Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Her uncle was the Spanish
Emperor. Henry married her
in 1509. He was married to
Henry’s older brother, Arthur,
who died as a young man.
Catherine gave birth to two sons but they both
died very young. One was only 52 days old. Henry
and Catherine only had one child who survived,
Mary. Eventually, Henry grew tired of waiting for
Catherine to give him a son. He gave himself a
divorce and married the younger Anne Boleyn.
Despite being separated from her daughter,
Catherine rarely complained about her treatment.
Anne grew up and was
educated in France. She may
have had 6 fingers. When
Henry met her, he fell in love
with her immediately. But
Anne would not be his
mistress (girlfriend) only his wife. After his divorce,
Henry and Anne married in 1533. Later that year,
Anne gave birth to Elizabeth but never gave Henry
a son. Henry became more and more angry and
thought God was punishing him again. Henry
eventually accused her of being unfaithful to him.
She was imprisoned in the tower and her head was
chopped off by a French swordsman in 1536.
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Within 24 hours of Anne’s
execution (Henry’s
pervious wife) he was
engaged to marry Jane
Seymour.
Over two years after his
previous wife, Jane, died,
Henry decided to get
married again. Not for love
this time but for an alliance.
With France and Spain less friendly, Henry needed
a friendly country in Europe so he married the
Belgian Princess, Anne, in 1540.
Jane was probably Henry’s favourite wife because
she gave him the son he had always wanted,
Edward, in 1537. However, Jane died just two
weeks later.
It is said that Henry wore black for years after this
and he chose to be buried with her in Windsor
Castle when he died.
However, when he met his new bride he was so
unimpressed with her that he called her a ‘Flanders
Mare’ (a horse) and the marriage was ended very
soon afterwards. Anne realised that she needed to
agree otherwise her life could have become very
difficult!
Kathryn Howard
Katherine Parr
When they got married in
1540, Henry was 49 years
old and Kathryn was 19! She
was the cousin of Anne
Boleyn.
Katherine was married
twice before she married
Henry but both of her
previous husbands had
died.
However, Kathryn didn’t learn from her cousin’s
experiences and rumours began to spread that she
had a boyfriend and was being unfaithful to the
king.
Henry married her when she was 31 years old but
by then Henry was quite sick. It is said that she was
more of a nurse to him than a wife.
By 1542, Henry had enough evidence and Kathryn
was arrested and beheaded.
She reunited Henry’s family and brought his
children, Mary, Elizabeth and Edward back
together. Henry died in 1547.