Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The 7th Wife of Henry the 8th (Royal Sagas #1) by Betty Younis The 7th Wife of Henry the 8th (Royal Sagas #1) by Betty Younis. 1. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) The first wife of King Henry VIII of England. The refusal of Pope Clement VII to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine triggered the break between Henry and Rome and led to the English Reformation. Catherine was the youngest daughter of the Spanish rulers Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. In 1501 she married Prince Arthur, eldest son of King Henry VII of England. Arthur died the following year, and shortly afterward she was betrothed to Prince Henry, the second son of Henry VII. But subsequent rivalry between England and Spain and Ferdinand's refusal to pay the full dowry prevented the marriage from taking place until her fianc� assumed the throne as Henry VIII in 1509. For some years the couple lived happily. Catherine matched the breadth of her husband's intellectual interests, and she was a competent regent while he was campaigning against the French (1512-14). Between 1510 and 1518 Catherine gave birth to six children, including two sons, but all except Mary (later queen of England, 1553-58) either were stillborn or died in early infancy. Henry's desire for a legitimate male heir prompted him in 1527 to appeal to Rome for an annulment on the grounds that the marriage had violated the biblical prohibition against a union between a man and his brother's widow. Catherine appealed to Pope Clement VII, contending that her marriage to Henry was valid because the previous marriage to Arthur had never been consummated. For seven years the Pope avoided issuing the annulment because he could not alienate Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman emperor Charles V. Finally Henry separated from Catherine in July 1531. On May 23, 1533 - five months after he married Anne Boleyn - he had his own archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, annul the marriage to Catherine. Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy repudiating all papal jurisdiction in England and making the king head of the English church. Although Catherine had always been loved by the English people, Henry forced her to spend her last years isolated from all public life. 2. Anne Boleyn (1507-1536) The second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. The events surrounding the annulment of Henry's marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his marriage to Anne led him to break with the Roman Catholic church and brought about the English Reformation. Anne's father was Sir Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde. After spending part of her childhood in France, she returned to England in 1522 and lived at Henry's court and drew many admirers. A desired marriage with Lord Henry Percy was prevented on Henry's order by Cardinal Wolsey, and at some undetermined point the king himself fell in love with her. In 1527 Henry initiated secret proceedings to obtain an annulment from his wife, the aging Catherine of Aragon; his ultimate aim was to father a legitimate male heir to the throne. For six years Pope Clement VII, under pressure from Henry's rival Charles V, refused to grant the annulment, but all the while Henry's passion for Anne was strengthening his determination to rid himself of his queen. About January 25, 1533, Henry and Anne were secretly married. The union was made public on Easter of that year, and on May 23 Henry had the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, pronounce the marriage to Catherine null and void. In September Anne gave birth to a daughter, the future queen Elizabeth I. Anne's arrogant behaviour soon made her unpopular at court. Although Henry lost interest in her and began liaisons with other women, the birth of a son might have saved the marriage. Anne had a miscarriage in 1534, and in January 1536 she gave birth to a stillborn male child. On May 2, 1536, Henry had her committed to the Tower of London on a charge of adultery with various men and even incest with her own brother. She was tried by a court of peers, unanimously convicted, and beheaded on May 19. On May 30 Henry married Jane Seymour. That Anne was guilty as charged is unlikely; she was the apparent victim of a temporary court faction supported by Thomas Cromwell. 3. Jane Seymour (1509-1537) The third wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of King Edward VI. She succeeded - where Henry's previous wives had failed - in providing a legitimate male heir to the throne. Jane's father was Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, Savernake, Wiltshire. She became a lady in waiting to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and then to Anne Boleyn, who married the King in 1533. Henry probably became attracted to Jane in 1535, when he visited her father at Wolf Hall, but, though willing to marry him, she refused to be his mistress. That determination undoubtedly helped bring about Anne Boleyn's downfall and execution (May 19, 1536). On May 30, 1536, Henry and Jane were married privately. During the remaining 17 months of her life Jane managed to restore Mary, Henry's daughter by Catherine of Aragon, to the King's favour. Mary was a Roman Catholic, and some scholars have interpreted Jane's intercession to mean that she had little sympathy with the English Reformation. The future Edward VI was born on October 12, 1537, but, to Henry's genuine sorrow, Jane died 12 days later. Jane's family enjoyed Henry's favour until the end of his reign. On the accession of Edward VI to the throne, Jane's brother, Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, became regent as lord protector with the title duke of Somerset. Another brother, Thomas Seymour of Sudeley, was lord high admiral from 1547 to 1549. 