News from the Big Ben

-Good morning, Your Majesty! Could I ask some questions about your life, on which people have many doubts about?

-Yes, of course. Tell me, what’s the first question?

-Who are your parents and why did they get married?

-My parents are Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Thanks to their marriage, the Tudor dynasty began. They got married to put an end to the “Wars of the roses” and to make my mom suppress her strong claim to the throne.

-In total, I had six wives.

-What are their names and how did you treat each one of them?

My first wife was Catherine of Aragon. We got married in 1509 because she was betrothed to me by my father. We had many kids, but only one survived (Mary I); later on I divorced her after creating the Anglican church, because she wasn’t able to give me a son to take my throne in the future.

Then, my second wife was Anne Boleyn. I fell in love with her and I still needed a male heir, but she gave birth to another girl, Elizabeth I, and I left her beheaded in the Tower of London because of witchcraft.

How embarrassing!

My third wife was Jane Seymour and I loved her very much. She finally gave me a male heir, Edward VI, but sadly, she died twelve days after giving birth to him because of blood poisoning.

My fourth wife was Anne of Cleves, and it turns out we were married just to form a tie between England and the Protestant princes of Germany. I found the political alliance six months after and it wasn’t really an advantage for me, so I divorced her.

Then, I married the beautiful Catherine Howard. She was Anne Boleyn's cousin and also a maid of honour to Anne. I really loved her, but In 1542 I accused her of adultery and I left her beheaded in the Tower of London, just like Anne. Shameful, isn’t it?

My last wife was Katherine Parr. I married her only because I got quite old and I needed someone to take care of me. She survived me, though.

Wow, that’s a lot of marriages! But, Your Majesty, why did you marry so many women?

-I wanted someone to rule England even after my death, but it turns out Edward also died after reigning for six years. Although, my two daughters , Mary and Elizabeth, also reigned.

-Your Majesty, why did you create the Anglican church?

-The Pope of the Catholic church didn’t let me divorce Catherine, so I just solved things in my own way, haha!

-Your Majesty, did you have any hobbies?

-I loved playing music, in fact, I was a great musician.

-Wow! What’s one of your famous compositions?

-One of my best compositions is Greensleeves.

- Why did you compose it?

-I composed it for my future wife, Anne Boleyn, because she had a malformation of her hand and she had to hide it with her sleeves.

-Oh, that’s so sweet of you! And when did you compose it?

-In the XVI century.

-Your Majesty, there’s one last question left.

-And what is it?

-Your Majesty, what happened after you became the King of Ireland?

-When I became the king of Ireland, the "Tudor recapture of Ireland’’ happened..

-When did it happen and why did it happen?

-It happened in 1529. It was a rebellion of the Fitzgerald dinasty to recapture Ireland. The process continued with a mixture of attitude and violence until Ireland was under the control of England. And that’s that.

-Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for being with us today and telling us a lot of things about your life!

-It’s my pleasure.

Harekam Kaur e Valerio Guarino 2D