Divorced. Beheaded. Died… The stories behind the wives of King Henry VIII that feature in the smash hit musical SIX are filled with the kind of drama and intrigue you just can’t make up. We summarise all you need to know prior to SIX rolling into the Theatre Royal this October.
1. The ‘True Queen’: Catherine of Aragon
Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, was married to King Henry VIII’s older brother, Arthur, when she was only 14, and was widowed several months later. She then married Henry when he became King, and the first few years of their marriage were happy, producing a daughter, Mary. Catherine was popular with everyone – she could speak five languages, helped the poor, was an early advocate for woman’s education, and (while pregnant) led an army to defeat invading Scots while hubby was out of town. Basically, she was amazing. But what she couldn’t do was give Henry a male heir, and that was all that mattered to him.
Anne Boleyn was one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, who Henry began to fancy. She refused to be his mistress, so he broke England away from the church of Rome, and literally created the concept of divorce in order to move his wife aside for his new lady love. After 24 years of marriage, Catherine was suddenly barred from seeing her daughter, and exiled to a mouldy castle in the countryside, where she died of illness, still loyal to the Church of Rome, and adamant to the end that she was the true Queen of England.
2. The ‘Power Player’: Anne Boleyn
Anne and her sister, Mary Boleyn, were educated in France, and when each sister arrived back in England, they had a ‘French flair’ that got them noticed. Mary was first, and became Henry’s mistress. Anne arrived two years later and refused to be his mistress, which, as we mentioned, drove him wild, and caused him to make one of the most seismic decisions in European history by creating the Church of England (sounds romantic, hey?).
Boleyn promised Henry lots of sons. Instead they had a daughter, Elizabeth, and several miscarriages. Boleyn’s ‘inability’ to bear a male heir, and her outspokenness on politics and religion, began to irritate Henry. His roving eye landed on another of his Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, who also didn’t want a bar of him while he was married. So it was time for Anne to go. He accused her of having an affair with her very own brother, and then it was ‘Off with her head!’ (And you thought you had man issues!)
3. The ‘Perfect Woman’: Jane Seymour
Henry lost no time grieving. The day after Anne’s beheading, he and Jane were engaged. Ten days later they were married. Jane learnt from the mistakes of her predecessor – she was obedient, stayed quiet on anything that mattered, and most importantly, bore him a son. And then, having delivered her duty to king and country by producing an heir, she died. Job done. Henry was devastated by her death – he locked himself away for days, wore black for 3 months, and was eventually buried next to her when he died himself. Yes, she was the favourite – but really, given they were together only 18 months, was there any time for the realities of marriage to set in?
4. The ‘Blind Date’: Anna of Cleves
By this point, Henry’s Chief Minister, Thomas Cromwell, thought it might be best if he chose the next wife: Anna of Cleves, 24, from Germany, who spoke little English, but would help unite the two countries. Henry – by now 48, overweight, and with an ulcerous leg – saw a portrait of her and agreed to the betrothal. After they met, however, he had a bit of a ‘hang on, you don’t look anything like your profile picture,’ moment. In truth she probably thought the same about him. Henry had Cromwell executed for his poor matchmaking skills, and once again exercised the right to divorce that he’d created three wives ago.
Unlike the first time, however, this was more of a ‘conscious uncoupling’, with Cleves being given a title, palace, castle, and enough money to make her one of the wealthiest women in England – in return for her quiet retreat to the countryside. Yes, it made relations between England and Germany awkward, but Cleves spent the rest of her days happily spending her ex’s money and answering to no-one. Winning.
5. The ‘Teen Queen’: Katherine Howard
Meanwhile, Katherine Howard – first cousin of Henry’s second wife, second cousin of his third, and lady-in-waiting of his fourth (you following?) was 17 when she became Queen to the 59-year-old King. Katherine enjoyed all the perks of being Queen and even embarked on an affair of her own with one of the King’s friends, Thomas Culpeper. At least, that’s what the history books say. Given over 400 hundred years later we still struggle to hear a woman’s side of the story, no one can ever really know what went down.
At any rate, around two years into the marriage, the King had a law passed that made it treason for any queen to be ‘unchaste’ without telling him before marriage. And he applied the rule retrospectively. Fair much? He sent the Archbishop to dig up dirt on Howard, and it was reported that she’d been in past intimate relationships – one of them with her much older music teacher when she was only 13. She said it was nonconsensual. Nobody believed her. She lost her head, along with her supposed lovers, whose heads were displayed on spikes at the Tower Bridge. A gruesome ending for all.
6. The ‘Survivor’: Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr was the goddaughter of Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who she was said to be named after, in a kind of ‘Days of Our Lives’ sub-plot. She was in court serving the King’s eldest daughter, Mary, and was preparing to marry the love of her life, Thomas Seymour, when the King decided he wanted her for himself. While her infamy will forever be as ‘one of King Henry VIII’s six wives’, she really ought to be known as the first woman in England to publish books under her own name, and in English rather than Latin (in other words, the first woman to write books that people could actually read).
While her intellect and religious views almost got her arrested, she found ways to calm the King, right to his deathbed. She had ‘survived’. She also had a big influence on her stepdaughter, Elizabeth, who went on to rule England for 45 years through the ‘golden age’ – one of the best periods in the country’s history.
So there is the plot twist – while King Henry III was busy obsessing over power, ego, and having a male heir, he accidentally inspired some pretty strong female leaders. All we’ll ever remember about him is his dismal treatment of women. Bring on the Queendom ladies!
With love,
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