A Pictorial Tour of The Boleyn Inheritance: By the time The Boleyn Inheritance opens Henry VIII is about 50 years
old, in poor health, probably suffering from gout, possibly syphilis, and has an open
festering wound in his leg that won't heal (he hadn't always been
old, fat and smelly - in his youth he'd been considered quite dashing and a lot slimmer, as can be seen by the armor he wore in his early twenties).