''Murder Most Royal'' (a.k.a. ''The King's Pleasure'') (1949) is an historical fiction novel by

Jean Plaidy Eleanor Alice Hibbert (née Burford; 1 September 1906 – 18 January 1993) was an English writer of historical romances. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen ...

. The novel focuses on two of Henry VIII's wives,

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

and

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the se ...

. It begins with Anne as a young woman leaving for Brussels, then returning to England; her rise to power in the English court; her marriage to Henry VIII as his second wife; and her subsequent execution. In parallel, the life of Catherine Howard, Anne's first cousin, is also recounted. She becomes Henry VIII's fifth wife, but, after claims of adultery, is also executed.

Characters

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See also