4. Anne of Cleves (1515-1557) The fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Henry married Anne because he believed that he needed to form a political alliance with her brother William, duke of Cleves, who was a leader of the Protestants of western Germany. He thought the alliance was necessary because in 1539 it appeared that the two major Roman Catholic powers, France and the Holy Roman Empire, were about to join together to attack Protestant England. That threat prompted Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, to arrange the marriage to establish ties between England and the Lutheran enemies of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V. On Jan. 1, 1540, Anne arrived in England to meet her fianc� for the first time. Five days later the wedding took place. Henry was keenly disappointed, Anne being less attractive than he had been led to expect, and he soon came to resent her lack of sophistication and limited command of the English language. When the alliance between the Catholic powers failed to materialize, the marriage became a political embarrassment and was annulled by an Anglican convocation (July 9, 1540). Anne acquiesced and was rewarded with a large income, on the condition that she remain in England. She lived at Richmond or Bletchingley, with occasional visits to court, until her death. 5. Catherine Howard (died 1542) The fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Her downfall came when Henry learned of her premarital affairs. Catherine was one of 10 children of Lord Edmund Howard (died 1539), a poverty-stricken younger son of Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk. Henry VIII first became attracted to the young girl in 1540, when he was seeking to end his politically motivated marriage to Anne of Cleves, to whom Catherine was a maid of honour. He had his marriage to Anne annulled on July 9, and on July 28 Henry and Catherine were privately married. He publicly acknowledged her as queen on August 8. For the next 14 months Henry appeared to be much enamoured of his bride. But in November 1541, he learned that before their marriage Catherine had had affairs: Henry Mannock, a music teacher; Francis Dereham, who had called her his wife; and her cousin, Thomas Culpepper, to whom she had been engaged. After her marriage to Henry, Catherine had made Dereham her secretary, and it is probable - though still unproved - that she had committed adultery with Culpepper. The King, initially incredulous, became incensed with these revelations. On February 11, 1542, Parliament passed a bill of attainder declaring it treason for an unchaste woman to marry the king. Two days later Catherine was beheaded in the Tower of London. 6. Catherine Parr (1512-1548) The sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendall, an official of the royal household. Catherine had been widowed twice - in marriages to Edward Borough (died c. 1529) and to John Neville, Lord Latimer (died 1542 or 1543) - by the time she married Henry on July 12, 1543. Her tactfulness enabled her to exert a beneficial influence on the King during the last years of his reign. She developed close friendships with the three children Henry had by previous marriages and devoted herself to their education. A Humanist, she was friendly with Protestant reformers. Timely access to the King saved her from conservatives, especially Stephen Gardiner, who were bent on her destruction in 1546. After Henry's death in January 1547 she married a former suitor, Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, who was admiral of England from 1547 to 1549, but she died shortly after giving birth to a daughter. A learned and deeply religious woman, she wrote A Lamentacion or Complaynt of a Sinner in the last year of her life. Wives of Henry VIII. The wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort married to Henry VIII of England between 1509 and 1547. The six women to hold the title 'queens consort' of King Henry VIII were, in order: (Divorced), (Beheaded), (Died days after giving birth, widely believed to be following birth complications), (Divorced) (Beheaded), (Survived). (A common device to remember the fates of his consorts is "annulled, beheaded, died, annulled, beheaded, survived." OR “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived”). It is often noted that Catherine Parr "survived him"; in fact Anne of Cleves also survived the king and was the last of his queens to die. Of the six queens, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour each gave Henry one child who survived infancy—two daughters and one son, all three of whom would eventually ascend to the throne. They were Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I, and King Edward VI, respectively. Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, Henry's two queens who were beheaded, were first cousins. Several of his wives worked in at least one of his other wives' service. Anne Boleyn worked in Catherine of Aragon's service; Jane Seymour worked in Catherine of Aragon's and Anne Boleyn's service; and Catherine Howard worked in Anne of Cleves's. Legally speaking, two of these marriages never occurred as they were annulled, so under one interpretation, Henry VIII actually had only four wives despite having six weddings. Henry was distantly related to all six of his wives through their common ancestor, King Edward I of England. [ 1 ] There is a rhyme which also helps to remember his wives: King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded. However, this rhyme is somewhat invalid, because he didn't divorce two wives; he had the marriages annulled. Henry and at least four of his wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr) have been characters in opera (for details, see List of historical opera characters). Contents. Catherine of Aragon [ edit ] Catherine of Aragon (16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536; Spanish: [ Catalina de Aragón ] error: >: text has italic markup (help) ) was Henry's first wife. [ 2 ] After the death of Arthur, her first husband and Henry's brother, a papal dispensation was obtained to enable her to marry Henry, though the marriage did not take place until after he came to the throne in 1509. Prospects were looking good when a Catherine became pregnant in 1510, just 4 months after their marriage, but the girl was stillborn. Catherine became pregnant again in 1511, and gave birth to a boy who died two months later. In 1512, Catherine gave birth to a stillborn boy, and then a stillborn girl in 1513. Finally, Catherine bore him a healthy daughter in 1516, Mary. It took her two years to conceive again. This pregnancy also ended with a stillborn girl. It is said that Henry truly loved Catherine of Aragon, he himself professed it many a time in song, letters, inscriptions, public declarations etc. Henry, at the time a Roman Catholic, sought the Pope's approval for an annulment on the grounds that his marriage was invalid because Catherine had first been his brother's wife. Henry had begun an affair with Anne Boleyn, who is said to have refused to become his mistress (Henry had already consummated an affair with and then dismissed Anne's sister, Mary Boleyn, and most historians believe that Anne wanted to avoid the same treatment) [ citation needed ] . Despite the pope's refusal, Henry separated from Catherine in 1531. In the face of the Pope's continuing refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine, Henry ordered the highest church official in England, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, to convene a court to rule on the status of his marriage to Catherine. On 23 May 1533 [ 3 ] Cranmer ruled the marriage to Catherine null and void. On 28 May 1533 he pronounced the King legally married to Anne (with whom Henry had already secretly exchanged wedding vows, probably in late January 1533). This led to the break from the Roman Catholic Church and the later establishment of the Church of England. Shakespeare called her "The Queen of Earthly Queens". Marriage to Henry VIII: 11 June 1509 – 23 May 1533 (23 years, 11 months, 11 days), Annulled. Anne Boleyn [ edit ] Anne Boleyn (c.1501/1507–19 May 1536) was the second wife of Henry VIII of England and the mother of Elizabeth I of England. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the English Reformation. The daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (born Lady Elizabeth Howard), Anne was of nobler birth than Jane Seymour; Henry's later wife, and was dark-haired, with beautiful features and lively manners. She was educated in Europe, largely as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France. Anne resisted the King's attempts to seduce her in 1526 and she refused to become his mistress, as her sister, Mary Boleyn, had been. It soon became the one absorbing object of the King's desires to secure a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry Anne. When it became clear that Pope Clement VII was unlikely to give the king an annulment, the breaking of the power of the Roman Catholic Church in England began. Henry had Thomas Wolsey dismissed from public office and later had the Boleyn family's chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1533, Henry and Anne went through a secret wedding service. [ 4 ] She soon became pregnant and there was a second, public wedding service, which took place in London on 25 January 1533. On 23 May 1533, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine null and void. Five days later, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne to be good and valid. Soon after, the Pope launched sentences of excommunication against the King and the Archbishop. As a result of Anne's marriage to the King, the Church of England was forced to break with Rome and was brought under the king's control. [ 4 ] Anne was crowned Queen Consort of England on 1 June 1533. Later that year, on 7 September, Anne gave birth to another daughter, Elizabeth. When Anne failed to quickly produce a male heir, her only son being stillborn, the King grew tired of her and a plot was hatched by Thomas Cromwell to execute her. Although the evidence against her was unconvincing, Anne was beheaded on charges of adultery, incest, and high treason on 19 May 1536. Following her daughter Elizabeth's coronation as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the works of John Foxe. Over the centuries, Anne has inspired or been mentioned in numerous artistic and cultural works. Due to this fact, she has remained in the popular memory and Anne has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had." [ citation needed ] Marriage to Henry VIII: 28 May 1533 – 19 May 1536 (2 years, 11 months, 21 