The Courtier From The 21st Century Who Would Be King : The King Behind The Throne : King Henry VIII (Alfred the Great II) : Ch.2 by Alfred Muggins (himself)

6/7/21 (15/2/23)

    As Alfred prepared to ‘swop’ places with Henry so the Great King could be saved by modern medicine, Alfred was ‘trained up’ by Henry to look after the Kingdom. He appeared in public as Henry a number of times while Henry observed largely from a distance in disguise and gave coaching tips during and after. He had grown his beard just like Henry’s, and they put something on it to redden it a little, and his hair too, which would need to be refreshed quite often. In fact Henry’s own beard and hair were already greying a bit by now, but Henry had been using this ‘stuff’ for a year or two now to make himself look younger and more vigorous, so it should work for Alfred in the same way, and it did. He learned how to dispose or disport (?) himself as Henry as the King himself would. Thankfully the King had long since had to give up his jousting and his wrestling hobbies, and his dancing, and even his hunting, so his protégé, awkward enough as an actor, was able to follow the King’s more painful, stiff and uncomfortable gait much more easily. He learned to pretend to be the King, to be surly and uncommunicative, and jealous like the King could. However he was not yet ready for meetings with close Ministers and close friend courtiers, where he would really be expected to be the real Henry. More practice was required, and Alfred was far from being the greatest actor. He was more used to writing stories and dramas than actually acting them. He could actually never remember lines, even though he was quite good at making them up! But this acting was to be a crucial one which would enable him to stay alive and ahead of the various oppositions or potential threats of court, and keep himself on Henry’s throne, while the real King had himself repaired by the NHS in 21^st Century England, or Britain, as the expanded Modern State was called by then.

    “Goodbye Henry,” said Alfred, as he made the ‘magic’ which would send the King to the future. Actually Alfred left the 16^th century and took him there for a short period, lent him his national insurance number and passport, and most importantly his NHS number! And so the real King Henry VIII, a temporary refugee from the 16^th Century, was enrolled with Alfred’s GP as Alfred Muggins. Alfred was rather embarrassed when he was obliged to reveal his middle name to the noble King, but needs must, particularly as he might be quizzed on it by the various government and health service authorities. Now Henry would be able to talk to a modern Doctor, who would be able to give him good reliable advice about how he was eating himself into an early grave with his fine feasts, and greedy showing off. He would be able to have his sore leg treated properly. The first thing they would do would be to take that bloody blood restricting garter off his poor leg, and give proper circulation a chance. Anyway Alfred would leave all that to his own Doctor and his colleagues, and to the expertise of his local hospitals, which were far more qualified than any of the so called health practitioners of Henry’s time.

    By the time Henry left the 16^th Century he had got through 5 of his wives and was now on the last of them, kind and stable Katherine Parr, who, if he did not go to the future to be healed and made healthy before it was too late, would outlive him according to Alfred. Somehow Alfred’s trustworthy advice and obvious knowledge of both his history and amazingly of his future too, caused Henry to listen. It was a wake up call apparently, and Henry happened to be listening (at last!)! Only one or two close confidants were told by Henry of his plan to swop places with his favoured Courtier Alfred, and to leave him to rule his Kingdom as a caretaker King, until Henry returned, to continue as their King, rejuvenated and able to rule with greater energy. One of those was his wife Katherine Parr herself, who would surely have noticed if her Henry had suddenly been replaced by a newer (and more vigorous version, in the form of Alfred!) Alfred was introduced by the King to Katherine and all was explained. Alfred, who had of course already met the Queen, but as she was to become in practice his own Queen they would have to know and understand each other. Alfred liked this Queen very much (as he had done all of Henry’s Queens, the tragic ones included!). ‘There was one thing about Henry,’ thought Alfred, ‘He sure did have great taste in Queens!’ Thankfully Katherine Parr seemed to like him too, and was quite pleased at the prospect of Henry being healed in the distant future, and then returning one day, refreshed and ready to rule his Kingdom properly again. Alfred even liked to think that perhaps she was pleased to swop her notoriously difficult Royal husband for a more relaxed and sensitive one who did not have a real leg ulcer problem, or mental hang ups resulting from his nasty bang on the head at the jousting field while he had been married to Anne Boleyn, even if it was only for a few short years potentially.