Agatha Parrot and the Floating Head (12 page)

How did Henry VIII get through SIX Wives?

by Agatha Jane Parrot

1. Catherine of Aragon

Catherine was from Spain and to start with she was married to Henry's big brother Arthur but he died when he was fourteen
which is a bit sad boo hoo. Then when Henry was king in 1509 he married Catherine instead. She had one baby girl called Mary, but Henry really wanted a boy which is a bit typical of dads isn't it?
So he divorced Catherine then he married . . .

2. Anne Boleyn

Anne only had one baby and it was a girl too called Elizabeth which was no good. After three years Henry got bored of waiting, and he couldn't get another divorce so he played a very mean trick and had Anne executed in 1536. (Her ghost is supposed to haunt the Tower of London woo-hoo! Can't say I blame her, I hope she scared Henry
SILLY.)
Ten days later Henry moved on to marry . . .

3. Jane Seymour

Poor Jane didn't last long. The good news was that she managed to have a baby boy called Edward the year after she was married. The bad news was that Jane got very ill and died about two weeks later. That was in 1537.
Henry was quite upset and waited more than two years before he married . . .

4. Anne of Cleves

Henry saw a picture of this German lady called Anne and it looked so gorgeous that
he arranged to marry her before he had even met her! But when she turned up in England he didn't think she was pretty after all, and even though she was very nice he thought she was a bit boring. He had to marry her anyway but he divorced her as soon as he could, although funnily enough they stayed good friends.
Two weeks later he married . . .

5. Kathryn Howard

Kathryn was a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves and she was really young and pretty and so fat old Henry married her as soon as he'd got rid of Anne. He was 30 years older than she was! Unfortunately
Kathryn also had some younger handsome boyfriends and when Henry found out he had her head chopped off in 1542 and she turned into a ghost too!
The next year he married . . .

6. Katherine Parr

Katherine was nine years older than
Kathryn Howard
and at one point it looked like Henry might chop her head off too because she had the wrong religion. But Katherine had been married before and so she knew how to talk her way out of trouble. In the end Henry died in 1547 so she was the only wife that survived! But she's dead now of course otherwise she'd be about 500 years old.

Quiz question!!!

When Henry died himself, which wife was he buried next to? (Clue: she was already dead.)

The answer is Jane and they share a tomb at Windsor Castle and that's true so you can test people on that if you want. I tried it on Miss Pingle and she hadn't a clue ha ha!

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