Tyrannical, egotistical, paranoid, vengeful... Few names in history conjure up such a deadly list of words. But the wife-murdering Tudor king Henry VIII is certainly one of them. Today, we examine his spectacularly complicated love life, break with Rome, political executions and ruthless pursuit of power to answer the question: can anyone be forgiven for liking Henry VIII? For this we're joined by Kate Williams, author of 'Regina: A New History of Women and Power'. 0:00 Introduction 1:24 Why are we obsessed with King Henry VIII? 2:08 A glamorous prince and the golden age 3:28 Arthur's death and becoming the spare 5:10 The Tudor dynasty and fear of civil war 7:00 Ambitions in France and European power 8:47 Tragedy of the Prince of Wales 10:14 Failed French wars and wasted wealth 13:27 Katherine of Aragon and Battle of Flodden 15:01 The quest for a male heir 17:04 Modernising the state and navy 18:53 The King's Great Matter and break from Rome 23:40 Falling for Anne Boleyn 30:13 Jousting accident and downfall of Anne Boleyn 33:04 Jane Seymour, Edward VI, and execution streak 36:46 Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Katherine Parr 44:10 Henry VIII's final legacy and irony Produced by Mariana Des Forges, James Hickmann and McKenna Fernandez, edited by Matthew Wilson & the channel manager is Vilde Øksnes. You can find more Dan Snow's History Hit on the audio podcast here: https://podfollow.com/dan-snows-history-hit/view Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™ #DanSnowsHistoryHit #HistoryPodcast #Tudor