Henry VIII’s Late Foreign Policy: A Masterclass in Failure, Humiliation, and Defeat.

The Cowdray Engraving, depicting the Battle of the Solent

Henry VIII was an ambitious man. As a young King, aged only 17, Henry’s main aim was clear: wage war. The English monarch, ever since the Hundred Years’ War, had a claim to the French throne. Henry wanted to push this claim as far as he could, whilst simultaneously boosting his international prestige. Why then, by Henry’s death in 1547, was…