Henry VIII

June 28, 1491 (Palace of Placentia, Greenwich)-January 28, 1547 (Whitehall). Son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Six wives, two annulments, two executions, three children, one reformation.

Henry became King, because his older brother 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.

It looked as if he had achieved his first aim rather soon – his first wife gave birth to a son, but the child died shortly after. Later, in 1516, his daughter Mary was born. Henry wanted a son, however, because he wanted to ensure a stable 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 annulled 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, was quarrelsome and unpopular. Moreover, after Catherine's death the political constellation had changed, thus Henry tried to get rid of Anne. She was accused of adultery and treason, found guilty and beheaded.

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 gained an annulment. 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 was part of England’s gradually becoming a Protestant country, although Henry always considered himself a Catholic. The separation from the Roman-Catholic church occurred after the Pope did not want to accept the annulment of Henry’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon. In the following, Henry became the head of the Church of England.

Sources

• Grant, Neil. Kings & Queens. An Illustrated Guide to British Monarchs. London: HarperCollins, 2004.
• Williams, Brenda and Brian. Kings & Queens. Andover: Jarrold Publishing, 2007.