Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule: The Men and Women Who Trained the Royals

by Julia A Hickey

Explores the lives of those who shaped Tudor princes and princesses, from devoted servants to tragic figures in the monarchy's shadow.

The men and women who found themselves responsible for Tudor princes and princesses were chosen for a variety of reasons and came from different backgrounds. The outcome of their labour was almost as varied. These are the stories of the men and women who moulded the Tudors and what happened to them in the throne's shadow. Amongst their number were gentlewomen, veterans of the Wars of the Roses, a Plantagenet princess, Welsh speakers, royal uncles and the children of convicted traitors. For some, there were rewards, pensions and preferment. For others, there was only disaster. For those who sought power themselves, including Edward VI’s guardians Edward Seymour and John Dudley, the executioner's axe awaited.

Jasper Tudor protected his nephew Henry Tudor during thirteen difficult years in exile, fulfilling the role of bodyguard, secret agent and adviser. Lady Margaret Beaufort advised on the birth, education and marriages of her grandchildren. Princes and princesses were reared from infancy by women whom the ruling monarch could trust. Mother Jak and Sybil Penn became surrogate mothers. Governesses, including Margaret Countess of Salisbury and Lady Margaret Bryan, were loyal, kind and protective. Others, like Anne Shelton, were appointed to make the lives of their royal charge a misery. It was left to Katherine Parr, a strongminded intelligent woman, to exercise her right as Henry VIII’s queen to take a close personal interest in the education of her step-children.

Faced with dysfunctional families and turbulent times, governors and governesses faced imprisonment, execution or ruin on behalf of their royal charges. But the rewards were worth the risk.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published April 28, 2025

Reviews

[Juliew. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really solid reference book for governors,Lady Mistresses,tutors and persons of influence within the Tudor court.This begins with a history of the Tudor's rise to power than takes you through each monarch's backstory and ending with a chapter specifically centered on that monarch's program of education.It is well written and researched and I honestly couldn't think of what I would add to improve it other than the organization of the book which felt a bit off at times.The bonus was the glossary at the back of the book which went into extensive detail on the various household officers who also helped to raise the Tudor's.

Much thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the people who influenced the Princes and future Kings of the Tudor dynasty. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the Tudors but there were many people I never heard of which made it so enjoyable. Explained in plain English (pardon the pun) this book should satisfy an itch you didn't even know you had to scratch. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Heidi Malagisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In life, when it comes to a new skill or job, you must be trained to become good at it. The same can be said for the monarchy, which in a sense is a job that encompasses one’s entire life. You have to understand different languages, rhetoric, the arts of dancing, and music, as well as diplomacy and physical activities if you want to rule a nation. It may seem like a lot for one person to handle, but from the moment of their birth, a prince or princess has a team of people behind them to make sure that they are ready to either rule their home country or create an alliance with other nations. The Tudors knew how important educating their future monarchs was for the survival of the dynasty. Julia A. Hickey examines the people behind the teams raising the future Tudor monarchs in her book, “Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule: The Men and Women Who Trained the Royals.”

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. The premise of this book was fascinating to me and I wanted to see if Hickey would introduce any new people from the Tudor dynasty in this book.

Hickey begins her book by exploring the origins of the Tudor family, starting with the matriarch herself Margaret Beaufort, followed by Owen, Edmund, and Jasper Tudor, and concluding with how Henry Tudor’s education and his lifestyle shaped him to become the first Tudor king. While I do enjoy a review section about the Wars of the Roses, I felt like this section went a bit too long.

Once we see Henry Tudor on the throne, we get to see how the Tudor dynasty grew with the children of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York. We get to see how Arthur Tudor as the heir had a much different education than his brother Henry, who was deemed a spare. The education of the princes was vastly different than the education allocated to the princesses even though it was based on humanism. With the death of Prince Arthur, Henry had to go through a crash course on how to rule a country before his father died in 1509. Hickey also shows her audience how the children of Henry VIII, Mary I, Henry Fitzroy, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI, were raised and educated. She also takes the time to show what happens to his children after Henry VIII’s death. Finally, we do get appendixes that feature mini-biographies for all the men and women who are featured in this book to show a different aspect of the Tudor court.

Overall, I found this a rather nifty little book about the Tudor court. Hickey does a decent job of telling the stories of these men and women who trained the Tudor rulers, both male and female. If you want a book that explores what it takes to rule England during the Tudor dynasty, you should check out “Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule: The Men and Women Who Trained the Royals” by Julia A. Hickey.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy!

A detailed examination of the Tudor dynasty, with an emphasis on the people who acted as the nurses, governess, tutors, and teachers to the young Tudors, and how they learned about the royal role expected of them, both in formal settings of classrooms and council chambers, and informal settings of battles and banquet halls.

We get a lot about Henry VII's education pre-Bosworth which I loved, since most people skip right from his mother suffering a traumatic birth to Henry showing up at Ambion Hill to take down Richard III, but here we se all the various guardians he had, and how his political position as a potential heir had a heavy impact on how he was treated, with various aristocrats and royals sometimes seeing he was given a princely education, but at other times treating more as prisoner. And from it all he clearly learned A LOT.

