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Wives of Henry VIII?

Who Were the Six

Wives of Henry VIII?
The monarch’s chaotic love life led to an
unstable succession, foreign policy changes
and a break with Rome.

BY: CRYSTAL PONTI

UPDATED: AUGUST 11, 2023 | ORIGINAL:
JANUARY 28, 2020

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HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

King Henry VIII ruled England for 36 years (1509-

1547), presiding over the beginnings of the English
Renaissance and Protestant Reformation. But it's
the monarch's tumultuous romantic life, rather
than his politics, that have kept him in the
spotlight.

Henry VIII is best known for his six wives, and

several mistresses he kept on the side. The
monarch’s desperate quest for political uniScation
and a healthy male heir drove him to annul two
marriages and have two wives beheaded. His
chaotic love life caused an unstable succession,
foreign policy implications and even led to the
break with the Church of Rome.

The English Reformation

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Here’s a look—in order—at the lives and, in several
instances, the untimely demise of Henry VIII’s wives
along with the impact this real-life melodrama had
on England.

1. Catherine of Aragon
(1485-1536): Demoted for
Bearing No Son
2:05

IMAGNO/GETTY IMAGES

CATHERINE OF ARAGON

Henry took the throne in 1509, at age 17. Six weeks

later, he married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and the
widow of his elder brother, Arthur. From the
moment young Henry took his nuptials, he
obsessed over continuing the Tudor line. Of
multiple pregnancies and several births, the only
child to survive was Henry and Catherine’s
daughter, Mary, born in February 1516.

Catherine remained at Henry’s side for 23 years

and is even thought to be the only woman the king
ever truly loved. “Henry viewed her as a model wife
in every respect bar one… her failure to give him a
son,” says Tudor historian Tracy Borman. Frustrated
at the lack of a male heir, Henry’s eyes wandered.

He had a brief extra-marital abair with Elizabeth

“Bessie” Blount, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting.
In 1519, Bessie was taken in secret to the Essex
countryside where she gave birth to Henry Fitzroy,
Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate child.

By the 1520s, Henry had developed a fondness for

Anne Boleyn, another lady-in-waiting to the queen,
and eventually sought the Pope’s approval for an
annulment. “He argued that his marriage to
Catherine was invalid because her marriage to his
brother Arthur had been consummated, but she
always contested this,” Borman explains. When the
Pope refused Henry’s request, the king divorced
Catherine against the will of the Roman Catholic
Church and established the Church of England—
ushering in the Reformation.

Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle, as a princess

not a queen, on January 7, 1536.

2. Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-

1536): The Union That
Sparked Reformation,
Beheaded

ROBERT ALEXANDER/GETTY IMAGES

ANNE BOLEYN

Anne and her sister, Mary, spent part of their

childhood in the France court. Mary returned to
England sometime around 1520 and had a brief
abair with Henry. Henry then became smitten with
Anne, but she refused the king’s advances. She had
no interest in being a mistress. When Henry sought
an annulment from his Srst wife to marry Anne,
Rome refused. So the king broke away from the
Roman Catholic Church and formed the Church of
England.

Henry and Anne wed in January of 1533, and Anne

gave birth to their Srst child, Elizabeth, in
September the same year. Henry remained hopeful
Anne would give him a son, but after a series of
stillborn births, Henry lost interest in his wife. When
he took a mistress, Anne became enraged. “On one
occasion, her sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, was
banished from court when she and Anne had
plotted to remove an unnamed mistress from
court,” says Tudor historian Elizabeth Norton.
Desperate to end the relationship, Henry accused
her of adultery and treason and had the marriage
annulled.

On May 19, 1536, Anne was beheaded for her

alleged crimes. She is by far the most studied of
Henry VIII's wives, but much of her life remains a
mystery, including the terms of her execution.
“Although we know that Henry annulled his
marriage to Anne two days before her execution,
we do not even know the speciSc legal pretext,”
says Norton.

Many historians believe Henry fabricated the

charges against Anne.

3. Jane Seymour (1508-

1537): Died After Giving
Birth to Male Heir

IMAGNO/GETTY IMAGES

JANE SEYMOUR

Days after Anne’s execution, Henry married his

third wife, Jane Seymour. Jane had served as a lady-
in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne
Boleyn. Anne Boleyn’s and Jane Seymour's mothers
were Srst cousins, who shared the same
grandmother, and were raised together for a time.
“Anne did not stand meekly aside when Henry's
interest in Jane became apparent. We know from
sources that the pair came to blows on more than
one occasion at court,” says Norton. On October 12,
1537, Jane gave birth to Edward VI and died from
complications of the birth several weeks later. At
the wishes of the king, Jane is buried at St. George's
Chapel alongside him.

4. Anne of Cleves (1515-

1557): Strategic, Six-
Month Marriage

DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES

ANNE OF CLEVES

Henry stayed a bachelor for two years, until his

chief minister suggested that he seek a European
alliance and marry one of the sisters (Anne and
Amelia) of Germany’s Duke of Cleves. Henry
requested the women’s portraits and found Anne
to be the more jattering of the two. When Anne
arrived in England on January 1, 1540, Henry was
shocked that she looked nothing like the painting.
He tried to halt the wedding, but because the
arrangement had progressed so far, they married
on January 6, 1540. Anne, the so-called “ugly wife,”
accepted a divorce and generous settlement six
months later and lived in peace as the “King’s
Sister” until her death in July 1557.

5. Catherine Howard
(1523-1542): Treasured,
Then Executed

FINE ART IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY

IMAGES

CATHERINE HOWARD

Henry married Catherine Howard—a lady-in waiting

to Anne of Cleves—in July 1540 (she was between
17 and 19-years-old at the time). He had become
overweight and unable to walk by this time. Said to
be delighted with his rambunctious new bride,
Henry showered Catherine with gifts and called her
his “rose without a thorn.” But less than a year into
their marriage, rumors of inSdelity surfaced. With
enough evidence that she had been at least
promiscuous, Catherine was executed for adultery
and treason at the Tower Green on February 13,
1542.

6. Catherine Parr (1512-

1548): Peacemaker Who
Outlived Henry

DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES

CATHERINE PARR

Henry married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, in July

1543. A spirited and educated widow, when
Catherine showed an interest in Protestantism,
Henry had her arrested. She managed to avoid the
fate of her predecessors, bringing stability and
peace to the court, while serving as a kind and
caring stepmother to Henry’s children.

Of all Henry’s wives, Borman says Catherine Parr

had the most injuence upon the widest variety of
areas including court culture, religion, the role of
women and the education of Henry’s children. “She
also persuaded Henry to restore his daughters
Mary and Elizabeth to the order of succession and
acted as Regent when Henry went to war with
France,” Borman explains.

Catherine died in 1548, a year after Henry’s passing.

How Henry VIII’s Divorce Led to

Reformation

Once titled “defender” of the Catholic church,

Henry’s personal circumstances would drive
him to break his Catholic ties and found the
Church of England.

Read more

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BY: CRYSTAL PONTI

Crystal Ponti is a freelance journalist and host

of the history podcast Historium Unearthia,
recognized among the best in public history
projects of 2019 by the Backstory Prize. She is
a frequent contributor to History.com. Her
work has also appeared in The New York Times,
Washington Post, Salon and The Atlantic, among
others.

Citation Information
Article Title Who Were the Six Wives of Henry VIII?

Author Crystal Ponti

Website Name HISTORY

URL https://www.history.com/news/henry-viii-wives

Date Accessed January 26, 2024

Publisher A&E Television Networks

Last Updated August 11, 2023

Original Published Date January 28, 2020

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