# Tudor Season: The Bloody End

An episode of [Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1714259572), 17 Aug 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6846a16db5ac093b0ca993ec/e/6a82bee6c9e19279ee388761/media.mp3

Wives, bloodshed, war: the end is approaching for Henry VIII, but England’s most notorious king is not going quietly. In the final part of our epic journey through Henry’s life, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams meet his doomed fifth wife, Catherine Howard, and discover how a convenient change in the law helped send another queen to the scaffold. Then comes wife number six: the clever, glamorous Catherine Parr, who proves more than capable of managing the increasingly ill-tempered king, but still comes perilously close to becoming wife number three to lose her head. There’s war with Scotland, another invasion of France and catastrophe at sea as Henry watches his beloved Mary Rose sink before his eyes. So, as the curtain finally comes down on Henry VIII, what are we left with: Renaissance prince, murderous tyrant or a king whose desperate obsession with producing a son changed England forever? Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams Series Producer: Ben Devlin Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Content Editor: Joseph Palmer Executive Producer: Bella Soames A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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