King's Secretary

The compelling story of the end of Henry VIII’s reign—and how the fate of England was determined by the king’s secretary and minister, William Paget.

In the closing years of Henry VIII’s reign, the future of England hung in the balance. The king’s potential heirs consisted of two daughters of disgraced parentage and a young son too inexperienced to rule. With a French invasion imminent and the royal dynasty in crisis, England’s noble families vied to manipulate the succession for their own ends.

In this dramatic account, Andrew Johnston shows how one vital member of Henry VIII’s court attempted to protect the future of the kingdom, and himself. Of humble origins, William Paget was the successor of Thomas Cromwell as Henry VIII’s trusted secretary. He became the king’s closest confidant in the chaotic final years of his reign, oversaw the crisis of Tudor succession, and navigated the deadly conflicts of the Henrician court—cutting down to size the powerful Howard family, as well as heading off the French across the Channel.

This is an engrossing story of rivalry and intrigue, of politics and the uncertainties of Tudor statecraft, through the eyes of one of Henry VIII’s most powerful and most overlooked courtiers.