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Sarah Fraser explains why it’s important not to overlook
this lesser-known figure, and discusses how different
history may have been had Henry Stuart become king
Henry Stuart isn’t a
figure many of us are
familiar with. What
were his headline
achievements?
Prince Henry was
the first prince born
to inherit all the
countries of Britain.
When his godmother,
Queen Elizabeth I,
died in 1603, Henry
represented a uniting
of the kingdoms: his
father, James VI and I,
secured the transition
from Tudor to Stuart,
and Henry guaranteed
the future stability of
the new multicountry
realm.
Hailed as ‘Protector
of Virginia’, Henry
helped make a reality the permanent
planting of the British in American soil in
1607. He began an ambitious review of the
navy and armed forces, aiming to create a
fighting force capable of defending trade and
the new colonies. It would let Britain rise to
global domination.
How much do we know about
his personality?
We know Henry valued his privacy. He
became secretive as he grew up, and began
to disagree with his father on certain
matters. Henry’s motto was ‘Glory is the
torch of the upright mind’, which meant
winning eternal fame through heroism on
the battlefield. His father, meanwhile, had
chosen ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ – so
you can see where that difference might lead
when the question of whether to take up
arms against an enemy arose.
Once Henry did have confidence in
someone, however, he relaxed and opened
up. He loved banter and jokes, music and
dancing, and staging lavish court spectacles.
He was pious, with the black-and-white
morality of youth. He enjoyed a loving
relationship with his siblings and parents
because, unlike the Tudors, the Stuarts were
good family people.
“[Had Henry
lived longer],
we would not
have suffered
the civil wars”
How might history
have been different
had Henry lived
longer?
I suspect we would
not have suffered the
Civil Wars. Henry
was Puritan-minded,
unlike Anglo-Catholic
Charles I. He was
raised by religious
and political radicals,
some of whom had
been with him since
he was four years
old, and I think they
would have pushed
him to have good
working relations
between crown and
parliament. That
should have prevented
the Civil Wars, the
beheading of Henry’s younger brother, the
future King Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell’s
Puritan republic.
However, the Thirty Years’ War between
the Catholic forces of the Holy Roman
Empire, Spain and the Papacy on one side,
and the Protestant states of Europe on the
other, started a few years after Henry died.
It was the longest, bloodiest, continuous
conflict in Europe until World War I.
Because Henry was widely spoken of as
the natural leader of the Protestant side, he
would have committed Britain more deeply
into that war.
What new impression of Henry would
you like to leave readers with?
Some scholars think that Shakespeare
had Henry in mind when he wrote the
famous line “O brave new world that hath
such people in it!”. And why wouldn’t he,
because after the inertia and problems that
beset the country during Elizabeth I’s reign,
here was something new and exciting: a
burgeoning, young royal family. Britain was
born, and the world expanded. Henry and
his family inaugurated a century of exciting
transformation for these islands. Let’s take
the spotlight off the Tudors briefly and enjoy
the thrilling dawn of the Stuart era.
Jane Austen at Home
By Lucy Worsley
Hodder and Stoughton, £25,
400 pages, hardback
Jane Austen is one of Britain’s most famous
writers, while Lucy Worsley is one of TV’s
liveliest historians. As you would expect,
then, this biography of Austen is a spirited
affair. Focusing on the novelist’s home life, it
explores how the places in which she spent
her time shaped her life, personality and the
themes of her books.
Norse Mythology
By Neil Gaiman
Bloomsbury, £20, 304 pages, hardback
The acclaimed author of novels including
Coraline and American Gods here turns
his focus from worlds of his own creation
to the intricate and often bloody Norse
myths. Drawing on the original stories, he
takes readers on a dynamic journey from
the void before creation to Ragnarök – the
destruction of everything.
MAY 2017 93