Harold Godwinson was King of England for less than a year and failed to defend England from William the Conqueror s invading Norman army in 1066, an army that wreaked havoc across the country and changed the political history of England forever. Indeed, 1066 was so critical a turning point that it marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon epoch. The Last English King is the first full-scale biography of England s lost king, an astute political operator who as Earl of Wessex won the affection of the English people and the deathbed nomination from Edward the Confessor (King of England from 1041 to 1066) to succeed him. Peter Rex tells the story of the formidable warrior-king killed in battle in defense of his kingdom. The Battle of Hastings was a close-run battle that could have gone either way. England would be a very different place today had the fatal arrow missed Harold s eye.".