King’s Fool: A Notorious King, His Six Wives, and the One Man Who Knew All Their Secrets

This post first published December 20, 2013.

Author: Margaret Campbell Barnes
First Published: 1972
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
305 pages (paperback)
 
Yes, I know, yet another novel about King Henry VIII and his six wives. I have to admit, even I am getting a little tired of it, though obviously not tired enough to stop reading this genre altogether. I was recommended Margaret Campbell Barnes’ novels, so I tried one out during my six hour flight to Hawaii, and managed to read through almost all of it during the flight. I really liked the fact that it was told through the eyes of a 3rd party — in this case, King Henry’s fool (a sort of court jester role), Will Somers. I also really liked how it covered all six of his wives, rather than having to read six books or something, though I do want to point out that this book is about Will mostly, he’s not just a voice the author is using to relay Henry VIII’s love life through.

If you know anything about the real historical King Henry and his six wives, then you already, of course, have a good idea of what the story is about. But less likely, people know about Will Somers, who really was King Henry’s fool and according to sources, a sort of confidante for the king. I didn’t know anything about Will Somers other than the fact he was Henry’s fool, so it was actually pretty refreshing for me to read, what is by now an all too familiar story to me, about Henry and his wives from a different perspective. Will Somers isn’t just a narrator though; he has his own life to live in this book and he goes over his origins: where he came from, how he became Henry’s fool, how he utilized his “power” when it became clear he was a favourite of the king, and his own love life. I’m not sure if Will’s love life part of the story was real or not because, as I said earlier, I had little knowledge of Will to begin with. It was a nice touch to the story though, as it made Will feel like a real person who also had feelings, and not just a court fool.

What I didn’t like was how the book seemed to focus primarily on Henry’s marriages to Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Based on the title of this book, I guess I mistakenly thought each wife would get a roughly equal share of the spotlight, but that’s not true at all. Wives one and two got by far the most time in the spotlight, while everyone else was quickly shuffled through. The author seemed to want to focus more on Will Somers’ own life in the latter half of the book rather than Henry’s, which I suppose is fair since the book is about Will, really. Still, I would have liked it if the last four wives weren’t brushed over. Katherine Parr, especially, I barely got anything about her from this book.

All in all, a solid novel and I would definitely read more of Barnes’ books.

My Rating: 4/5