My review of Henry: Virtuous Prince, by David Starkey

Henry: Virtuous Prince

by David Starkey

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Being one of the more recent Henry VIII biographies, and being specifically about Henry's youth, this was a popular choice when widespread interest became fuelled by 'that' TV series with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I checked it for comparison with the 5 others I've read on Henry.

I rate it on par with the good ones for dynastic background and incidental (impersonal) detail, but not for character study. If more drily and stuffily presented than personally accessible, this is academically fine and faultless in its fine detail.

Not the first Starkey biography I've read, this is his pet dynasty. He specialised in Tudor history at Cambridge, writing a thesis on Henry VIII's household. His knowledge, as would be expected, is impressive, while his reader-connection is standoffish. This makes for a drier, less authentic result than I seek in any biography.

Focusing on young Henry rather than his life, this might have been a more personal look at the 'spare' heir whose apparent destiny changed course for the better with the death of his older brother Arthur. No matter how meticulously researched and presented, personal supply inventories and monetary accounts do not suffice, in my mind, as 'personalisation'. Rather, a more intimate style of penmanship than Starkey's is the key.

While, admittedly, generalisations can be invalid, the notary female historical biographers I've read (mostly, not all) have achieved more evocative results than their male contemporaries. Such women have been criticised for being overly emotive in approach and Starkey seems to be making a point around this in his own more remote, albeit supremely erudite, style. If, like me, you like blood pumped into a study's cheeks, tones given to their voice, rationale explained around their more private decisions, then Starkey disappoints. 

Only fair to consider that the 'heart and soul' we might be prospecting for in this has been reaped over and over from Starkey's most formidable biographical predecessors - there was no point in his aiming to replicate, but rather to find an original take on this weightily covered topic. In this unenviable task he succeeds, leaving his own hallmark on the vastly sprawling genre of Tudor biography.

This slightly prickly addition to any Tudor reading shelf will contribute balance and sophistication.