Although a hush fell over the packed audience when the handsome larger-than-life Henry VIII (aka David Smith) first entered the Hope Methodist Church , they were soon applauding him.
King Henry , a professional historical costumed re-enactor, was holding court where his young subjects- pupils from Higham Ferrers Junior School and Henry Chichele Primary School- entertained him with a range of typically Tudor dances.
Henry had been invited along by the Friends of St Mary's group of volunteers who were celebrating the first of three events marking their annual Arts Weekend.
Earlier Carol Fitzgerald, a friend of St Mary's trustee , said that the children were studying the Tudor period at school and that Henry VIII always went down well with them because of his brutal beheading of two of his six wives.
However as the re-enactor explained later, the young Henry VIII who was visiting Higham Ferrers was aged about thirty and was married to first wive Catherine of Aragon , and there was hint of divorce.
Another VIP Deputy Mayor Cllr Gary Salmon, had also been invited to the event and after Carol and fellow trustee Brenda Lofthouse, recounted some of the historical facts about Tudor Times to the audience, the children took to the floor.
They first danced Greensleeves, a medieval court dance, with music said to be composed by Henry VIII himself; then they showed off their hornpipe skills , followed by the Galliard dance. The dances were choreographed by Kitty Denton with the Tudor-era-music played by Rosemary Nayyar.
Both schools danced the the Hornpipe together at the end of the Tudor festivities, with parents being invited to join in.
Henry did not stand on ceremony and surprised the audience by taking up the offer and showing off his own dance moves.
Then addressing the court in his booming voice, he told pupils he was a dancer himself and that '' it was joyous to see you perform- keep you well and good health'' he said.
Henry who is based in Essex, carries out some twelve similar costumed engagements a year as well as running historical workshops for schools, two notable dates in his diary this year are the Hampton Court Palace Festival in June ( Hampton Court was the home of Henry VIII) and the 500th anniversary celebrations of Christ Church College, Oxford, in July.
After the school dance performance , the Friends of St Mary's took Henry on a tour of the medieval town, which has connections with the famous King.
''The town lost a castle and most of Chichele College under Henry VIII's instruction. We had to show our Henry the college'' Carol Fitzgerald explained.