Six Wives of Henry VIII

King
Henry VIII, Tudor monarch, ruler of England in sixteenth-century
Renaissance England, had six wives. The fates of the wives can be
remembered as "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived."

King
Henry the Eighth in his youth was much like William Shakespeare's
description of King Henry V — he was much more interested in arms and
armor, swordplay, jousting, hunting, and women than in kingship. He
wrote love poems and composed songs such as "Pastime with Good Company."
Throughout his life, he also loved regal fashion — after all, what was
royalty if one could not dress like a royal. There still remains an
elaborate suit of armor worn by King Henry VIII at the Tower of London
Museum. However, the British Isles had to have a ruler serious about the
business of the commonwealth, and one of those concerns was taking a
wife and begetting an heir to the throne of England. It was not long
since the Wars of the Roses, and succession had to be secured.

Henry
VIII's first wife, Queen Catharine of Aragon, who had been contracted
to Henry's brother Arthur before his death, gave him a daughter, who was
to become Queen Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary, for the number of
Protestant executions in her reign. While married to Catharine, the King
fell in love with Anne Boleyn to the point of obsession, which resulted
in his desire to obtain a divorce. The Pope and the Catholic Church
would not grant it, which resulted in King Henry VIII breaking from the
church of Rome — in one swoop England became a protestant country; it is
due to this one factor that the Anglican church, or Church of England,
exists.

Henry VIII's second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, gave birth
to a daughter, who would later become Queen Elizabeth I, arguably the
strongest and most successful monarch, King or Queen, in the history of
Britain. The King still desired a male heir, a crown prince, and Anne
Boleyn's contrary nature was wearing on the King. Anne Boleyn also had
enemies at court, who helped bring about her downfall; accused of
adultery and plotting to kill the king, and thus treason, there was no
way for Anne to go, but to the headsman's block. The King had already
begun to court one of the ladies of the court, Jane Seymour, whom he
married shortly after.

Henry VIII's third wife, Queen Jane
Seymour succeeded in giving birth to an heir to the crown — Prince
Edward, who later succeeded his father to the English throne as King
Edward VI. Unfortunately, the Queen died a few days after childbirth
from an infection. The King's advisors, mainly Thomas Cromwell,
suggested a match for him with Anne of Cleves, but it appears Holbein's
portrait of Anne was more flattering than the reality. Anne became Henry
VIII's fourth wife, but the King was not attracted to her (and there
are stories that one of the reasons was her pervasive body odour), and
the marriage quickly resulted in divorce. Anne stayed in England,
however, and remained in good relations with the King and all three of
his children, as well as with his future queens.

King Henry
VIII's fifth wife was Catherine Howard. An attractive young lady, she
had been pushed into the marriage by her own ambition, as well as the
pressure of her powerful family. King Henry VIII, however, was no longer
a young man; he had become corpulent, and an old wound in his leg had
never healed but remained an oozing sore — hardly the romantic ideal for
a young woman. Further, the King had become irascible; long gone were
the days of courtly love, when he wrote love letters to Anne Boleyn.
Catherine soon started fooling around with young courtiers, and was
eventually caught: chopping block for her.

King Henry VIII's
sixth and last wife was Queen Katherine Parr. A well-educated lady, an
excellent writer with a keen intelligence and solid moral fiber,
Katherine Parr was the Queen to outlast the intrigues of court, the bad
temper of the King, and the general rigors of court life. She was a
sweet-tempered, kind person, and the children of King Henry VIII loved
her.

When King Henry VIII died, he was succeeded by his son, King
Edward VI, the boy king. King Edward did not live very long, however,
and was succeeded by Queen Mary I. Queen Mary, who was Catholic like her
mother, married Philip II of Spain, a Catholic, and the English were in
uproar. There were many plots and conspiracies on her life, and she
grew very suspicious of her subjects — even of her sister, Elizabeth.
The Wyatt rebellion, headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger, son of the
Poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, in particular seemed to suggest Elizabeth's
involvement in a conspiracy. Lady Elizabeth was taken to the Tower of
London, from where she wrote many letters to her sister, Queen Mary,
declaring her innocence. Mary finally believed her, and while Wyatt
suffered a traitor's death, Elizabeth was freed.

A few years
later Queen Mary died, probably of ovarian cancer, and Elizabeth
succeeded her on the throne as Queen Elizabeth I, The Virgin Queen,
Gloriana, under whose reign the English Renaissance came to full bloom,
and the arts and literature, especially poetry and theatre, flourished.
It was in Queen Elizabeth's reign, the Elizabethan era, that English
literature gained its shining stars: Christopher Marlowe and William
Shakespeare. Early Modern literature would likely never have reached the

heights it did, had it not been for Queen Elizabeth.

. Catherine
of Aragon
Divorced

2. Anne
Boleyn
Beheaded

3. Jane
Seymour
Died

4. Anne
of Cleves
Divorced

5. Catherine
Howard
Beheaded

6. Katherine
Parr
Survived