intensified, suspicion closed around Surrey and his father, the Duke of Norfolk. For readers of Tudor history, historical biography and stories of court politics, Henry VIII's Last Victim reveals a dazzling age through one contradictory life : law enforcer and law breaker, conservative and reformer, celebrated nobleman and condemned traitor.