Henry VIII was never supposed to rule over England. The "spare heir" lived a carefree life with his mother in Eltham Palace...that is until his older brother Arthur died. Suddenly, the 10-year-old prince found himself re-raised to be king by his paranoid father, Henry VII, who controlled every aspect of his son's life. While young Henry shared a name with his father; there the similarities ended. The future King of England would prove to be an uncontrollable heir, setting the path for a turbulent reign that would shake Europe to its core.

In the final years of his reign, Henry VIII had become overweight, bad-tempered, and racked with pain. A jousting accident left him with a wound that would plague him for the rest of his life, his illegitimate son had died, and England's break from Rome had divided the country. As Henry grew more vulnerable, he increasingly turned against the men around him...and they would turn against him. Dr. Tracy Borman reveals how the king's men shaped the final part of Henry's reign, with brutal struggles breaking out over the nation's future. They had to tread carefully as the king had become a tyrant.