At some point during the years 1527 and 1528, King Henry VIII wrote a series of letters to his sweetheart,

the woman who would become his second queen, Ambulin.

Seventeen of them survive, and in one of the lovely twists of history, they do so in the library at the Vatican.

The letters are in two languages, about half are in French and half in English.

They are written on paper in ink, in Henry's own bold and unmistakable hand.

His script is rather fatter and squatter than that of his secretaries,

though it is in the 16th century style of handwriting known as Secretary Hand,

but it's elegant enough and it's very legible.

Some of the letters are fair copies, some bear his crossings out and corrections.

We see his thought processes at work, and we hear the stuff of his heart.

Hence forward, my heart shall be dedicated to you alone.

I wish my person was so too, God can do it if he pleases, to whom I pray every day for that end,

hoping that at length my prayers will be heard.

These are love letters, be it due and they change the course of history.

To mark the release of a history hit audiobook of Henry VIII's love letters to Ambulin,

in which you can hear all the letters in four in translation.

In today's explainer episode, I want to examine these famous letters, a new.

The first thing to consider is how they have survived.

They ended up in the Vatican where they remained to this day.

In the 19th century they were bound into a handsome red leather book,

which was given the title Letre à Henri-Wit à Ambulin.

But how they got to the Vatican is itself a matter of mystery.

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