Henry VIII and His Six Wives

(The Tudors were truly terrifying, torturing tyrants!)

 Henry VIII
The husband of six women

Henry VIII was born on June 28th, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. He was the
second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. As a young man Henry was considered
attractive, educated, and accomplished. He was an author and a composer. Henry
inherited a lot of money from his toothless father, but spent it all on wine, women,
wars, and bottom wipers (which was a very noble job).

Henry’s older brother, Arthur, was heir to the English throne. He was married
to Catherine of Aragon, but he died twenty days after their marriage. When he died
his brother, Henry, became the heir to the throne. Now, with his oldest son’s death,
Henry VII insisted that his younger son, Henry, should marry Arthur’s widow. Henry
was reluctant to do this, but when his father died and he was crowned king, at the
age of seventeen on April 21st 1509, he finally agreed to marry his brother’s widow.

Henry VIII and Catherine were married for twenty-four years but
unfortunately during this time Catherine was unable to provide Henry VIII with a
male heir. Because of this, Henry decided that he wanted to divorce his queen and
marry a beautiful young courtier called Anne Boleyn. This prompted a series of
disputes with the Roman Catholic Church. Eventually, because the Pope refused to
grant Henry VIII a divorce, Henry changed the religion of Tudor England from
‘Roman Catholic’ to ‘The Church of England’. This meant that Henry VIII now
controlled the whole shebang. During this time, Henry VIII demolished all the
Catholic monasteries and forcibly took possession of their money. People who
opposed him were executed and tortured.

Henry VIII lived at Hampton Court

Over the thirty-eight years that King Henry reigned he killed 72,000 people.
THAT’S ABOUT FIVE A DAY!!! The tortures included the rack, the manacles, the
scavengers daughter, being chained down in the street with lead weights till you die
in your own filth, or the worst of them all, hung, drawn and quartered.

By time of Henry VIII death, on January 28th 1547, Henry had been married
six times, he had acquired fifty-five palaces, he had changed the religion of the
country, and he had built the very first modern navy.
Here are some more interesting facts about Henry VIII

• He died in the Palace of Whitehall. He was buried at Windsor Castle.

• When his wife, Jane Seymour died he became obese and unhealthy.

• Henry wrote to the Pope—“If the pope is unwilling, we are left to find a

remedy elsewhere, some remedies are extreme ones, but a sick man

seeks relief in any way he can find.”

• Henry stopped all payments going to Rome from England

• Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was, in fact, annulled.

• Henry translated the Roman Catholic bible from Latin to English




 Catherine of Aragon
“Alas, Sir!
In what have I offended you? What cause
Hath my behavior given to your displeasure.
That thus you should proceed to put me off,
And take your good grace from me? Heaven witness,
I have been to you a good and humble wife,
At all times to your will conformable.”
-William Shakespeare

Henry’s first wife was Catherine of Aragon. She was a Spanish Princess who
was previously married to Henry VIII’s brother, Arthur.
In 1509, A few years after Henry’s brother, Arthur, died, Henry married
Catherine. Unfortunately, Catherine failed to produce a male heir and had many still
births and miscarriages, but in 1516 Catherine had a baby girl, Mary. By 1526
Catherine had still not been able to produce a male heir. Because Henry wanted a
male heir he began to consider divorcing Catherine. Since divorce was forbidden in
the Catholic Church, Henry began researching ways in which he might legally
divorce Catherine. Soon after, Henry VIII discovered that the bible stated that a man
could not marry his brother’s wife. However, Catherine argued that her first marriage
to Henry’s deceased brother, Arthur, was void since they did not consummate the
marriage.
Unfortunately for Henry VIII, The pope in Rome refused to grant Henry and
Catherine an annulment, which made Henry very angry. But Henry still wanted to
divorce Catherine. So, in order to successfully divorce his wife, Henry forced his
Kingdom to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and created his own new
religion, The Church of England.
At this point, Catherine was banished from court and was never allowed to
see her daughter, Mary, again. Catherine died in Kimbolton Castle, Cambridgeshire,
on January 7th 1536, and was buried in Peterborough Cathedral.
Immediately after his divorce, Henry married Anne Boleyn secretly on
January 25th 1533.

