Six Lives : The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens

Thoughtful exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at Henry VIII’s wives.

The show cleverly started by looking at the afterlife of the women and how their stories have been told on stage and screen and in literature. It discussed how each era has projected their own values onto them.

As a child of the 70s I was excited to see costume designs for the tv series on them which I loved and which probably sparked my interest in history. These were shown alongside costumes from other productions including the current “Six”.

The show then went on to set the scene of what the court was like and in particular the role of mythical and biblical stories in the art and literature.

The meat of the show then went through the Queens in order discussing their lives and the people around them and giving a flavour of what they collected and had around them. There were beautiful objects and paintings including good use of miniatures.

The show was full of excited Tudor geeks when I was there so I felt quite at home!

Closed 8 September 2024


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