To restore the power of Spain and bring England back to the iron embrace of Holy Church, the young Philip agrees to marry Mary Tudor. His golden hair and pale skin fill the middle-aged Queen with thoughts of hitherto forbidden pleasures. Yet again is Philip the servant of his country…..

          Set againts the glittering courts of sixteenth-century Europe, the Spain of the dreaded Inquisition and the tortured England of Bloody Mary, this powerful novel traces the story of Philip II – and of the women who came to know this cold-blooded monster only as a devoted father and sensual lover.