A fool's errand

The play Henry VIII, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, opens with a warning. Those who have made their way to the Globe Theatre expecting to "hear a merry bawdy play" can expect disappointment, for they, the prologue puns, "Will be deceived". This play is serious, even tragic, portraying how "mightiness meets misery" where there is no room for merriness - and thus no room for the king's fool himself, Will Somer.

- Joanne Paul

Peter K Andersson's Fool attempts a recovery of the shadowy, elusive figure of William Somer. There he is, staring out at us in a series of portraits of Henry VIII and his family, and yet little is known about him.

Andersson's book is written as a detective story, peeling back the layers of legend and theory, to help us get at the man standing beside the most powerful monarchs of the age. For Somer was not just close to the mighty Henry VIII, he was also prominent in the courts of his three children: perhaps the only man so close to the throne to serve successfully in all four reigns. Andersson suggests that Somer functions as a sort of Tudor mascot, a sign of dynastic stability as recognisable as the Tudor rose itself.