Do you love to lose yourself in a Historical Romance Novel?

Romance and History together can be very enticing

Find out what you didn't know about those Historical Heroes

Those were the days, when men were men, prepared to fight for their beliefs, their country and their lady. And oh, how they dressed! All those wonderful gowns, satin, velvet, lace and silk. Why is it that we, who have the freedom to dress as we want and do as we want, often hanker in our historical romance fiction, for a past where things were so very different.

King Henry VIII

He is the King who interests many people, mainly because he married six times and beheaded two of his wives. And the eye is automatically drawn to the magnificent codpiece! Is he showing off his manhood? Is he protecting it? Or, as is often thought, is he keeping it away from touching anything because he had syphilis and it was sore? Who knows?

The fact is he is the only King you will ever see wearing a codpiece. Another fact you might not know about King Henry VIII is that he stank. I mean, I know most people did in medieval times, because they bathed seldom if at all, but Henry stank worse than most.

After his jousting accident in 1536, the wound to his leg became ulcerated and refused to heal. The physicians' idea of putting burning pokers in it probably didn't persuade it to heal, but either way, after that it is said that you could smell him coming from two rooms away.

There are many little gems like that that you might not have learned at school or read in the history books, so delve in and see if you can pick out any more.

With the recent accession to the throne of a new King Charles III and his immediately passing the title of Prince of Wales to his son and heir, Prince William, I thought it might be interesting to note just how that title came about for the heirs to the throne.

Edward I, otherwise known as Edward Longshanks, as well as Hammer of the Scots, was also the King who conquered Wales. He was a brutal man; the awful execution method of a victim being hanged, drawn and quartered was dreamed up by Edward, specially for the brother of Prince Llewellyn.

After conquering Wales, in order to placate the people, Edward made them a promise. His Queen was pregnant at the time and he promised the Welsh people that he would give them a Prince who was born in Wales and did not speak a word of English. Then he hurried his pregnant wife to Wales, where she gave birth to a son who, obviously, spoke not a word of English.

Crafty wotsit! He was very lucky that the child was a boy. But that is how sneaky he was and that is why ever since, the heir to the throne has been the Prince of Wales.

The heir to the throne is also given the title of Duke of Cornwall, a title our new King also passed to his eldest son. It is the title of the first English duke, given to Edward, the Black Prince and heir to King Edward III. Unfortunately, he succumbed to dysentery before his father died, so the crown went to his son, King Richard II. He turned out to be a big disappointment. More about him on this page.

There are many parts of English history one can sink into, disappear into one of those historical romance novels.

So, I will leave you to discover the many places you can visit, the heroes you can love, the ladies you can envy, the thrill of living in an age far more dangerous than this one.

And the quirky and often gruesome facts you might not have heard about before.

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