The six wives
of Henry VIII
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived…These were the faiths of the six consorts of Henry VIII, heir of Henry VII. However, even though none of these women had a fairytale ending after marrying a king, we hope that we can fill you in with details about each of their lives, that history seems to be avoiding.
Catherine of Aragon
Born on the 16th of December 1485, she was the daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castilla, who arranged her wedding with the son of Henry VII ever since she was 3 years old (which was pretty usual for that time). What was weird though was the fact that it was with the other son of the first king of House Tudor, Arthur, who was only 2 years old…hey, at least there wasn’t much of an age gap. Their wedding took place on November 14th, 1501, in the Saint Paul Cathedral. Unfortunately, though, the two are struck shortly after by a severe illness, that manages to kill Arthur on the 2nd of April 1502.
Because Henry VII did not want to return Catherine’s dowry, he planned to have his other son, Henry VIII, Duke of York, marry her. However, since he was too young at that time, being 5 years younger than Catherine, their marriage had to be postponed. And still, the death of Catherine’s mother in 1505 changes the relationship between the two countries. Thus, the future queen is almost held hostage in Durham House, in London, between 1505 and 1509.
After the death of his father, Henry VIII marries Catherine. Why? – Catherine was thought to be very beautiful and the future king had a crush on her. During their marriage, which lasted for 23 years (from 1509 to 1532), the couple has had a total of six children, out of whom only one survived – a girl named Mary, future Queen of England and Ireland. Oh, yeah, her nickname, given to her by the protestant opponents, was Bloody Mary. Yes, that Bloody Mary – you have probably been hearing ghost stories about her ever since you were 10 years old. But her reign only begins in 1553, so let us get back to her mother.
Since she was not able to bring the king a male heir and because he started liking a lady-in-waiting for Queen Catherine named Anne Boleyn, Henry wishes to marry this promising new character. After a long while, he finally manages to break up with Catherine and she is exiled from the Court to Kimbolton Castle, where she dies on the 7th of January, 1536.
Anne Boleyn
Being the daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, she spends her childhood in Europe as a lady-in-waiting for Mary Tudor (the sister of Henry VIII) and then for Queen Claude of France. She spends seven years at her Court, learning French, but also adequate social etiquette.
In 1522 she comes to England to marry her cousin, James Butler – Yes, again, a little odd. Her older sister though, Mary Boleyn, is summoned in 1519 in England because of her affair with the king of France. After her wedding with William Carey in 1520, she becomes the King of England’s mistress. Meanwhile, Anne makes her debut as “Perseverance” on the 4th of March, 1522. In 1525, Henry VIII falls in love with the young girl, but she refuses him, wanting to be more than a mere mistress – a queen. Thus, the king becomes even more interested in her and starts trying to find a method of marrying her.
After a long while, he realizes that Papa Clement VII will never accept his proposal, so he makes an extremely important decision – England becomes separated from the Catholic Church. Anne Boleyn marries Henry VIII on the 25th of January, 1533, a few days after Henry’s divorce. Anne gives birth to Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth I) on September 7th, 1533. She continues trying to give birth to a male heir, but after a miscarriage in 1536, the king declares that she had seduced him into marrying her.
The story repeats itself in march 1536 when Henry starts liking Jane Seymour. On May 2nd, he accuses Anne of high treason, claiming that she had had romantic affairs with other men – while he was having romantic affairs with other women. Anne was beheaded on the 19th of May, 1536.
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour was the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth. She became the lady-in-waiting for Queen Catherine in 1532 and has continued her services for Anne. In 1536 the king becomes interested in her.
The two get engaged a day after Anne was beheaded and their wedding takes place 10 days later, on the 30th of May, 1536. In October 1537, she gives birth to a boy named Edward, the future Edward IV. Unfortunately, Jane dies 12 days after giving birth to him, because of puerperal fever. She is buried at Windsor Castle, where Henry will also be buried after 10 years.
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was born in Düsseldorf in 1515, being the daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves, and Mary of Jühlich-Berg, spending her childhood in Schloss Burg, at the edge of Solingen. In 1527, when she was only 11 years old, she was supposed to be engaged to Francis, Heir of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, who was only 9 years old, but because it was considered to be unofficial, the engagement was annulled in 1535.
Looking for a new wife, Henry VIII had Hals Holbein paint the portrait of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia. After seeing the portrait of the eldest daughter, he had decided to marry her in 1539. He was nevertheless disappointed to finally meet her, claiming that she was as ugly as “a mare”.
Despite his wishes, he got married to Anne of Cleves on the 6th of January, 1540. However, noticing that she was not wanted, she had agreed to Henry’s divorce proposal from July 1540.
Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard was born in the most well-known noble family from England in 1521, as the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper.
After divorcing Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII, at the age of 49, was looking for a new wife. Being attracted by the purity of the 15-16-year-old girl – he has described her as being like “a rose without thorns” – he had proposed to her in 1540. Their marriage did not last long though, her being punished ruthlessly for being found guilty of adultery with Thomas Culpeper.
He was killed, just like another former lover of the girl, named Francis Dereham, in 1541, while she was beheaded in 1542, just like Anne Boleyn, who ironically was her cousin.
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr was born in 1512 as the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green. Initially, she was married to Sir Edward Borough, but after his death, she became the wife of Sir John Neville, Lord of Latimer, who also passed in 1543.
Catherine Parr soon fell in love with Thomas Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour – for some reason, all of the wealthy people back then seemed to be very closely related. However, she had to respond to all of the attention that she was receiving from the King of England. Only a year after the death of Catherine Howard, on the 12th of July, 1543 Henry marries Catherine Parr.
She is a wonderful stepmother to the children of the King, but not even that can save her from one of Henry’s orders to have her arrested, because of religious reasons. However, because of the indecisive nature of the King, he changes his mind after hearing his wife crying in the chamber she had locked herself in.
Fortunately for Catherine, after Henry’s death on January 27th, 1547, she was free to marry Thomas Seymour that same year. However, due to some complications that occurred to her after giving birth, Catherine Parr dies too.
Thus, we can confidently say that each of these women has had a difficult life, always having had to please a King that was forever ready to replace them.
We hope that after having read this article, you can better understand how things were in the Middle Ages and how women were thought to be. We warmly invite you to keep an eye on the future articles, which are announced to be at least as captivating!
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editorial: Szabo Eva Maria
graphic design: Ioana Butaru
translation: Szabo Eva Maria
DP (desktop publishing): Ioana Butaru
