The 6 Wives of Henry VIII
Henry VIII left an indelible mark on British history, though he is remembered as much for his insatiable appetite for women and food as for his shrewd political maneuvers. Born in 1491, Henry ascended the throne at the young age of 17, succeeding his father, Henry VII. His youth was marked by interests in the arts, sports, and education, making him the embodiment of a Renaissance man, as well as a promising and charismatic ruler. It was the monarch’s matrimonial escapades, however, that came to define his legacy.
Henry’s reign, spanning from 1509 to 1547, was characterized by a series of tumultuous marriages entwined in Tudor politics. You may be familiar with the old rhyme, “Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived,” but here’s a closer look at the six women who became the wives of Henry VIII.
Catherine of Aragon (queen consort: 1509-1533)
Henry VIII had been on the throne for only a few weeks when he married Catherine of Aragon. The daughter of Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella, Catherine was six years older than Henry and was seen as a good match for the young monarch. Beautiful, well educated, and devoted to Henry, Catherine was also the king’s sister-in-law, having married his older brother Arthur in 1501, only to be widowed five months later at the age of 16. Her marriage to Henry lasted 24 years, but ended in divorce.
By all accounts, Henry had loved Catherine, but when she failed to give him a male heir, he asked Pope Clement VII to declare their marriage invalid, asserting that her marriage to Arthur made their union illegitimate in the eyes of God. When the pope refused, Henry divorced Catherine so he could marry his pregnant mistress (and Catherine’s lady-in-waiting), the French-educated Anne Boleyn, setting in motion his break from the Catholic Church and the establishment of the Church of England. Despite being divorced, dismissed from court, and kept from her only living child, Mary, Catherine’s devotion to Henry lasted until her death by cancer in 1536. The last line of the last letter she wrote him read, “Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.”
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Anne Boleyn (queen consort: 1533-1536)
Remembered as “Anne of a Thousand Days,” Anne Boleyn is perhaps the most famous of Henry’s wives, in part because of the grisly end she met just three short years after marrying the king. Anne gave birth to Henry’s second daughter, Elizabeth, just three months after she was crowned queen consort, and because Mary, Henry’s daughter with Katherine, had been declared illegitimate following their divorce, Elizabeth was named the heir to the throne. (She was crowned Queen Elizabeth I in 1559, and became one of the most famous monarchs in English history.)
After Anne suffered a series of miscarriages, including the stillborn birth of the son Henry so desperately wanted, Henry turned his attention to one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. Meanwhile, the king’s adviser Thomas Cromwell, who had once been an ally of Anne’s, built a case against her, accusing her of numerous crimes including adultery, treason, witchcraft, and incest. With little evidence presented to support any of her so-called crimes, Anne was nonetheless beheaded at the Tower of London in May 1536.
Jane Seymour (queen consort: 1536-1537)
Having served as a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour was well aware of Henry’s desire for a male heir. Her virtuous nature caught the Tudor king’s interest and, when she rejected a letter and purse of money from Henry on the grounds that her honor was more important than riches, he became even more besotted. Just days after Anne Boleyn’s death, the newly single Henry married Jane, making her his third wife.
Jane went on to do what Henry’s two previous wives had not: She bore him a living son. Her pregnancy was announced in March 1537 and Henry vowed to stay close to his wife. She gave birth to their son, Edward, on October 12, only to die 12 days later. Their marriage lasted just 17 months, but Jane was Henry’s only wife to die as queen and receive a royal funeral. At his death, Henry was buried near her in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Anne of Cleves (queen consort: 1540)
Having lost Jane to complications from childbirth, Henry sought to form a political alliance with William, Duke of Cleves, the ruler of a Protestant territory in Germany, by marrying one of his sisters. Henry’s political motivations were only part of his reason for deciding to wed again — he also wanted a second son. He chose Anne of Cleves as his bride-to-be based on her portrait, and was bitterly disappointed by his betrothed’s appearance when they finally met, saying, “I see nothing in this woman as men report of her.”
Henry was no longer interested in marrying plain, innocent Anne, but there was no way to back out of the wedding, despite Thomas Cromwell’s attempts. Wanting to be free of his betrothed, Henry blamed her physical appearance on his inability to consummate their marriage and had their union annulled just six months later. Anne and Henry maintained an affectionate bond, however, and Anne outlived Henry and all of his other wives.
Catherine Howard (queen consort: 1540-1542)
Having served as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard was likely still a teenager when she caught Henry’s eye — but she was also far more experienced than her predecessor. Historians theorize that Catherine might have been sexually abused by her music teacher when she was a young teen, and she had relationships with both her grandmother’s secretary and one of Henry’s courtiers before marrying the aging monarch just a few weeks after his marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled. Henry seemed happy with his young new bride, but when the truth about Catherine’s past relationships came to light, as well as accusations of an affair with Thomas Culpeper, a friend of the king’s, Henry had her stripped of her title and imprisoned. A few months later, she was beheaded for treason and adultery.
Catherine Parr (queen consort: 1543-1547)
Henry VIII’s last wife was Catherine Parr, a widow and scholar known as the “lucky queen,” as she survived the death of the fickle king. Married and widowed twice, Catherine met Henry while serving as a lady-in-waiting to his eldest daughter, Mary Tudor. Catherine’s mother, Maud, had been a lady-in-waiting for Catherine of Aragon, and Maud named her daughter in honor of Henry’s first wife. Catherine Parr resisted Henry’s marriage appeals at first, in part because she was in love with someone else in the king’s circle: Thomas Seymour, the brother of Henry’s third wife, Jane, and uncle to his son Edward.
But Henry was not deterred, and he married Catherine in 1543 at age 52. After their marriage, Catherine proved to be a unifying force as stepmother to Henry’s three children. A religious reformer and the first woman in England to publish a book in her own name, Catherine was widowed for a third time when Henry died on January 28, 1547. The king’s death made it possible for Catherine to marry Thomas Seymour, but she died from complications of childbirth shortly after, in September 1548.
