• First-ever biography of Henry VIII’s most important mistress. • Huge interest in the wives of Henry VIII, Bessie was Henry’s mistress for longer than he was married to many of his wives and she bore him a son. • Praise for the hardback published in 2011: "Secret of the queen that Britain ‘lost’" THE SUN; "A lucid, readable, intelligent account of the life of a woman who might have been queen" THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE. The earliest known and longest lasting mistress of Henry VIII, Bessie Blount was the king’s first love. More beautiful than Anne Boleyn or any of Henry’s other wives or concubines, Bessie’s beauty and other charms ensured that she turned heads, winning a place at court as one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies. The affair lasted five years (longer than most of Henry’s marriages) and in 1519, she bore Henry VIII a son, Henry Fitzroy. As a mark of his importance, Cardinal Wolsey was appointed his guardian and godfather. Supplanted soon after by Mary Boleyn, Bessie’s importance rests on the vital proof it gave Henry VIII that he could father a healthy son and through Henry Fitzroy, Bessie remained a prominent figure at court. Sidelined by historians until now, Bessie and the son she had by the king are one of the great ‘what ifs’ of English history. If Jane Seymour had not produced a male heir and Bessie’s son had not died young aged 17, in all likelihood Henry Fitzroy could have followed his father as King Henry IX and Bessie propelled to the status of mother of the king.