When Royals Become Rock Stars

Remember Henry VIII? Not like this, you don't. Hollywood is engineering a Tudor revival

Francois Rousseau - SHOWTIME

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII and Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in a scene from the Showtime series The Tudors

A handsome, charismatic young star is bored with his marriage and worried about his legacy. He distracts himself by bedding young lovelies, throwing extravagant parties and hanging out with friends who keep him out of trouble--at least until the wrong girl comes along. If this sounds like an upcoming episode of Entourage, then adjust your cultural references back about 500 years and add some tights. The young celeb: Henry VIII. The first wife: Catherine of Aragon. The friends: Cardinal Wolsey and Sir Thomas More. The temptress: Anne Boleyn. Sound familiar?

Unlike the corpulent old Henry VIII many of us remember from...

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