The next generation of Tudors, safely raised in luxurious palaces and never having to go on the run or suffer any question of what they were due, are raised with the kind of high expectations that any self made, successful, first generation immigrant parent would put on their child - both happy to shower them with the money they never had as a child but also expecting a gratitude some raised in safety can never fully appreciate.

While Prince Arthur is raised along a strict schedule to be king, and Princes Margaret is raised from young childhood to someday be queen of Scotland, we see how last minute Prince Henry's king-training education was once his older brother died, but that he certainly hadn't been lacking in his own education.

Prince Arthur had been given a medieval kingly education since he was two, while Prince Henry had been receiving a Renaissance prince education. This in turn made him perhaps more ready for kingship in the 16th century than his brother would have been, and we see just how wide his education was with some of the best teachers available before his father took him under his wing to keep him close out of fear of losing another heir.

Then, with the next generation of Tudors, we see all of them had excellent educations - but they were all very different. All received education in languages, history, religion, science, music, etc., but got got very different lessons in politics that lead to very different reigns. Princess Mary learned stubbornness from her mother during The Divorce, while Princess Elizabeth learned Real Politick from watching the rise and fall of so many queens. Prince Edward learned that the king's word was law, leading to him trying to upend the succession at the end of his own reign. Lady Jane Grey got great lessons in how things worked on paper - but had no sense of how to work with people in real life.

The entire time, we see the people providing the music and math and history lessons and how they are a mix of some of the best scholars in Europe at the time and people with family ties to the Tudors, showing how well educated they were as well, men and women.

[Lena Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read about those in the background who helped train, guide, and develop the Tudor royals. The princes and princess's were not raised by their parents, but they had specific people for certain purposes. They were raised with what they would have to do and know as their role as a royal. It was very interesting when you looked at all the things that went on in the background. Sometimes, they did it because they actually cared, loved them, and others for money or power.

If you're interested in the Tudors, you will love this book.

Thank you, @juliaa.hickey @pen&sword @netgalley, for allowing me to read this amazing book.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tudor royals were prepared for rule through a combination of strict schedules, Renaissance-era education, and close familial guidance, ensuring they were equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge for their future roles.

King Henry VIII established an elite palace school for his son Prince Edward. Biographer Alison Weir writes: "The men who were given responsibility for the Prince's education were among the most brilliant scholars of their day". Edward was taught by Dr. Richard Cox, a clergyman, as well as John Cheke, the first Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University.Elizabeth I was well-educated, receiving lessons alongside her brother Edward and later being tutored by William Grindal, Roger Ascham and Battista Castiglione.Elizabeth was proficient in French, Italian and Latin, using these foreign-language skills to interact with foreign diplomats and to create a "sizeable body of translations" over the course of her life.Historian Aysha Pollnitz writes: "While Erasmus never managed to deter royal boys from military training, he did succeed in tipping the scales in letters' favour, thus the young royals spent more time learning to wield pens than swords or guns".
While royal women were not raised in preparation to rule and received liberal educations that were constrained in comparison to their male relatives, all future Tudor Queens and Ladies wrote letters generally praised by scholars.

Royal children were exposed to court life and the intricacies of royal power. They had a whole team of people to ensure their well-being and proper upbringing.
Lady Mistresses and Governesses included Kat Ashley nee Champernowne, Joan Champernowne, Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford, Margaret Bryan, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, Alice Clere, Isabel Leigh, Anne Herbert,Countess of Pembroke, Anne Shelton, Blanche Milborne, and Elizabeth Tyrwhitt etc.
Governors,Mentors, and Household Officers included William Blount, 4th Earl of Mountjoy, Walter Buckler, Peter Courtenay,Anthony Denny, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Richard Page, Sir John Shelton, Jasper Tudor, and Robert Tyrwhitt etc.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The industry behind the Tudor monarchy
—
We might forget it now since we live in a democratic world (well, some of us), but there was a time, not long ago, when monarchy was the main, if not the only, rule of state, and certainly in Europe and more particularly in England for more than a thousand years. From the Anglo-Saxon petty kingdoms to the Windsors are centuries of royals, and none more prominent than the Tudors. In Hickey’s excellent and thorough book we meet the famous, infamous and the lesser known members of the Tudor courts responsible for the education of monarchs and their heirs, the vast industry that covered expected pursuits such as politics, diplomacy and finance, but also languages and culture. A monarch was not just a figurehead, they were the figurehead, and would be expected to dazzle and dominate in any and every setting.

What Hickey does in this authoritative book is show how each king, queen, prince and princess is treated differently, from those who are trained from birth to those thrust on to the throne at the last minute; how the life of a prince is alike yet unlike that of a princess; how each generation faces challenges peculiar to its time. As with any history of the Tudors, there will be overlap with previous books but there is detail in here that is revelatory, especially the short biographies of the men and women in charge of educating generations of Tudor royals.

Four stars.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In centuries past, royal children were generally not raised directly by their parents but by a network of nannies, governesses, tutors, & advisors. In the Tudor period, the heir to the throne would be raised in a separate household to their siblings, & boys would be raised mainly by women until the age of 7 when their household would be changed to now consist mostly of men. These people had direct access to the royal youngsters & sometimes forged a friendship which lasted all their lives, whilst others used their proximity to bid for power & influence.