days), annulled then beheaded [ 5 ] Jane Seymour [ edit ] Jane Seymour (c.roughly 1508– 24 October 1537) was Henry's third wife. She served Catherine of Aragon and was one of Anne Boleyn's ladies- in-waiting. [ 6 ] It is strongly believed that she is the mistress that disposed of Anne, who was executed just eleven days before Jane's marriage to the king. She was of lower birth than most of Henry's wives, as the daughter of a knight. Finally, a year later, Jane gave birth to a healthy, legitimate male heir, Edward, but Seymour died twelve days later, seemingly because of post-natal complications. This apparently caused her husband genuine grief, as she was the only queen to receive a proper Queen's burial; when the King died in 1547, he was buried next to her. Marriage to Henry VIII: 30 May 1536 – 24 October 1537 (1 year, 4 months, 24 days), death from complications of childbirth. Anne of Cleves [ edit ] Anne of Cleves (22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Henry's fourth wife, for only six months in 1540, from 6 January to 9 July. Anne of Cleves was a German princess. [ 7 ] It has been incorrectly stated that Henry referred to her as " A Flanders Mare " The label has stuck with Anne. [ 8 ] Her pre-contract of marriage with Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, was cited as grounds for an annulment. Anne agreed to this, claiming that the marriage had not been consummated, and because she hadn't resisted the annulment, was given a generous settlement, including Hever Castle, former home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns. She was given the name "The King's Sister", and became a friend to him and his children until his death. She outlived both the King and his last two wives, making her the last of the six wives to die. Marriage to Henry VIII: 6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540 (6 months, 3 days), Annulled. Catherine Howard [ edit ] Catherine Howard (c.1521 – 13 February 1542) was Henry's fifth wife between 1540–1542, sometimes known as "the rose without a thorn". Henry was informed of her alleged adultery with Thomas Culpepper on 1 November 1541. [ 9 ] After being deprived of the title of Queen, she was beheaded at the Tower of London. The night before, Catherine spent hours practising how to lay her head upon the block, [ citation needed ] and her last words were for mercy for her family and prayers for her soul. It was also popularly believed that Catherine had also declared, "I die a Queen, but I'd rather die the wife of Culpepper." [ citation needed ] Catherine was a first cousin of Anne Boleyn, as her aunt was Anne's mother. Marriage to Henry VIII: 28 July 1540 – 13 February 1542 (1 year, 6 months, 18 days), Beheaded. Catherine Parr [ edit ] Catherine Parr (1512 – 7 September 1548), also spelled Kateryn, was the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII 1543–1547. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and his wife Maud Green. Through her father, Catherine was a direct descendant of King Edward III of England (House of Plantagenet) and Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of England through their son Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster Plantagenet and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford née Roët. Through John of Gaunt's daughter Lady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland (the maternal great-great grandmother of Henry) Catherine was a 3rd cousin, once removed, of her husband, Henry VIII. By Henry's paternal descent from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, another child of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, the two were also fourth cousins, once removed. [ 10 ] Catherine showed herself to be the restorer of Henry's court as a family home for his children. Catherine was determined to present the royal household as a close-knit one in order to demonstrate strength through unity to Henry's opposers. [ citation needed ] Perhaps Catherine's most significant achievement was Henry's passing of an act that confirmed both Princess Mary's and Elizabeth's line in succession for the throne, despite the fact that they had both been made illegitimate by divorce or remarriage. Such was Henry's trust in Catherine that he chose her to rule as Regent while he was attending to the War in France and in the unlikely event of the loss of his life, she was to rule as Regent until six year old Edward came of age. Catherine also has a special place in history as she was the most married queen of England, having had four husbands in all; Henry was her third. She had been widowed twice before marrying Henry. After Henry's death, she married Thomas Seymour, uncle of Edward VI, to whom she had formed an attachment prior to her marriage with Henry. She had one child by Seymour, Mary, and died shortly after childbirth. Mary's history is unknown, but she is believed to have died as a toddler. Marriage to Henry VIII: 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 (3 years, 6 months, 16 days), His death. Who Were the Six Wives of Henry VIII? King Henry VIII ruled England for 36 years (1509-1547), presiding over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and Protestant Reformation. But it's the monarch's tumultuous romantic life, rather than his politics, that have kept him in the spotlight. Henry VIII is best known for his six wives, and several mistresses he kept on the side. The monarch’s desperate quest for political unification and a healthy male heir drove him to annul two marriages and have two wives beheaded. His chaotic love life caused an unstable succession, foreign policy implications and even led to the break with the Church of Rome. Here’s a look at the lives and, in several instances, the untimely demise of Henry VIII’s wives along with the impact this real-life melodrama had on England. Listen to HISTORY This Week Podcast: Off With Her Head. