Henry VIII of England had several children. The best known children are the three legitimate offspring who survived infancy and would succeed him as monarchs of England successively, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
His first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, had several pregnancies that ended in stillbirth, miscarriage, or death in infancy. Henry acknowledged one illegitimate child, Henry FitzRoy, as his own, but is suspected to have fathered several illegitimate children by different mistresses. [1] The number and identity of these is a matter of historical debate.[ citation needed ]
There are many theories about whether Henry VIII had fertility difficulties. [2] His last three wives, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr are not known to have conceived by him, although Parr conceived in her next marriage. [3]
None of Henry's acknowledged children (legitimate or otherwise) had children of their own, leaving him with no direct descendants after the death of Elizabeth in 1603.
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
By Catherine of Aragon (married Palace of Placentia 11 June 1509; annulled 23 May 1533, upheld by the Catholic Church until her death on 7 January 1536) | |||
Unnamed daughter | 31 January 1510 | stillborn at 7 months, the first child | |
Henry, Duke of Cornwall | 1 January 1511 | 22 February 1511 | died aged almost two months |
Unnamed son | 17 September 1513 | born prematurely and lived only a few hours | |
Unnamed son | November/December 1514 | stillborn at 8 months | |
Queen Mary I | 18 February 1516 | 17 November 1558 | married Philip II of Spain in 1554; no issue |
Unnamed daughter | 10 November 1518 | stillborn in the 8th month of pregnancy [4] | |
By Anne Boleyn (married Westminster Abbey 25 January 1533; beheaded on 19 May 1536) | |||
Queen Elizabeth I | 7 September 1533 | 24 March 1603 | never married; no issue |
Unnamed child | 25 December 1534 [5] | stillbirth or false pregnancy [6] | |
Unnamed son | 1535 | Miscarried son [7] | |
Unnamed son | 29 January 1536 | miscarriage of a child, believed male, [8] in the fourth month of pregnancy [9] | |
By Jane Seymour (married Palace of Whitehall 30 May 1536) died 24 October 1537 | |||
Unnamed child | 25 December 1536 | miscarriage [10] | |
King Edward VI | 12 October 1537 | 6 July 1553 | died unmarried, age 15; no issue |
By Anne of Cleves (married Palace of Placentia 6 January 1540; annulled 12 July 1540) | |||
no issue | |||
By Catherine Howard (married Oatlands Palace 28 July 1540; beheaded on 13 February 1542) | |||
Unnamed child | 1541 | Miscarriage or false pregnancy [11] | |
By Catherine Parr (married Hampton Court Palace 12 July 1543; Henry VIII died 28 January 1547) | |||
no issue |
Henry VIII of England had one acknowledged illegitimate child, and is suspected to have fathered several others by his various mistresses.
Henry acknowledged his paternity of Henry FitzRoy (15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536), the son of his mistress Elizabeth Blount, and granted him a dukedom; FitzRoy married Lady Mary Howard, but had no issue.
Others speculated to have been Henry VIII's illegitimate offspring include:
Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until its annulment on 23 May 1533. Born in Spain, she was Princess of Wales while married to Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, for a short period before his death.
Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII about such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope.
Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was accused by King Henry VIII of adultery after failing to produce the male heir he so desperately desired. Jane, however, died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a queen's funeral; and he was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Catherine Parr was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish an original work under her own name, in English, in England.
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s as the brother of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII. George was the maternal uncle of Queen Elizabeth I, although he died long before his niece ascended the throne. Following his father's promotion in the peerage in 1529 to Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, he adopted his father's junior title Viscount Rochford as a courtesy title. He was accused of incest with his sister Anne during the period of her trial for high treason, as a result of which both were executed.
Elizabeth Blount, commonly known during her lifetime as Bessie Blount, was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.
Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later known as both Lady Knollys and Dame Catherine Knollys,, was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.
In common parlance, the wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort of King Henry VIII of England between 1509 and his death in 1547. In legal terms, Henry had only three wives, because three of his marriages were annulled by the Church of England. However, he was never granted an annulment by the Pope, as he desired, for Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Annulments declare that a true marriage never took place, unlike a divorce, in which a married couple end their union. Along with his six wives, Henry took several mistresses.
The Tudors is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among American, British, and Canadian producers, and was filmed mostly in Ireland. While named after the Tudor dynasty as a whole, it is based specifically upon the reign of King Henry VIII.
The Sixth Wife is a 1953 historical novel by noted novelist Jean Plaidy. It recounts the tale of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, King of England. The novel covers the life of Catherine as Queen, and her fearful feeling of being replaced in the King's eyes.
Margaret Shelton was the sister of Mary Shelton, and was once thought to be a mistress of Henry VIII of England.
Anne Basset was an English lady-in-waiting of the Tudor period, reputed to have been the mistress of King Henry VIII.
The Other Boleyn Girl is a 2003 BBC television film directed and written by Philippa Lowthorpe, adapted from Philippa Gregory's 2001 novel of the same name. It centres around courtier Mary Boleyn and her sister Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, King of England, and their competition for his affections.
Anne Bourchier was the suo jure7th Baroness Bourchier, suo jureLady Lovayne, and Baroness Parr of Kendal. She was the first wife of William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, and the sister-in-law of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.
Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Baroness Herbert of Cardiff was lady-in-waiting to each of Henry VIII of England's six wives. She was the younger sister of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
Mary Boleyn, also known as Lady Mary, was the elder sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn, whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Mary Shelton was one of the contributors to the Devonshire manuscript. Either she or her sister Madge Shelton may have been a mistress of King Henry VIII.
The mistresses of Henry VIII included many notable women between 1509 and 1536. They have been the subject of biographies, novels and films.
Eleanor Manners, Countess of Rutland, was lady-in-waiting to five wives of King Henry VIII of England: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.