The Tudor-Stewart rivalry
 
Crown of Thistles is the story of a divided family, of flamboyant kings and queens, cultured courts and tribal hatreds, blood feuds, violent deaths, rape and sexual licence on a breath-taking scale. Here are some of the greatest rulers in our history. At its heart is the greatest prize of all – the joint sovereignty of two kingdoms.  It also brings alive a neglected aspect of British history – the blood-spattered steps taken by two small countries on the fringes of Europe towards an awkward unity that would ultimately forge a great nation.  Beginning with the unlikely and dramatic victories of two usurping kings, one a rank outsider and the  other a fifteen-year-old boy who rebelled against his own father, the book will shed new light on Henry VIII, his daughter, Elizabeth, and on his great-niece, Mary Queen of Scots, still seductive more than four hundred years after her death.
 
“Stunning  – an epic journey through the turbulent history of two nations, engagingly written and showing a masterly balance of politics and vivid personal detail.”
–           Alison  Weir