The Private Lives of the Tudors

Many have heard of the Tudors, but do we really understand what their lives were really like? Tudor expert Tracy Borman explores the private lives, loves and scandals of one of the most prominent royal dynasties in British history: from the founder of the Tudors, Henry VII, whose beautiful young wife, Elizabeth of York, fell pregnant within hours of the wedding ceremony, to their much-married younger son, Henry VIII, whose turbulent private life scandalised Europe and tore England apart. Although the Tudor monarchs themselves form the main focus of the programmes, the private lives of their courtiers are also put in the spot light enabling contrasts and comparisons to be drawn. At the centre of it all is the court itself, where sex and power, the ratio of men to women, and the very architecture of the palaces created a febrile atmosphere in which scandals erupted on an almost daily basis. Accurate and atmospheric recreations help Tracy bring vividly to life what really happened in the palaces in which the Tudor monarchs and their courtiers spent their days. (Viasat)