The Hopeful Duke

"I watch from among the crowd as Anne Boleyn speaks her last, then kneels before the French swordsman.

As a member of the royal family - and the king's only son - I was appointed to attend Queen Anne's execution; representing England's monarch and indicating to the world that he approved of what was happening. And yet, despite this great honour, I was born but a mere bastard."

As an illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy was not born to be king.

But when Henry VIII is yet to father a legitimate son by his wife Katherine of Aragon, he decides to elevate his only surviving son into the peerage.

At the age of just six years old, Henry Fitzroy is created an Earl, a Duke, a Knight of the Garter, and is granted a royal education. As the years go on, the boy's future as heir to the throne starts to take shape, and he grows to believe that perhaps he is destined to wear the crown.

But when the king discards his queen in favour of another, Henry's future takes an uncertain turn, and an unspoken race for the throne begins...