As the second king of Tudor dynasty , Henry VIII is a very romantic and fickle character. He married 6 wives in his life, and countless female officials and mistresses who had relationships with him were even more.
However, the most important reason why Henry VIII was romantic is that his queen Catherine does not give birth to a boy. But in fact, Henry VIII had an illegitimate son at that time. Why didn't he regard this illegitimate son as his heir?
(Henry VIII)
1501, Henry VIII asked the eldest son Arthur to marry Catherine of the Spanish princess Aragon. This marriage was actually a political marriage. Henry VII originally intended to form an alliance with King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Castilla Isabella I .
But after the couple got married for 4 months, Arthur suddenly died and Princess Catherine became a widow. In order to continue to maintain a good alliance with Spain, Henry VII proposed to marry his second son, later Henry VIII.
However, this kind of behavior of marrying a sister-in-law is strictly prohibited by the Catholic Church. In order to stabilize the alliance, Henry VII claimed that Princess Catherine had not yet had sex with Arthur. Later, with the efforts of Isabella I, the Pope finally concessed the marriage.
1509, Henry VII passed away. In the same year, Henry VIII officially succeeded to the throne and held a wedding with Princess Catherine. After getting married, Henry VIII seemed to have a grudge against this former sister-in-law, and the relationship between them has always been lukewarm.
Under the influence of Henry VIII's negative emotions, Queen Catherine suffered four miscarriages. Later, she finally gave birth to a child, but it turned out to be a girl. Henry VIII thus became even more cold to Queen Catherine. And this girl who was disliked at birth was named Mary Tudor , which is later called "Bloody Mary".
With Henry VIII's disappointment with Queen Catherine, he began to shift his energy to his mistress. During the marriage between the two, Henry VIII had a relationship with Queen Caitlyn's maid Elizabeth Brent.
(Elizabeth Brent)
1519, the illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy was born. But because Henry VIII's confidentiality work was done quite well, Fitzroy's birth did not affect the royal family at that time.
Henry VIII liked this son very much. After Fitzroy was born, Henry VIII began to arrange him as the heir to the throne. But after hearing about Henry VIII's idea, the ministers stood firmly on the opposition. However, Henry VIII still sticks to his ideas, and he proudly admits the illegitimate son soon after, and says he will be the next king.
This decision by Henry VIII aroused collective opposition from all officials and people. According to the rules of the royal family at that time, the one who succeeded the king must be born of the queen. And a child born to a maid must not be involved in the throne.
Amidst the opposition, Henry VIII had the idea of marrying Princess Mary, born to Queen Catherine, to Fitzroy in order to enhance Fitzroy's status. But this idea was quickly rejected by the Pope.
In the end, Henry VIII gave up the plan to inherit the throne.
But Queen Catherine could never have a son, and even Henry VIII had no son even for the living male paternal relatives. This means that the Tudor dynasty will face the risk of extinction.
(Queen Catherine)
Under the influence of various factors, Henry VIII vented all his anger on Queen Catherine. He wanted to divorce Queen Catherine and marry a young queen to give birth to him.
However, the Pope rejected Henry VIII's request for divorce. This eventually led to Henry VIII marrying a maid named Anne Bolin without permission.
The Pope was furious when he heard about this and announced that Henry VIII would be expelled from the Holy See. In order to demonstrate his determination, Henry VIII immediately announced that the British Parliament had left the Holy See.Then, Archbishop Thomas Cranmay, Canterbury, declared that Henry's marriage to Catherine was invalid and that his marriage to Anne Bolin was legal.
But what is more tragic is that after becoming the new queen, Anne Bolin also did not give birth to a boy for Henry VIII. Among the children she gave birth to, only Elizabeth I, later, survived.
For this reason, Henry VIII executed Anne Bolin in 1536 for her crime of adultery with her younger brother.
After Anne's death, Henry VIII made her maid Jane Seymour queen.
(Henry VIII and his queens)
1537, Edward Tudor was born, and Henry VIII finally welcomed his first male heir. However, Queen Jane Seymour died of sudden illness shortly after giving birth, and Henry VIII was in great pain.
In the following years, Henry VIII married three more wives. But none of these people gave birth to a boy for him.
1547, Henry VIII passed away. Edward Tudor, who was only 9 years old, succeeded to the throne, which is Edward VI . However, due to his weakness, Edward VI also died of illness a few years later and did not leave any children.
It is worth mentioning that Henry VIII's illegitimate son Fitzroy died of illness as early as 1536, and he also left no children.
(Reference: "General History of Europe")
