Having graduated with a history degree, Dr Maria Hayward completed the postgraduate diploma in textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC), Hampton Court Palace. After working as a conservator and completing a PhD at the London School of Economics, she is currently a Reader and Head of Studies and Research at the TCC, University of Southampton, and the Director of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies (2004-07). In 2004 she was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and joined the editorial board of Studies in Conservation. She is also Assistant Editor of Costume. Her research interests include the material culture of the court of Henry VIII and English pre-Reformation liturgical textiles. Her publications include The 1542 Inventory of Whitehall: The Palace and Its Keeper (2004) and Tapestry Conservation: Principles and Practice, edited with Frances Lennard (2005). She is currently working with Dr David Starkey and Dr Philip Ward to edit the specialist essays to accompany the 1547 Inventory of Henry VIII, the transcript of which was published in 1998.

Henry VIII used his wardrobe, and that of his family and household, as a way of expressing his wealth and magnificence. This book encompasses the first detailed study of male and female dress worn at the court of Henry VIII (1509-47) and covers the dress of the king and his immediate family, the royal household and the broader court circle. Henry VIII's wardrobe is set in context by a study of Henry VII's clothes, court and household.

As none of Henry VIII's clothes survive, evidence is drawn primarily from the great wardrobe accounts, wardrobe warrants, and inventories, and is interpreted using evidence from narrative sources, paintings, drawings and a small selection of contemporary garments, mainly from European collections.

Key areas for consideration include the king's personal wardrobe, how Henry VIII's queens used their clothes to define their status, the textiles provided for the pattern of royal coronations, marriages and funerals and the role of the great wardrobe, wardrobe of the robes and laundry. In addition there is information on the cut and construction of garments, materials and colours, dress given as gifts, the function of livery and the hierarchy of dress within the royal household, and the network of craftsmen working for the court. The text is accompanied by full transcripts of James Worsley's wardrobe books of 1516 and 1521 which provide a brief glimpse of the king's clothes.