So, July 2024 is finally here and after FOURTEEN YEARS in the making, I finally release the book I’ve always wanted to write, a full-length biography charting the rise of the Tudors, from obscure beginnings in North Wales to the throne in Westminster. A nest of rebels who became kings.
When Henry Tudor won the English crown by defeating Richard III in battle, he was a stranger to the people he now ruled, an ‘unknown Welshman’ in the words of his defeated foe. In his native Wales, however, Henry had long been championed as the Son of Prophecy, a foretold national messiah who would free his oppressed people from their lengthy misery. How had this remarkable situation come about? Well, that is what I explore in my book ‘Son of Prophecy: The Rise of Henry Tudor’.
We will meet ‘the terror of England’ Ednyfed Fychan, and the two brothers who captured Conwy Castle from Edward III through an act of trickery on April Fools’ Day 1401. We follow Owen Tudor as he migrates to England, falls in love with a widowed queen, and is thrown in jail for this crime. We are side-by-side with Jasper Tudor during his twenty year exile, one of the more redoubtable and loyal medieval figures, and of course we get a close look at how the hell Henry Tudor survived a troublesome childhood, evaded plots for his capture and death, to emerge as one of the most unlikeliest kings we ever had.
A new book means a book launch of course, and I am marking this release with THREE EVENTS this month where I will deliver a talk called, unsurprisingly, Son of Prophecy. Below are the details with booking information:
- Wednesday 17 July at 7pm - London Welsh Centre (Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8UE)
FREE ticket and a fully-stocked bar - BOOK HERE
- Thursday 18 July at 6:30pm - Southwark Cathedral (London Bridge, SE1 9DA)
Only 8 tickets left - BOOK HERE
- Wednesday 24 July at 4pm - Harvington History Festival (Harvington Hall, Kidderminster, DY10 4LR)
For tickets and festival information - BOOK HERE
Hopefully I will see some of you there and sign some books!
I may also think about perhaps doing an Instagram live as well, more of an informal chat around that date but we’ll see!
Well done! Sorry I can’t come to the events but I’ll be there in spirit. Once again can’t wait to read it
Well done Nathen. Congratulations looking forward to seeing you in Southwark