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Henry VIII

A repeat character in my Christmas season has been Henry the VIII (8th) of England. Last year I got in the ancient royalty mood watching “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007) Rating: ★★★★☆ with Cate Blanchett. Then for Christmas I was given an iTunes gift card and I purchased Season 1 of the hit show “The Tudors” (2007)Rating: ★★★★½.

Tudors Season 1

The Tudors is an awesome show that chronicles the Tudor family of England primarily focused around King Henry VIII played by the HOT HOT HOT Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He could be my king any day. All that aside the show is full of all the twisted inside secrets from that period. The scandals, the religious wars, the major events that shaped much of England’s history and ultimately impacted the world.

So that was last year and even then I was starting to get confused by the babies, legitimate, illegitimate, alive and dead. That wasn’t even getting into the 6 wives of Henry the 8th. So this year on Christmas day we watched the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2008) Rating: ★★★★☆.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Well it was a great movie, but it was even more enigmatic because where “The Tudors” has unlimited episodes to tell the story, the movie has to do it in 115 mins. Luckily I had watched the Tudors first so many things I could fill in when the movie skipped ahead. However when the movie was over I NEEDED to understand how all the kids worked into history. How could they all become king or queen. It wasn’t making sense. So off to my encyclopedia set from my childhood I went.

I felt like I was in grade school writing a report and it was so much FUN! I had to use at least 8 books from the encyclopedia set but in the end I had pieced together all the missing holes. So I am here now to share with you the confusion that is Henry the VIII in a condensed version of my work.

Henry VIII had 6 wives, some had children, some were divorced, some killed. Here is the breakdown in order (NOTE: Each wife has so much more history, this is just a quicky):

Wife# Children Removal or death method
1) Catherine of Aragon 5 Children all died but 1 “Mary I” Marriage made null & void with the reason that God was punishing Henry for marrying his brother’s wife when his brother died.
2) Anne Boleyn 2 Children, 1 survived “Elizabeth I” deemed illegitimate at age 3 Beheaded on charges of High Treason and Incest
3) Jane Seymour “Edward VI” Died shortly after child birth of Edward
4) Ann of Cleves n/a Divorced
5) Catherine Howard n/a Executed for Misconduct
6) Catherine Parr n /a Died shortly after Henry VIII died himself

Phewwwf so that was the wives and the three children that counted. So how can it be that all of these children get talked about and seem to all be King and Queen? Well because they all did remarkably. Here is the breakdown on how they unfolded.

Henry’s Children Order of birth Order for the throne Their Reign
Mary I First First until Edward VI a boy was born. Now Second After King Edward the VI died Mary the I became queen in 1553 till her death in 1558
Elizabeth I Second Not in line for throne because she was illegitimate but was restored to her place in line when Lady Rochford disclosed on her death bed that the charges against Anne Boleyn (Mary’s mom) were false. Now Third Became a strong ruler for England from 1558-1603. 45 years of religious reform, and repairing problems caused by her predecessors. Never married but had love interests.
Edward VI Third First because while younger than his sisters, he was the first boy to be born Short reign as a 10 year old boy with real power held by his uncle till Edward VI passed away in 1553

So there you have it. Henry VIII was King of England, then his son was King Edward VI, then his daughter was Queen Mary I, then his daughter was Queen Elizabeth I. Silly him, all that time worrying about having an heir to the throne and producing 3!

With all of that straightened out now, I have today used another iTunes gift card to purchase Season 2 of “The Tudors” (2008). I can’t yet rate it because I haven’t watched it but I am sure it will be amazing!

Tudors Season 2

NOTE TO SELF: Henry married 3 Catherines, 2 Annes, 1 Jane??? Be leery of dating/marrying someone with the same name as an ex boyfriend.

2 comments to Henry VIII

  • Henry Cavill from the series is sooo handsome. Ann of Cleves made out pretty well financially, officially taking the title of sister to the king. She could not return to her German homeland though. Catherine Parr was a good mother figure to the children, was quite literate, writing several religious pieces.

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  • Michelle M.

    I have to disagree with you. I love the Tudors, I have yet to watch the second season but the first was quite amazing but I absolutely hated and almost walked out of The Other Boelyn Girl. I had read the book and although I know the movie is not usually as good (except on rare occations) this was absolutely horrendous. The person I was with had not read the book and after comparing notes had we know what the other was thinking we would have walked out half way through. It knew enough about the history of the time to know how much they were re-writing, there were things in that movie that either didn’t happen or wouldn’t have been allowed to happen. If you liked the movie I highly recommend the book it was fantastic.

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