The Legacy Of King Henry VIII

Henry VIII is one of the many famous Kings in history and one of the very few to pass on a legacy. He was “born on June 28, 1491” (The Gale Group) in a city called Greenwich located in England. His father was the King of England and did not acknowledge Henry VIII as much compared to his two older siblings, Elizabeth, and Arthur. His father had viewed Henry’s older brother, Arthur as the future heir since he showed that he had the credentials to take over the throne compared to Henry, although only after Arthur’s death due to an unknown illness and his sister, Elizabeth due to blood poisoning that his father had started to acknowledge Henry VIII as the one who would take over the throne. Henry VIII then gained the throne on April 21, 1509, at

He had decided to marry Catherine of Aragon who was destined to marry his brother, Arthur ever since she was merely three years old, but their marriage had become short due to his death which made the pact at risk, so Henry’s marriage to her on June 24, 1509 then saved the alliance between Spain and England. He had adored her every time he would come back to the castle and say “my Catherine alone shall extend me her hand, and give me a welcome to the bridal chamber.” (Williams 27) Although the marriage did not come easy since Catherine’s parents were skeptical of the marriage, “many a rebellion had to be put down and many a pretender put away, before they could consent to entrust their daughter to the care of an English king.” (Pollard 20) Shortly after, Catherine was pregnant with a child. Henry was ecstatic in hopes of the child being a male to take over the throne, but to his disappointment, the child was a female who “was a stillborn” (Pollard 143) and was premature in January 1510. Although, Henry was soon brought back to his feet by another pregnancy that resulted in a male. He was so happy that he celebrated the birth of a young prince born on January 1, 1511 that was soon followed by the prince’s death after only being 52 days old. After multiple attempts to have a child, she was successful with a daughter on

She had declined Thomas’s invitation to wed and accepted Henry’s hand in marriage feeling as if “her will was overruled by a higher power.” (Pollard 311) She and Henry were later married on July 12 with a small ceremony only consisting of 20 people. Henry VIII then passed on January 28, 1547 due to type two diabetes from suspected rumors leaving behind his nine-year-old son, Edward VI. Katherine then married Thomas Seymour in secret, the one who she had first become interested in. She was then sent off to another household in 1548 with the custody of Elizabeth. She then became pregnant in June 1548 and gave birth to Mary on August 30. Katherine then became weak after giving birth and had been diagnosed with a puerperal fever. She then died on the morning of September 5, 1548 and was buried in the chapel located in Sudeley