The Wives of Henry VIIIFor each of Henry VIII’s wives, list the following information:

1. Her number

2. Her name

3. Two facts

3. Her fate

4. Names of children (if any).

Divorced

Beheaded

Died

Divorced

Beheaded

Survived

Why did Henry have so many wives?

No one really knows.

The usual answer is that he wanted a son to be his heir. But actually he had plenty of sons. Sadly, most of them died. One did survive, Edward, born to his third wife, Jane. So, why did he have another three

wives after that? Well, although he had one son, children died very easily in Tudor times, so he really needed a second one to make sure there would be a male heir. Others say he fell in love easily and was

also used to getting whatever he wanted.

#1: Catherine of Aragon• Born in Spain (daughter of Queen Isabella

and King Ferdinand). • First she married Arthur, Henry's older

brother. But after six months, he died, and Catherine was engaged to Henry instead.

• She was 17 and Henry was only 12!• She had six children but only one survived –

a daughter, Mary (Bloody Mary).• Henry wanted to divorce Catherine. But was

required to receive an annulment from the Catholic Church.

• Church wouldn’t grant him an annulment= Henry broke from Church and formed Anglican Church (Church of England).

• Divorced Catherine

#2: Anne Boleyn• Born in England• Henry fell in love with Anne when she

was a servant in the Queens Household in 1522. By 1526 he was trying to get divorced from Catherine so that he could marry her.

• Had two children but only one survived, a daughter, Elizabeth

• Anne was arrested for being unfaithful to Henry

• She was beheaded (Henry played tennis while she got her head chopped off!)

• 11 days later Henry married his third wife.

#3: Jane Seymour• Born in England• Jane was betrothed to

Henry within 24 hrs of Anne’s death

• She had one child, a son, Edward

• Jane died two weeks after giving birth.

• It is said that Henry loved Jane the best of all his wives and he waited two years before marrying again.

#4: Anne of Cleves• Born in Germany• Henry had a painting of her

but when they met, he is said to have found her repulsively ugly, and called her a horse! He couldn't break his promise to marry her but it only lasted six months. They never lived together and had no children.

• Henry divorced her. 20 days later he married his 5th wife.

#5: Catherine Howard• Born in England• Catherine was a cousin of Anne

Boleyn and was only about 16 when she came to court. No one knows her actual birth date, but she was still a teenager when they married. (He was 49!)

• There were no children• Catherine was secretly engaged to one

man and possibly a second one too. When the King found out he chopped both the men's heads off, followed by Catherine‘s.

#6: Catherine Parr• Born in England• Catherine had already been married twice before,

but both her husbands had died. She was really in love with Thomas Seymour (Jane Seymour's brother) but she was too scared to refuse the King (which was probably wise!).

• They had no children• Henry married her to look after him in his old age• She outlived him, as Henry died in 1547.• When Henry died in 1547, Catherine quickly

married Thomas Seymour (her fourth husband). Sadly he didn't love her as much as she did him and she was very unhappy. She died in childbirth a year later in 1548.

The Death of Henry VIII• By the end of his life, Henry was a sad and lonely

person. He was terrified of getting ill, and anyone who had had contact with small pox or the plague was not allowed in court. He had a serious weight problem, he ate vast amounts of food, meat, fish, dairy products and lots of wine and beer. He wouldn't stop eating, even when a doctor told him to cut down. He became so fat that he had to be carried everywhere by servants.

• He also had a bad leg, with ulcers possibly from an old jousting wound. Both legs became infected in 1538 and doctors thought he would die.

On 28th January 1547, King Henry died at Greenwich. Various theories have been put forward for the possible cause of death:

• Old age - 56 was a ripe old age in Tudor times • A sexually transmitted disease • Over eating • Gangrene - where his bad legs went off • Scurvy - lack of Vitamin C because he didn't eat

his veggies!

Henry's Children

Contrary to popular opinion, Henry actually had many children. Unfortunately as was very common in Tudor times, most of them died when they were babies. Only 3 survived into adulthood.

1510 Unnamed Daughter - died of natural causes1511 Henry Tudor - Son - died aged 53 days of natural causes1513 Unnamed Son - died on day of birth of natural causes1514 Unnamed Son - died on day of birth of natural causes1516 Mary - survived1518 Unnamed Daughter - died of natural causes1533 Elizabeth - survived1534 Henry Tudor - Son - died on day of birth of natural causes1535 unknown - died on day of birth of natural causes1536 Unnamed Son - died of natural causes1537 Edward - survived