King Henry VIII, the first King ever to be called “Your Majesty” who also came from a very important family which he would need to continue. Being the youngest he wasn’t supposed to be king, but his brother was, until he died and now Henry would take on the throne. Keep in mind that this was the Elizabethan era, when King Henry handled many things throughout his life like his brother’s death, his wives, and the power he had when he came to the throne. His brother’s death, you could say it was bad, but also good for Henry.
Now is the time where he became a Prince and was on his way to royalty in the throne. But he also had to take on new challenges. After Henry’s brother, Arthur, died his family wanted to keep the peace between England and the king and queen of Spain at that moment. He would need to marry the daughter of the king and queen that Arthur left widowed once he died. Henry married Catherine of Argon at the age of 17 in 1509 where they were also crowned king and queen of England according to the article Henry VIII Biography.
Once he was in power he wanted to have a boy to continue in the kingdom, but had many troubles in keeping even one of them alive. On the other hand, his father, King Henry VII, was a very lucky man to become king of England. King Henry VII had to go to war for his crown and luckily ended up beating Richard III. Henry VII can be debated on being a great King or not, but his goal was to bring back the peace in the kingdom of England. He did exactly that to leave the kingdom to his son. After leaving the throne and passing it on to Henry VIII there would be a new family in the kingdom.
Although he was only 17 at the moment he had control of all of England. One of the challenges that Henry faced was the responsibility passed on to him by his father and his brother. Henry was now under the pressure of keeping the country the way his father left it. According to the BBC, King Henry struggled with a male heir and he worried because it was so important to him and the kingdom to continue the legacy. With his first wife, Catherine of Argon also is the widow of his brother, he did not have any luck whatsoever towards having a baby.
All of them died young, but one which was a girl and not a boy which he preferred. It states that King Henry was so angry that his first baby with Catherine which was a boy named Henry, after his father, died young after 2 months of life that he even went to war against France to control his anger (Eakins). Although, his baby problems were remembered so we’re his wives. King Henry had many problems, but the one everyone seems to remember is his history with his wives since he was very young. He had his first wife when he was 17 years old about to take the throne from his father.
Catherine of Argon was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who were the joint rulers of Spain according to Tudor History. She was his first, but not his only and with many problems that she couldn’t solve which lead to Henry and his mistress incident. Catherine couldn’t control the fact that all her babies, but one died young and the only one that survived was a girl that King Henry didn’t even want. Clearly, Henry was a very tough guy when it came to his throne and who he would pass it on to.
Similarly, his second wife Anne Boleyn had a part in his first marriage. Anne was the mistress that Henry was having an affair with while married to Catherine. Even though, she wouldn’t end her relationship the same way the first wife did. Anne was a fluent French speaker who learned it while she stayed in France to work with Henry’s sister, Mary’s household. Although she was said to not be very attractive, people wondered how she could get to the King even though at that time the many small moles she had were more like beauty marks. Eakins).
Once Anne returned to England, she had to go to court to meet with Queen Catherine. While she was in England, she had affairs with a couple other men before getting to King Henry. It could be said that when King Henry saw her he wanted her for himself, which is why their relationship began (Eakins). Boleyn also had one of King Henry’s children, which, this time, was surely a boy. After making all the preparations of the new Prince, the baby ended up being born a girl which made Anne want to try again to give birth to a baby boy.
All the tries they had to have this baby boy were either miscarried or stillborn. Boleyn had to have known that the failure of producing a living male heir was a threat to her life according to Tudor History. She was then arrested for adultery, incest and plotting to murder the King and was sentenced to death. Anne was beheaded on May 19 in a private execution in the Tower Green. Jane Seymour was now King Henry’s third wife, but was not let go by divorce nor execution, but because she died during the relationship.
She was also a waiter for the Queens and waited on both Queen Catherine and Queen Boleyn. Seymour was already being looked at even before the Boleyn execution, she was already likely known to be the replacement. Henry’s feelings were clear about Jane because of how they were already engaged only a day after Anne Boleyn’s execution (Eakins). We still wouldn’t really know how Jane felt about the marriage because she knew how the other wives were treated before and we don’t know if she could really be interested in marrying the King of England.
On the contrary, Jane did give birth to a prince named Edward. She was very weak after the pregnancy and later died two weeks after her son’s birth. Which now leads us on to his fourth wife. Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was divorced by Henry after some years of marriage and now would be his second divorce. Before even marrying her he stayed single for over two years, which showed that he actually cared for her according to Tudor History.
