Henry VIII - Desperate for a Son

Hi Room 14 and Mr Brown

I'm glad I wasn't one of Henry's wives.

Henry was only ten when his older brother Arthur died which meant Henry was now going to be King.  Arthur was only 15 and had been married to Catherine of Aragon 20 weeks when he died - pretty sad!

Henry's father arranged for Henry to marry Catherine of Aragon (his dead brother wife - yuck!) because she was the King of Spain's daughter and the King of Spain was pretty important.  In 1509 Henry's father died and he married Catherine.

Catherine had four pregnancies, two girls were stillborn, one son lived seven weeks and Princess Mary (later Queen Mary I aka Bloody Mary).  How sad for Catherine.

Around 1525 Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn so Catherine had to go so he could marry Anne which caused the English Reformation and the Church of England being formed with Henry as Supreme Head.

Being a monk back then would not have been a great job as many who spoke out about his divorce from Catherine were tortured and executed.

Anne had a child with Henry in 1533, Elizabeth, who later became Elizabeth I.  Unfortunately Anne never produced a male son - female heirs weren't good enough for Henry.

Henry started looking around for another wife so Anne had to go.  Henry got a new mistress, Jane Seymour.  Anne was accused of incest and treason.  Whether she actually had relationships with other men especially her brother - who knows.  On 19 May 1536 she was beheaded.

The very next day he got engaged to Jane Seymour and 10 days later he married her (now that's fast).  On the 12 October 1537 Jane gave birth to a son Edward (later Edward VI) lucky for her but not lucky for long as she died 12 days later.  Henry considered Jane his true wife - I guess it helped that she had given him a son.  He is buried beside her at Windsor Castle.

Because Henry needed more male children he had to get another wife.  His choices hadn't turned out so well so this time he had an arranged marriage to Anne of Cleves.  He had only seen a picture of her when he agreed to marry her and when he met her in real life for the first time he thought she was pretty ugly so he got the marriage annulled - lucky escape I'd say.

Poor Catherine Howard may have been as young as 15 but could have been 19 when she married Henry.  He was 49.  Now that is gross.  She preferred boys her own age which didnt make Henry very happy so she had her head cut off  - just like her cousin, Anne Boleyn.

In 1543 Henry married Catherine Parr.  She outlived him.  Because Henry was quite old and sick with ulcers on his legs she was more like a nurse.  Imagine what the ulcers smelt like and what was oozing from them  without modern medicine to treat them.

In January 1547 Henry died.  The throne passed first to his son Edward VI who died at age 15 before he could really reign.  Then to Lady Jane Grey (Henry's sisters' grandaughter) but she only lasted 9 days before being locked in the tower and later executed by Mary I.  Then Mary I his eldest daughter took the throne and when she died his other daughter became Elizabeth I.  None of his children had children so that was the end of the Tudor age.

Not a very lucky family

by Lily Rae