Henry VIII of England

:You may be looking for the Herman's Hermits song "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am".

Death and succession

Later in life, Henry was grossly overweight, with a waist measurement of 54 inches (137 cm), and possibly suffered from gout. The well known theory that he suffered from syphilis was first promoted approximately 100 years after his death. Henry's increased size dates from a jousting accident in 1536. He suffered a thigh wound which not only prevented him from taking exercise, but also gradually became ulcerated and may have indirectly led to his death, which occurred on 28 January 1547 at the Palace of Whitehall. He died on what would have been his father's 90th birthday. Henry VIII was buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, next to his wife Jane Seymour. Within a little more than a decade after his death, all three of his children sat on the English throne.

Related Topics:
Gout - Syphilis - Jousting - 1536 - 28 January - 1547 - Palace of Whitehall - St George's Chapel - Windsor Castle

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A mnemonic for the fates of Henry's wives is "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived". An alternative version is "King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded". The doggerel, however, may be misleading. Firstly, Henry was never divorced from any of his wives; rather, his marriages to them were annulled. Secondly, four marriages — not two — ended in annulments. The marriages to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were annulled shortly before their executions. Ironically the annulments undermined the process under which Boleyn and Howard were executed: annulments operate on the basis that there had never been a marriage. If they had never been married to him, they could not have committed adultery, one of the central charges against them. However this technicality did not stop their execution.

Related Topics:
Mnemonic - Doggerel

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Under the Act of Succession 1544, Henry's only surviving son, Edward, inherited the Crown, becoming Edward VI. Edward was the first Protestant monarch to rule England. Since Edward was only nine years old at the time, he could not exercise actual power. Henry's will designated sixteen executors to serve on a council of regency until Edward reached the age of eighteen. The executors chose Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, Jane Seymour's elder brother, to be Lord Protector of the Realm. They required, however, that Lord Hertford "not do any act but with the advice and consent of the rest of the co-executors". Nonetheless, Lord Hertford seized power to become the sole Regent. He was overthrown by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and executed for treason. The Duke of Northumberland, however, did not make himself Lord Protector; instead, he urged Edward to declare his majority before becoming eighteen years old, thereby transgressing Henry VIII's will.

Related Topics:
Act of Succession - 1544 - Edward VI - Protestant - Executor - Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford - Lord Protector - John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

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Under the Act of Succession 1544 and under Henry VIII's will, Edward was to be succeeded (in default of his issue) by Henry VIII's daughter by Catherine of Aragon, the Lady Mary. If the Lady Mary did not have children, she was to be succeeded by his daughter by Anne Boleyn, the Lady Elizabeth. Finally, if the Lady Elizabeth also did not have children, she was to be followed by the descendants of Henry VIII's deceased sister, Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk. Edward VI and his advisors, however, had different designs. As he lay on his deathbed, Edward created a will that purported to contradict the provisions of Henry's will. The Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth were excluded from the line of succession as illegitimate. Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk (daughter of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk) was laid aside because Edward feared that her husband Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk might claim the Crown for himself. Edward finally settled on the Lady Jane Grey, the daughter of the Duchess of Suffolk and the daughter-in-law of the powerful Duke of Northumberland. Upon Edward's decease in 1553, the Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen. Under the law, however, she should not have succeeded; an Act of Parliament specifically permitted Henry to devise the Crown in his will, but no similar legislation had been passed for Edward. With this justification, Mary deposed and executed Jane, taking the Crown for herself.

Related Topics:
Lady Mary - Mary Tudor - Duchess of Suffolk - Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk - Lady Jane Grey - 1553 - Act of Parliament

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When Mary I died without issue in 1558, she was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth I did not marry or name an heir, causing a succession crisis. To prevent the Scottish from becoming the dynastic family of Europe, Elizabeth I ordered the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots to try to prevent her from taking the throne. Under Henry VIII's will, Elizabeth was supposed to be succeeded by the heir of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk (the Lady Anne Stanley). Elizabeth was actually succeeded, however, by James VI, King of Scots. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was already a powerful ruler in Scotland, and was Elizabeth's closest living relative. He argued that his hereditary right to succeed was greater than the statutory right of Lady Anne. James was sufficiently powerful, and his opponents weak; thus, his succession faced little opposition. James VI became James I, the first Stuart King of England.

Related Topics:
1558 - Europe - Mary, Queen of Scots - Lady Anne Stanley - James VI, King of Scots - Statutory right - Stuart

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