I have a confession to make: I have a mild obsession with the six wives of King Henry VIII.
Notice that I said mild. It’s not actually an addiction, really, but I do have a higher-than-average interest in the three Catherines, two Annes, and single Jane that Henry chose to marry. Although this may be changing–the musical SIX has been bringing attention back to these fascinating women and their unique stories.
It started in middle school with the book Mary, Bloody Mary, by Carolyn Meyer, which was about the daughter of King Henry VIII’s first wife. Since then, I’ve been reading books, looking up facts, and most recently, listening to musicals about the six: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. On the off-chance that you’re even slightly interested, here are their stories:
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Catherine of Aragon (m. 1509-1533, divorced)
We start right off with some weird politics as toddler Catherine, the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (remember Columbus? These guys funded him), gets betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales. They eventually met and got hitched in 1801 when Catherine was a teenager. However, he died less than a year later. After some long and convoluted political stuff happened, Catherine ended up married to Arthur’s little brother, our main man Henry. She gave him a daughter, Mary. They had been married–and ruling England together–for more than twenty years when suddenly Henry went, “you know what, I’m tired of you and I want a son and you’re not giving me one” and dumped her for the next girl: Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn (m. 1533-1536, beheaded)
Anne was born in England but was sent away and became a maid of honor to Queen Claude of France. She returned in 1522 to marry her cousin, but ended up as a maid of honor to Queen Catherine instead. Then, in 1526, Henry started chasing her. Her sister had been his mistress, however, and Anne didn’t want to be used and thrown aside as she had been–she wanted to be his wife or nothing at all. This caused a lot of drama, as the Catholic Church refused to grant a divorce between Henry and Catherine, so King Henry VIII literally changed the entire country’s religion so he could divorce Catherine and marry Anne in 1533. However, after one daughter (Elizabeth) and many miscarriages he became tired of her too, divorcing her and having her investigated and beheaded for high treason so he could move on to the next wife, Jane Seymour.
Jane Seymour (m. 1536-1537, died)
This girl was also a maid of honor to Queen Catherine and then to Queen Anne, and was noted for her gentle disposition. Playboy Henry married her the same MONTH as his second wife’s death. Jane was strict but kind, reconciling the king to his eldest daughter Mary (although it would be years before she and her sister were reinstated in the line of succession, having been removed when Henry divorced their mothers). She gave Henry his long-awaited son, Edward, and then promptly died from complications following the birth. She was the only one to receive a queen’s burial.
Anne of Cleves (m. 1540, divorced)
King Henry VII, in an effort to form allies, became engaged to marry Anne, the daughter of a duke from Germany. He had not seen her before this engagement–only paintings. Upon actually meeting her, he claimed that the portraits had flattered her too much, that she was plain and could not inspire him to make her pregnant. The marriage was annulled soon after it began, but he gave her a nice settlement and the two became friends. She was the last of any of his wives to die, and honestly? She had the best of it.
Catherine Howard (m. 1540-1541, beheaded)
Catherine, the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, has the one of the saddest stories of any of the wives. She, like many of the wives, was a part of the household of the wife before her, being the lady-in-waiting of Anne of Cleves. She had been sexually abused at a young age, and this led to a variety of unhealthy relations with men. She was a young teen when she married the nearly 50-year-old King Henry VII–young enough to be his granddaughter. Only year into the marriage, she was found to have committed adultery, and was executed before she reached age twenty.
Catherine Parr (m. 1543-1547, survived)
Catherine Parr, King Henry VII’s distant cousin, was the final wife, mostly because she simply outlived the king. She had been married twice before Henry married her and married again after his death–Jane’s brother, Thomas Seymour. As queen, she helped ensure that Mary and Elizabeth were put back into the line of succession, was appointed regent while the king was away, and wrote a book. She was also first to be queen of England and Ireland. After the king’s death, her fourth marriage led to a child, and she died about a week after giving birth.
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And then everyone else lived happily ever after! Just kidding!! There was STILL MORE DRAMA!!
After Henry’s death his son (remember him? Kid from the third marriage?) became the new king, but then he died as a teenager. He left the throne to his cousin Jane, because he didn’t want the country to go Catholic again. She was deposed after only nine days so that Mary (daughter from Henry’s first marriage) could be queen and then…
But this could go on forever. We got through the wives and that’s what matters (although that was six paragraphs. There have been whole books written about each one). The next project: drawing a family tree for all of this, because honestly, there are so many cousins.
“Raising up the roof ’til we hit the ceiling
Get ready for the truth that we’ll be revealing
Everybody knows that we used to be six wives
But now we’re ex-wives.” –SIX
*Feel free to fact-check me. I am by no means a historian.
Dragons and Teacups 