The Six Wives of King Henry VIII

Everyone has heard of the infamous King of England who married six wives, two of them whom he beheaded and only one that could boast to have outlived him. Few people know who these unfortunate women were, however, so here is a compact list of six women whose lives I will reveal in nutshell fitting reports.

King Henry VIII’s first wife was a Spanish Princess named Katherine of Aragon. Her mother, Isabella of Spain, you will recall in your American History as the Queen who sponsored Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World. Katherine herself has nothing to do with America , however, she was much too busy with other things. As a teenager, she was married off to Henry’s older brother, Arthur. As you will notice, though, there never has been a King Arthur since the legendary hero disappeared from history and so it was Prince Arthur’s doom to die, leaving his poor young bride a widow without means or support since her father, Ferdinand of Aragon, had been a horrible business man by not keeping to his promise and sending England the huge Spanish dowry that was promised. Naturally, this made her father-in-law, Henry VII, somewhat resentful and he left the widowed girl to do as she pleased in a moldy manor with a scanty allowance. About the only honorable thing Prince Henry (later King Henry VIII) ever did in his lifetime was marry this poor, abandoned Princess after the death of his father.

Happiness did not seem to be one of Queen’s Katherine’s strongest cards in life, however. Lo and behold, a pretty, raven haired English girl by the name of Anne Boleyn came to court. There are several rumors as to how this lady won the King’s heart enough for him to change the entire religious tower of England just so he could dump the Spanish damsel he had rescued so gallantly before and take as his wife the lovely Boleyn. The facts remain thus: Henry wanted a son, Katherine was getting on in years and couldn’t give him one, smart Anne came along to seduce him, Henry asked for a divorce and was denied by the Pope so he just swatted the Pope out of the picture by making a new Church of England and setting himself at the head of it. He married Anne, locked Katherine away in some dirty tower and his little daughter Mary, and GOT…A…daughter? Yes, poor man. Another daughter. Little Elizabeth who would turn out to be one of the best and perhaps most well known Queen of England – she’ll turn out to be more famous than her father at any rate.