The name of the king of England, Henry VIII Tudor, is most often associated not with state accomplishments, but with his six wives. For each of the royal spouses there were certain political forces, which forced Henry to make sometimes fatal decisions that change the course of history. However, one of the king's main life priorities was the birth of the heir to the English throne.
For the first time, Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Isabella of Castile. For 24 years of marriage, Catherine gave birth to six children, but only daughter Maria survived from them. Henry blamed his wife for not being able to give birth to a son who would become the legitimate heir to the Tudor dynasty.
Gradually, cooling began between the spouses, the king ceased to share the bed with his wife and spent time with many mistresses, and the queen was increasingly occupied with the affairs of piety. Another favorite of the king, maid of honor Catherine Anna Boleyn, did not want to put up with the position of her lover and openly claimed the title of queen. Henry was so fascinated by the young beauty that he saw her in the role of his wife and expected that she would give England the heir to the throne.
But in order to marry Anna, it was necessary to first divorce Catherine, who stubbornly did not give consent and defended her rights by all means. Then Henry VIII initiated the recognition of the marriage with Catherine of Aragon as invalid and sent a corresponding petition to the Pope, but was refused. The consequences were more than serious: the monarch arbitrarily got married to Anna, broke off relations with the papacy and proclaimed himself the head of the Church of England.
In a marriage with Anna Boleyn, Henry VIII had a daughter, Elizabeth, the remaining pregnancies of his wife ended in miscarriages. Again the monarch was greatly disappointed in the spouse's ability to give birth to a male heir. King's passion for Anna was replaced by irritation. In addition, the young queen behaved quite defiantly and made many enemies who were happy to help Henry get rid of her. Anna Boleyn was accused of high treason and adultery to the king, convincingly convicted and decapitated.
Shortly after the execution of Queen Queen VIII, he married Lady Jane Seymour. She gave birth to the long-awaited son - the future king Edward VI. However, this marriage did not bring happiness to Henry either: a few days after the birth, the beloved wife died of a maternity fever. The prince grew sickly and weak, which made the king think again about marriage and the birth of an heir.
Henry VIII sent matchmakers to all European royal houses, but received constant refusals: potential brides openly feared him, the fate of previous queens was too unenviable. But still Henry VIII married for the fourth time. The new wife was Anna Klevskaya, the sister of one of the most influential rulers of Germany.
This marriage was more a political and religious union than a family. Anna and Henry, having met in absentia from the images in the portraits, did not like each other at a personal meeting. Marital relations between them did not arise, so there was no talk about the birth of children. A few months after the wedding, the alliance with the Duke of Cleves became irrelevant, and the marriage contract was canceled.
It is worth noting that the fate of Anna Klevskaya was more successful than that of the other wives of Henry VIII. She remained in England as the "beloved sister of the king", obtained the possession of the castles of Richmond and Heaver, had a decent income and was very pleased with her life.
With his fifth wife, the young Catherine Howard, Henry VIII had hopes to give birth to another son, since Prince Edward was poor in health, which made the position of the Tudor dynasty rather precarious. The queen was kind, innocent, but at the same time very licentious and did not share the king’s desire to give birth to an heir as soon as possible. In addition, she was unfaithful to her husband. Katherine Howard suffered the same fate as Anna Boleyn - her head was cut off for treason.
Finally, the sixth wife of Henry VIII was one of the court ladies Catherine Parr. The monarch no longer had illusions about the birth of sons and only wished for peace in family life and comfort in old age. The new queen tried to surround her husband with warmth and create coziness, was friends with his children, she was a faithful and devoted wife to the king until his death.
Henry VIII devoted his whole life to leaving behind a worthy heir to the English throne. However, he did not suspect that he had presented the state with one of the greatest monarchs in history - Queen Elizabeth I, whose rule was rightly called the "Golden Age of England."
