Henry VIII

Son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Six wives, two divorces, two executions, three children, one reformation.

Catherine-Anne-Jane, Anne-Catherine-Catherine. Divorced-Killed-Died, Divorced-Killed-Survived.

Henry VIII was born in Greenwich on June 28, 1491.

He became King instead of his brother Arthur who was heir to the throne. However, Arthur died at the age of 16 and Henry was the next one with a claim to the throne. Hence he became King when he was 18 years old, after his father Henry VII had died in 1509.

There were two main aims Henry wanted to achieve during his reign; on the one hand, he wanted to ensure the existence of the House of Tudor in the future, on the other hand, he wanted to rival the Kings of both Spain and France and also the Pope.

His first aim was achieved rather soon – his first wife gave birth to a son, but the child died shortly after. Later, in 1516, his daugher Mary was born. However, since she was a girl, she was rather worthless to Henry since he needed a male heir to ensure his succession. All in all, Catherine was pregnant six times, but only one of their children, Mary, survived. As Catherine of Aragon was considered too old for any further children, Henry started looking for other women who might be more successful in providing him with a legitimate heir. He soon fell in love with Anne Boleyn, who was pregnant with their first child in 1532. In the following, Henry had his marriage with Catherine nullified so that he could marry Anne, which he did in January 1533. Only a few months later, in September, their daughter Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I, was born. Anne lost two other children, which made Henry angry at her. Finally, he had her beheaded because she was accused of adultery. It was only in 1537 that his son, Edward, was born to Jane Seymour. Jane, however, only died a few days after the birth of their child. After Jane’s death, Henry married Anne of Cleves who he had not even met before. Soon after the marriage he stated he did not like her and got divorced from her again. His fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was beheaded as well, since she was said to have committed adultery. Henry’s last marriage took place in July 1543 when he married Catherine Parr.

As to religion it is important that Henry separated from the Roman-Catholic church and thus ensured England’s turning to Protestantism, although Henry always considered himself a Catholic. The separation from the Roman-Catholic church occurred after the Pope did not want to accept the nullification of Henry’s marriage with Catherine. In the following, Henry became the head of the Church of England.

Henry was quite popular with the English people since he was a handsome and intelligent young prince when he started to reign. Apart from that, he also had the tax collectors of his father executed, which made him even more popular. However, Henry wasted a lot of money in wars against France, Spain and Scotland.

Henry VIII died in Whitehall on January 28, 1547.

Sources

Grant, Neil. Kings & Queens. An Illustrated Guide to British Monarchs. London: HarperCollins, 2004.

Williams, Brenda and Brian. Kings & Queens. Andover: Jarrold Publishing, 2007.