Henry VIII was emotionally dependent on women, according to the historian David Starkey, who has identified striking similarities between the monarch's and his mother's handwriting.

Unlike most early modern princes the Tudor monarch was brought up in a feminine household and was almost certainly taught to write by his mother, analysis shows.

This upbringing shaped Henry's "emotionally incontinent" personality, leading him to fall and love with – and marry – so many women, Starkey claims.

The consequences for British history were immense; the 16th Century king's desire to secure a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon so he could marry the attractive young Anne Boleyn helped bring about the country's break from Rome, and eventual acceptance of Protestantism.

Starkey, a Tudor specialist who has presented several television series about English monarchs, has curated a new exhibition at the British Library where examples of the king's handwriting will go on show.