A well-researched, but sometimes academically dry, look at those who spent their lives closest to the heirs to England's throne. From Henry VII's formidable mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, to Cat Ashley, Elizabeth I's confidant. The issue for me is that we seem to spend an awful lot of time on Henry VII, Prince Arthur, & Henry VIII, & seemingly whizz through Edward VI, Mary I, & Elizabeth I. That may just be my impression though as I find the latter three more interesting.

I do note that the author brought out evidence to counter the impression that most people have of Edward VI as a sickly invalid. Here he seems to have been a fairly healthy child & took part in activities such as tilting & hunting which he would not have done if he were fragile. Overall though, it took me almost a week to read this & normally I absolutely tear through anything to do with the Tudors, so I rate this 3.25 (rounded down).
,
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Pen & Sword, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

[East of Reality · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re interested in the Tudor dynasty — especially Henry VIII and Henry VII — this is certainly a book worth considering. It’s not just about the Henry’s, but about the mothers, fathers, regents, uncles, cousins and the plethora of people around them who raised them, taught them, supported them and maneuvered against them. The writing is inviting and pleasant to read, the book is well researched, and I learned enough interesting trivia and bits of history that I was able to annoy everyone around me as I told them the best bits of what I’d just read.

However, the book doesn’t spend as much time with the Tudor Queens, Elizabeth and Mary, which I think is a shame as I find both of them to be more interesting as people. This book adds a lot of insight into the various courts and politics that shaped the Tudor family, and it was easy to read — I mention this twice because, for me when it comes to non-fiction books, the ease of reading and a more welcoming writing voice make it just a more pleasant experience for me, and make it more likely I’ll remember what I’m reading … and more likely that I’ll come back to it again.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for giving me an ARC to read!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many books written on the Tudor Monarchs but not enough on the people who helped raise them and helped them become the rulers they were destined to become.


The first part of the book focuses more on the details of what each child's education would have consisted of, with only a brief look at the key players involved. I feel this is a good way of presenting the information without slowing down the narrative (There are so many different families trying to get ahead in the Tudor court, so it can get a little confusing when you're trying to work out who is who.)
Luckily, if you want to know a bit more about the key players  the author dedicates the second half of the book to giving them a mini biography each.

The author has a nice writing style, although I did have to reread a few sections to try and understand who exactly she is talking about at that time and I did notice one or two errors that could have easily been fact checked, but it didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the book.


Thank you to Netgalley and Pen & Sword for providing me with an advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preparing Tutor Kings And Prince’s To Rule, the men and women who trained royalty by Julia Hicks, from the first, Henry of England, until the last their descendants and their adversaries, this book not only tells you who was her guardian, but the outcome of their life, education, marriage, and their descendants and their ties to the throne. I read so much about the European royalty. One would think I would get tired of it, but in this book, I was shocked to learn of those. I had never heard of before such as Henry’s two stepbrothers Giles and Edmund just to name one example. I love Julia Hicks‘s books and can’t see that changing anytime soon. She is a proper expert when it comes to English royalty and can’t wait to see what else she has to offer in the future as for this one I definitely recommended. It was an eye-opening book about the different reasons and situations that call for a guardian and how the English royalty were educated.#NetGalley, #PenAndSwordPress, #TheBlindReviewer, #JuliaHicks,#PreparingTutorKingsAndPrince’sToRule,

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Behind every Tudor monarch were the men and women who shaped their lives. This book unveils the hidden stories of these guardians—some loyal and loving, others manipulative and power-hungry. From Jasper Tudor to Katherine Parr, discover the rewards and the deadly risks of raising a king or queen.

This interesting book highlights a time when the education of princes and princesses was becoming more rigorous, thanks in part to the printing press. Full of the intrigue typical of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor court, it’s entertaining and easy to read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Kyler Burd · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have a niche interest in the educational practices of late medieval/early Renaissance English royals than this book is certainly for you.

Julia A Hickey does a great job at synthesizing large amounts of information into an approachably sized book and placing the specific focus, the Tudors, into a context that shows how earlier Yorkist practices influenced the upstart dynasty. Beyond just the educational practices you will get a good basic understanding of the War of the Roses and how the Tudors became the ruling family of England.

As an academic work, this book can get a bit lost in the weeds and you will occasionally finding yourself pausing to try and work out the complicated family relationships of the Tudor courtiers and a large section of the book is mostly an encyclopedia of those courtiers that is best used as a reference than as good afternoon reading in front of the fireplace.

That said, this is a great place to start if you are interested in this period of time and the early lives of popular figures like Henry VIII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Thanks to Netgalley for access to an advanced reader copy of this work.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preparing Tudor Kings and Princes to Rule by Julia Hickey covers the early years of the royal Tudors.

While this is a good beginning book for those interest in Tudor history, those who have more knowledge may find that this new addition doesn’t add much to the conversation about the famous royal family. It does do a good job with the information it covers though and is still worth the read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Pen and Sword for the advanced reader copy