Why is British history so dominated by the Tudors?

Henry VIII casts a long, fat shadow over our nation

We took the children to the Tower of London over half-term, once again. Despite being built by William the Conqueror and made notorious and sinister by Richard III, the figure who dominates the place is that grotesque monstrosity, Henry VIII.

There is a joke that in Britain popular history is all about ‘Henry and Hitler’, and it is remarkable how much th…