The King of England, Henry Tudor, Henry VIII finally has a son. This is the son he has been dreaming about but Henry Fitzroy is illegitimate. He was born by the King's mistress, Bessie Blount. But, a son is a son and Henry Fitzroy is brought to court at the age of six and made Duke of Richmond. This is Fitzroy's story from the time he first comes to court through his struggles with the cough that constantly plagues him; his ever growing love of Anne Boleyn; his friendships with court musician Mark Smeaton and his boyhood friend Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey to his last breath at the age of seventeen. This is the story of the boy who would never be king.