A Health Unto His Majesty

Crown of Shadows and Secrets

In A Health Unto His Majesty, Jean Plaidy transports readers to the glittering yet treacherous corridors of Tudor politics, where healing hands can just as easily conceal poisoned daggers. Set in 1541, the novel follows Lady Eleanor Cresswell, a learned gentlewoman summoned to Whitehall when King Henry VIII falls mysteriously ill. As court apothecaries scramble to concoct tonics of rue and gentian, Eleanor discovers that the king’s malady may be more than natural frailty—it could be the machination of those who would see the Tudor line unseated. Plaidy’s finely wrought prose captures the tension of candlelit council meetings and the hushed whispers that ripple through velvet-draped halls, revealing a world where loyalty and treason walk hand in hand.

Poisoned Chalices and Hidden Agendas

Tasked with tending to both royal wounds and fragile egos, Eleanor becomes entangled with Sir Thomas Wrotham, the king’s formidable Master of the Horse, whose charm masks a calculating mind. Together, they navigate a labyrinth of cryptic letters, clandestine midnight rendezvous in the Privy Garden, and the deadliest intrigues of Cardinal Wolsey’s discarded allies. As Eleanor deciphers alchemical symbols scrawled on vellum and confronts the sinister shadow of Cromwell’s spies, the reader is drawn into an escalating battle of wits and wills. Each vial she brews and each prayer she utters might heal the monarch—or herald his final downfall.

Redemption Through Courage and Compassion

With the fate of England teetering upon a knife’s edge, Eleanor must summon the courage to defy courtly convention and risk everything to expose the unseen hand guiding the poisoning plot. From the grandeur of the Painted Chamber to the stark isolation of the Tower’s ramparts, A Health Unto His Majesty pulses with the high stakes of duty, honor, and love tested by fire. In a spectacular climax beneath the soaring Tudor arches, Eleanor’s compassion and resolve illuminate the true power of healing—both of the body and the realm.

.Jean Plaidy is the celebrated pen name of Eleanor Hibbert, whose meticulously researched historical novels have illuminated the lives and legacies of royalty and commoners alike, enchanting readers with tales of passion, intrigue, and the indomitable human spirit.