The Tragic Lives of the Wives of King Henry VIII

Catherine of Aragon (1509-1533)

Before she became the first wife of King Henry VIII, Catherine (or Katherine) of Aragon was actually married to Henry’s older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales. They were married a very short time when they both fell ill and Arthur died, leaving behind a widow with a large dowry that would ordinarily need to be returned to her family. King Henry VII had another idea. He applied for a papal dispensation for his second son Henry VIII, then Duke of York, to wed his brother’s widow. The dispensation was granted on the grounds that Catherine and Arthur had never consummated their marriage. Henry and Catherine were married in 1509, seven years after the death of Prince Arthur.

Catherine was pregnant six times but only produced one child who lived more than a few months past birth. To Henry VIII’s displeasure, that child was a girl, Mary (later Mary I or Bloody Mary). This was the beginning of the end for Catherine as the Queen of England. Already by this time, Henry had fallen for a young lady of his court Anne Boleyn. The only thing stopping Henry from ending his marriage to Catherine was the Catholic Church. The pope was under the control of Catherine’s nephew (the Holy Roman Emperor) and refused to hear Henry’s claim that his marriage to his brother’s widow was a sin in the eyes of God. This led to the monumental decision that Henry VIII made in 1533 to proclaim himself the head of the Church of England and have his marriage annulled. Catherine was fortunate to be sent into exile rather than share in the fates of some of his other wives.

Anne Boleyn (1533-1536)

Henry VIII’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn (Marquess of Pembroke) began as early as 1525, shortly after Anne and her sister Mary returned from the court of Queen Claude of France where they served as ladies in waiting. Mary Boleyn quickly became one of the King’s many mistresses, but Anne refused to succumb to Henry’s formidable charms until he started talking of dissolving his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In January of 1533, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married in a secret ceremony and Anne, who was already pregnant at the time of the wedding, was crowned as the Queen of England in June 1533.