On the 22nd of July 1536, Henry FitzRoy, the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who was the only acknowledged illegitimate son of Henry VIII and his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, died at St James’s Palace. Born on the 15th of June 1519, he turned only seventeen over a month before his...
Catherine Parr’s unwanted wedding to Henry VIII
On this day in history, the 12th of July 1543, Henry VIII married Catherine Parr, widow of Sir Edward Burgh and Sir John Neville, Baron Latimer of Snape. The wedding took place in the queen’s closet at Hampton Court Palace. Sometime in the spring of 1543, the aging ruler proposed...
The Pope Urges Henry VIII to abandon Anne Boleyn
On the 11th of July 1533, Pope Clement VII declared that Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was valid and legal. Effectively, it meant that the King of England’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was declared null and void. This is the excerpt from Letters and Papers (the source is...
Henry FitzRoy: Henry VIII’s “illegitimate” heir to the throne
When King Henry VIII was alive, he might have considered naming Henry FitzRoy, his illegitimate son with Lady Elizabeth Blount, his successor even without legitimizing it. The fact that Henry VIII openly acknowledged his bastard and bestowed two dukedoms upon the boy doesn’t mean that the king wanted to legitimize...
A fatal love triangle: King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour (part 3)
the link to part 2 of the series “A fatal love triangle: King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour” is here The drama continued on the traditional May Day joust at Greenwich Palace. Queen Anne was aware that something had gone wrong: King Henry attended extended council meetings, their trip...
Anne Boleyn’s first public appearance as Queen of England
On Easter Eve, on the 12th of April 1533, Anne Boleyn made her first public appearance as Queen of England. She attended Mass in the Queen’s Closet at Greenwich Palace. On the 11th of April 1533, King Henry VIII informed the Royal Council that Anne must be recognized as queen...
A fatal love triangle: King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour (part 1)
In the first half of 1536, King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour were tangled in a fatal love triangle, which in the end resulted in the murder of the innocent anointed queen and the monarch’s third marriage soon after Anne's execution. Lady Jane Seymour, who was born in...
An AU scenario: Spanish invasion in England
One of my readers asked me the question what would have happened if Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had invaded England and had dethroned King Henry VIII. First of all, I want to say that it is highly unlikely that the emperor would have decided to invade England. The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys, who was...
Did Mary Queen of Scots have her “last laugh” despite being executed by Elizabeth I?
One of my readers asked me a question what I think about Mary Queen of Scots "getting the last laugh” over Queen Elizabeth I because Mary's son James became the king, even though Elizabeth ordered Mary’s death. Therefore, I feel obliged to write this post, as I absolutely disagree with this...
Death of Catherine of Aragon’s first son
On the 22nd of February, 1511, Prince Henry, the Duke of Cornwall, suddenly died only after only 52 days of life. He was born on the 1st of January 1511 at Richmond Palace, eighteen months after his parents’ wedding and their joint coronation. Little Henry was the first son and first...
Mary, Queen of Scots: “In my end is my beginning”
On the 8th of February 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland and his second wife Marie de Guise (a French-born noblewoman from the powerful House of Guise), was executed after 19 years of her imprisonment in England. Mary was beheaded...
The mystery of the poem “O Death, Rock Me Asleep”
Like many historians, researches, readers of historical fiction, and Anne Boleyn fans, I like thinking that Anne wrote the poem/song “O Death, Rock Me Asleep” on the eve of her execution on the 19th of May 1536. It is a great and beautiful poem that conveys a tremendous wealth of “dark” emotions – agonizing torment, mental...
The tragic end of some Januaries for Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon
In various years of the 16th century, the end of January was quite a tragic time for Henry VIII’s two wives – Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon. It was a time of unhappiness, distress, loss, and tragedy for both Catherine and Anne. The end of January 1535 was the official...
Anne Boleyn’s marriage to Henry VIII: what is the true date?
In many biographies and historical books, we find that Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn on 25th January, 1533, after long years of fierce struggle against Catherine of Aragon, the pope, England, and the whole world. Anne’s romance with Henry truly became an outrageous scandal throughout Christendom! The traditional version of events...
The relationship of Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard
Henry VIII didn’t like Anne of Cleves from the very beginning, and an annulment of their marriage was inevitable; it was just a matter of time. At first, Anne was shocked by the news which the king’s delegation brought to her visiting her at Richmond Palace, where she had gone...