 Anne Boleyn
Anne’s portrait is hung in Hogwarts Castle

The exact date when Anne Boleyn was born is actually unknown. Another
interesting fact about Anne Boleyn is that she probably had an eating disorder.
History books tell us that she would eat and vomit into a bowl that her lady’s in
waiting would hold for her.
Unfortunately, Anne was just as unsuccessful as Catherine of Aragon at
producing a male heir. However, on September 7th 1533 she had a daughter who
she named Elizabeth. When this happened Henry was extremely angry. He wanted a
son, and because of this he refused to go to his own daughter’s christening.
After several years of marriage to King Henry VIII, Anne was accused of
treason on May19nd 1536, and she became the first queen of England to be publicly
executed. She was buried in the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, in London. Eleven
days later Henry married Jane Seymour.
 Jane Seymour
She is the only one of Henry’s six wives that he chose to be buried with.

On 30 May 1535, King Henry married Jane Seymour. Unlike his previous
wives, however, Jane never had a coronation and so was never crowned Queen of
England. Some people believe this was because Henry wanted her to provide an heir
to the throne first.

On October 12th, Jane gives birth to Henry’s son, Edward. Unfortunately, she
died twelve days later. Henry had dearly loved Jane and wore black for three months
after her death and did not marry for another three years. In that time Henry became
obese.
However, on January 6th, 1540, Henry married Anne of Cleves, a German
princess. He had never met the princess but was told by his advisors that she was
beautiful.
 Anne of Cleves
Anne was originally betrothed to Francis, son of the Duke of Lorraine.

Henry and Anne were married for a short seven months and three days. The
marriage was annulled because Henry thought she stank, was ugly, and had very
saggy breasts. Fortunately for Anne, they remained friends and she was allowed to
keep her head! Anne lived in England for the rest of her life in Hever Castle, which
Henry gave to her. Her official name after the divorce was “The King’s Sister”. She
often visited him and liked to drink ale and gamble with Kathryn Howard, who
became Henry’s fifth wife. When she died she was buried in Westminster Abbey.
 Kathryn Howard
She was a cousin of Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Kathryn was only sixteen when she married Henry in 1540, at Oatlands
Palace, Surrey. By the time they married, Henry was 49 years old, overweight, and
unable to walk. Kathryn, however, was a lively teenager.

Kathryn Howard was previously lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves and was

also the first cousin to Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. Delighted with his new
wife, Henry is said to have spoilt Kathryn with gifts and called her his “rose without a
thorn”. Unfortunately, the marriage only last sixteen months. Three months later, in
1542, Kathryn was beheaded for treason. Her crime was adultery because she had
been unfaithful to the king.
 Catherine Parr
It seems Henry had a thing about ladies called Catherine!

Catherine Parr was born in 1512. Her father, Sir Thomas Parr, was a close
friend of Henry VIII and Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was her godmother.
She was very clever and published two books, “Prayers or Meditations” and “The
Lamentations of a Sinner”. She even spoke 5 languages: English, Latin, French,
Italian, and Spanish. But she did not like sewing, “My hands are ordained to touch
crowns and scepters, not spindles and needles,” she is reported to have said.

Catherine became the restorer of Henry's court as a family home for his
children. Catherine was determined to present the royal household as a close-knit
one in order to demonstrate strength through unity to those that opposed Henry.
However, Catherine's most significant achievement was Henry's passing a legal act
confirming that his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, would remain in the line of
succession to the throne (despite the fact that they had both been made illegitimate
by divorce or remarriage). Henry's trust in Catherine was also revealed when he
chose her to rule as Regent while he was attending to the war in France. In the
unlikely event that he lost his life, he decreed that she was to rule as Regent until his
nine-year-old son, Edward, came of age.
Another interesting fact about Catherine is that she had been previously
married to two husbands before Henry, and also remarried after Henry had died.
Henry died on January 28th 1547, but Catherine outlived him by over a year,
she died on September 5th, 1548, at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire where she is
buried.

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