The Six Wives of Henry VIII Catherine of Aragon
The following sections give the badge or Coat-of-Arms of each wife, another photograph, and a short description of their life. |
Anne of Cleves Henry was still in mourning for Jane
when Thomas Cromwell, his Chief Minister, persuaded Henry to marry Anne
of Cleves to make an alliance with Germany, as Anne's father was the Duke
of Cleves. As Henry did not want to marry an ugly lady he sent the painter,
Holbein the Younger, to paint a portrait of her so that he could see what
she looked like. It was this portrait that persuaded him to marry her.
However, when she arrived in England, Henry saw her as very different from
her portrait - he found her ugly. He insulted her by saying that she looked
like a horse!
As Henry was very dissatisfied with her, he quickly arranged a divorce which they both agreed to amicably. Their marriage had lasted for only six months, but Anne of Cleves stayed at the Court and died in her bed in 1557, outliving Henry by ten years. The portrait on the left below is the one by Hans Holbein the Younger which was the basis on which Henry chose Anne to be his fourth Queen. The portrait on the right is one where recent X-rays have shown a longer nose under the top layer of paint.
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Catherine Howard  Catherine
Howard was English and born of a noble family. Her badge shows the Tudor
Rose. She was a cousin of Anne Boleyn. When she married Henry in 1540 she
was 19 and he was almost 50. She was also a Lady-in-Waiting at his Court.
It is said that the time Henry spent with Catherine rejuvenated him.
She was, however, accused (rightly) by his courtiers of having many lovers, and so was beheaded (along with the lovers) at the Tower of London in 1542 with an axe.
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Katherine Parr
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Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish
princess (her badge shows a pomegranate - a symbol from Spain). She was
the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and was originally
married to Henry's brother Arthur. Henry married Catherine to maintain
the alliance with Spain after Arthur died, leaving Catherine a widow. This
marriage was organized by Henry VII a short time before he died, but took
place after his death in 1509, when Henry was almost 18 and Catherine was
23.
After twenty years of marriage,
she had only given birth to one girl, Mary, later to become known as Bloody
Mary (although she had many miscarriages and still-births in that time).
As Henry VIII needed a son to provide a male heir to the throne, and as
his advisors deemed Catherine to be past the age of child-birth, Henry
tried to persuade her to become a Nun. Catherine refused, and after two
years of arguments with the Pope, Henry created a new Archbishop (Thomas
Cranmer) who was prepared to declare the marriage annulled in 1532. Catherine
was then banished from the Court and separated from her daughter. It is
said that she died of a broken heart, four years later. The two portraits
show the young Catherine (top) and Catherine in later life (right).
Anne Boleyn was English, and of noble
birth. Her badge shows a falcon. She spent some time in France and returned
to England in the 1520s. She was Maid-in-Waiting to Catherine of Aragon
and refused to be another of Henry's mistresses (of which he had many).
She was a very confident character and finally persuaded Henry to marry
her in 1533 (immediately after the marriage to Catherine was annulled).
Shortly after they were married,
Anne gave birth to Elizabeth (later to become Queen Elizabeth I). Their
relationship after the birth of Henry's second daughter started to deteriorate,
but when she gave birth to a still-born son, Henry was convinced that God
thought that his marriage was wrong, because the annulment had been wrong,
and that he was cursing him by not giving him a son.