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536): Demoted for Bearing No Son. Catherine of Aragon. Henry took the throne in 1509, at age 17. Six weeks later, he married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and the widow of his elder brother, Arthur. From the moment young Henry took his nuptials, he obsessed over continuing the Tudor line. Of multiple pregnancies and several births, the only child to survive was Henry and Catherine’s daughter, Mary, born in February 1516. Catherine remained at Henry’s side for 23 years and is even thought to be the only woman the king ever truly loved. “Henry viewed her as a model wife in every respect bar one… her failure to give him a son,” says Tudor historian Tracy Borman. Frustrated at the lack of a male heir, Henry’s eyes wandered. He had a brief extra-marital affair with Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. In 1519, Bessie was taken in secret to the Essex countryside where she gave birth to Henry Fitzroy, Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate child. By the 1520s, Henry had developed a fondness for Anne Boleyn, another lady-in-waiting to the queen, and eventually sought the Pope’s approval for an annulment. “He argued that his marriage to Catherine was invalid because her marriage to his brother Arthur had been consummated, but she always contested this,” Borman explains. When the Pope refused Henry’s request, the king divorced Catherine against the will of the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England—ushering in the Reformation. Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle, as a princess not a queen, on January 7, 1536. Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-1536): The Union That Sparked Reformation, Beheaded. Robert Alexander/Getty Images. Anne and her sister, Mary, spent part of their childhood in the France court. Mary returned to England sometime around 1520 and had a brief affair with Henry. Henry then became smitten with Anne, but she refused the king’s advances. She had no interest in being a mistress. When Henry sought an annulment from his first wife to marry Anne, Rome refused. So the king broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Church of England. Henry and Anne wed in January of 1533, and Anne gave birth to their first child, Elizabeth, in September the same year. Henry remained hopeful Anne would give him a son, but after a series of stillborn births, Henry lost interest in his wife. When he took a mistress, Anne became enraged. “On one occasion, her sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, was banished from court when she and Anne had plotted to remove an unnamed mistress from court,” says Tudor historian Elizabeth Norton. Desperate to end the relationship, Henry accused her of adultery and treason and had the marriage annulled. On May 19, 1536, Anne was beheaded for her alleged crimes. She is by far the most studied of Henry VIII's wives, but much of her life remains a mystery, including the terms of her execution. “Although we know that Henry annulled his marriage to Anne two days before her execution, we do not even know the specific legal pretext,” says Norton. The 7th Wife of Henry the 8th (Royal Sagas #1) by Betty Younis. Published: 11:31 BST, 17 February 2015 | Updated: 19:20 BST, 17 February 2015. Henry VIII almost took a seventh wife but gave up on his final Tudor love because she was too feisty, outspoken and had a habit of nagging him, it emerged today. The monarch considered divorcing his sixth bride Catherine Parr to walk down the aisle with duchess Katherine Willoughby, a new book claims. She had already given birth to two sons and Henry was so obsessed with producing male heirs that he believed she could help continue the Tudor dynasty. The pair met in the 1530s and flirted at court, danced together and even exchanged gifts around Christmas. But Henry was 'jaded' after six failed marriages, two of which he ended with executions, and finally put off another divorce because she was too domineering, according to her biographer. Would it have been seventh time lucky? Henry VIII considered marrying Katherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, but decided to stick with Catherine Parr because she was too feisty. Katherine was known to enjoy offending other aristocrats and dressed her dog as a priest and named him after Catholic bishop Stephen Gardiner because she hated him. She was also known to lecture people on Christianity, including the king, who made himself the head of the church after breaking from Rome in 1534. Author of Henry VIII's Last Love, David Baldwin, claims despite Henry's love of strong women he had learned his lesson and finally decided to stick with the wife he had. He said: 'It was apparent that Henry was very fond of Katherine. 'Henry was obviously keen on her, and what wanted Henry wanted, he usually got. He liked her feistiness as one of his subjects, but as a wife - that might have been a different matter. 