My first time writing to you.

I have just finished reading War Lord and I am sad to see the end of Uhtred’s tales. I happened upon The Last Kingdom by chance and now have many of your works, which I love to reread regularly.

My question is of Aethelstan. Appreciating that I have only read through the book once and I may have misinterpreted your writing (sorry if I have!), but I came away with the impression that he may have been gay. Was this your intention? Of course it’d be near impossible to confirm if he was/ was not, but was this a rumour of the time/ in history? I think he did not marry and did not have any (known) children, but is there more in history to suggest on this? Would people of the time have talked about this; true or not, and would it have been a scandal of the day (or alternatively have I just totally misread your text)?

Many thanks

Scott