'She could've become his seventh wife but he may have just been getting a bit tired of the whole business. It wouldn't be surprising if he was jaded by the experience of his six wives.' RELATED ARTICLES. Share this article. He says Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, first caught the King's eye when she was married to the Duke of Suffolk. The monarch went on to marry Anne of Cleeves, Kathryn Howard and then the devout Protestant Catherine Parr in rapid succession between 1540 to 1543. Katherine waited on both Anne of Cleeves and Catherine Howard before joining Catherine Parr's household - and was regularly at court. At one point they exchanged New Year gifts. Lady Willoughby also sought to gain favour with Thomas Cromwell - the king's chief schemer and main character in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall - but the marriage never happened. 'Jaded': Henry, played by Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall, had been worn down by a series of disastrous marriages, including to Anne Boleyn, played by Claire Foy, who he eventually had executed. Queenmaker: Lady Willoughby sought to gain favour with Henry's closest aide Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance, and wrote to him regularly but the marriage to the king never happened. Expert: Author David Baldwin says the king 'liked her feistiness' but 'as a wife - that might have been a different matter' Mr Baldwin said: 'Rumours are sometimes without foundation, but there are strong indications that King Henry found Katherine attractive. 'They had been exchanging New Year gifts since 1534, and he had been "masking and visiting" with her in March 1538, only months after Jane Seymour's death. 'It is possible he saw this younger, perhaps more attractive, woman who was now a widow and the mother of two healthy boys as the solution to his problem. 'He would not have been the first man to think that a new, more exciting, relationship would somehow restore his lost youth.' Katherine was known for being outspoken - and liked offending people in front of other members of aristocratic society. She once dressed her dog in a white religious vestments and named it after a Conservative bishop, Stephen Gardiner, whom she particularly disliked. Mr Baldwin said she was known as a 'virago' - a domineering woman - and her 'feistiness' and 'sharp tongue' made Henry fearful of another disastrous marriage. Divorced and beheaded: Henry married Catherine of Aragon but split up with her because she failed to produce a son. The king then married Anne Boleyn but had her beheaded on grounds of adultery, incest, and witchcraft. Died and divorced: Jane Seymour, left, died two weeks after giving birth to Edward VI, and Henry then married Anne of Cleves but divorced her after six months and sent her back to Europe with a huge payoff. Beheaded and survived: Catherine Howard was executed after two years of marriage for cheating on the king and then married Catherine Parr, his final wife until he died in 1547. In his book, David adds: 'The feistiness he admired in her as a subject could have made her less appealing as a wife. 'The reality is that he would have found Katherine's forceful Protestantism as disconcerting as Queen Catherine's if he had allowed her to take Catherine's position, and it made no sense to exchange one virago for another. 'He didn't like being lectured by his wife on matters of religion as if she knew more than he did. 'Catherine Parr and Katherine Willoughby were both equally staunch Protestants and equally feisty ladies. 'If he wasn't getting much joy from Catherine Parr, he probably wouldn't have been any better off with the other.' Their marriage was not to be and Katherine later fled England in exile when Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne. 'Henry VIII's Last Love' will be published on March 28 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. THE 'LARGER THAN LIFE' KING WITH SIX WIVES AND A LAVISH LIFESTYLE. Born at Greenwich Palace in 1491, Henry VIII was the third child and second son of Henry VII and his wife. Only three of his six siblings survived infancy - and he succeeded his father as king following his death on 22 April, 1509. Under Henry VIII's reign, England turned in favour of Protestantism and split from Rome, the Royal Navy built up a fleet of about 50 ships and the country invaded France. Henry VIII was well known for his six marriages, all of which ended in some sort of tragedy - divorce or death - but the Tudor king was also known for other, stranger things. He was known to self-medicate, even going as far as making his own medicines. A record on a prescription for ulcer treatment in the British Museum reads: 'An Oyntment devised by the kinges Majesty made at Westminster, and devised at Grenwich to take away inflammations and to cease payne and heale ulcers called gray plaster.' He was also a musician and composer, owning 78 flutes, 78 recorders, five bagpipes, and has since had his songs covered by Jethro Tull. Many are unaware that he died while heavily in debt, after having such a lavish lifestyle and spending far, far more than taxes would earn him. He also possessed the largest tapestry collection ever documented, and 6,500 pistols. While most portraits show him as a slight man, he was actually very large, with one observer calling him 'an absolute monster'. Генрих VIII и его шесть жен. A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself. A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself. A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself. A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself. A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself.