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King Henry VIII (1491–1547) -

Henry was only 17 years of age when he succeeded the throne in 1509. He was King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. During that time, he went through six wives and even managed to split with Rome.

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Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) -

Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of King Henry VIII.

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Spanish blood -

Catherine was the youngest surviving child of Ferdinand and Isabella, the joint rulers of Spain.

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Catherine and Arthur, Prince of Wales -

Arthur, Prince of Wales, the older brother of Henry (pictured) married Catherine of Aragon in 1501 when she was 18 years of age. He died a year afterwards at Ludlow Castle, leaving the throne to Henry VIII, who gladly stepped into his late brother's shoes, and his widow's bed.

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Marriage to Henry VIII -

King Henry VIII and his wife Catherine were crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 1509.

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Divorce and the English Reformation -

Catherine suffered several miscarriages before conceiving a daughter. But Henry was growing frustrated by his lack of a male heir. He had also become enamored with Anne Boleyn, Catherine's lady-in-waiting. Henry eventually annulled his union with Catherine, much to the consternation of the Pope. It led to the monarch initiating the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. This image illustrates Catherine pleading her case against divorce from Henry. But in 1533 and already pregnant by him, Anne Boleyn secretly married Henry. Catherine was forced to renounce the title of Queen and a divorce was granted. On January 7, 1536, Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle and was buried at Peterborough Abbey (later Peterborough Cathedral). She is thought to have died of cancer.

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Anne Boleyn (c. 1501–1536) -

Anne Boleyn became the second wife of Henry VIII.

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Growing up in France -

Anne spent part of her childhood in the household of Mary, Henry VIII's sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. She remained in France for several years, returning to England around 1521.

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Anne meets Henry -

Anne had been originally betrothed to Henry Percy, son of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland. But after meeting Henry around 1526, she changed her mind. But King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn in January 1533 took place while the monarch was still married to Catherine of Aragon.

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Son and heir, please -

Anne Boleyn was crowned queen consort on June 1, 1533. In September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. But she knew it was imperative that she produce a son. In fact, her life depended on it!

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Execution -

Without an heir apparent, Henry looked to ways of ending his marriage to Anne. Moves were made to engineer her downfall. She was accused of adultery, and high treason and on May 2, 1536, Anne Boleyn was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where she was tried, found guilty, and beheaded on May 19. Meanwhile, the King had met Jane Seymour...

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Jane Seymour (1508–1537) -

Jane Seymour was the British monarch's third wife.

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A monarch's roving eye -

Jane Seymour became a maid-of-honor in 1532 to Henry's first wife, Queen Catherine, and went on to serve Queen Anne, his second wife. It's likely that Jane caught the monarch's roving eye in February 1536, about three months before Anne's execution.

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Denied a coronation -

Jane may well have harbored some trepidation towards romancing Henry given the fate of his two previous wives. Nevertheless, the pair were married at the Palace of Whitehall in London on May 30, 1536. Unlike Henry's previous two queens, Jane never had a coronation.

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It's a boy! -

In 1537, Jane fell pregnant. In October, she gave birth to a boy, Prince Edward, the future Edward VI of England. Her labor had been difficult and prolonged and she soon fell seriously ill. However, Jane recovered enough to receive baby Edward after her son's christening so mother and father could formally bless the newborn. Always a sickly child, Edward died of natural causes in 1553, aged 15.

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Death -

Jane Seymour's condition worsened and on October 24, 1537 she died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her son. She was the only wife of Henry's to receive a queen's funeral or to be buried beside him in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (pictured).

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Anne of Cleves (1515–1557) -

King Henry VIII's fourth wife was Anne of Cleves. It's this portrait, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543), that attracted Henry to Anne... but not for the reasons you'd expect.

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Exaggerated beauty -

Born in Düsseldorf into a German noble family, Anne in the flesh did not appeal to Henry VIII physically. Indeed, he thought her appearance unsatisfactory and blamed his advisors and Holbein's portrait for exaggerating her beauty.

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Ulterior motive -

Anne's brother was William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, and it's for this reason that Henry agreed to marry her. William, you see, was a leader of the Protestants of western Germany, and Henry surmised that by marrying his sister it would strengthen his position against potential attacks from Catholic France and the Holy Roman Empire.

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A match not consummated -

Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves were married on January 6, 1540. The match was never consummated, however, and she was not crowned queen consort. Soon the king was seeking a way out of the union. The marriage was dissolved, and in part settlement she was given property, including Hever Castle, the former home of Anne Boleyn. She died in 1557 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

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Catherine Howard (c. 1523–1542) -

Catherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Her father was Lord Edmund Howard, a prominent politician at Henry's court. What's more, she was first cousin to... Anne Boleyn.

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Young and pretty -

Catherine came to court at about the age of 19 as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves, where she no doubt caught Henry's attention.

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Teenage bride -

The then-49-year-old Henry married his 19-year-old bride on July 28, 1540. For a few short months, the union was a happy one. But the new queen's youth and vigor also attracted the attention of younger, more handsome men.

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Tower of London -

The queen courted danger with her increasingly flirtatious behavior. In 1541, Henry was informed of his wife's misconduct. Enough evidence was gathered that Catherine had been promiscuous before her marriage, and very likely during it, that she was stripped of her title as queen and accused of adultery. She was immediately dispatched by barge to the Tower of London (pictured) to await her fate.

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Beheaded -

Catherine Howard was executed on the Tower Green on February 13, 1542 on the grounds of treason. In an ironic twist of fate, she was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the nearby chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula next to... Anne Boleyn. 

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Catherine Parr (1543–1547) -

Catherine Parr was the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII—and the final queen consort of the House of Tudor.

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First name terms -

Catherine Parr's mother Maud was lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and named her daughter after Henry's first wife.

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Final fling -

With two previous marriages behind her, Catherine was 31 years old by the time Henry expressed interest in her. The king was by now 52 and in ill health. Ironically, Catherine had eyes for Thomas Seymour, brother of the late Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife.

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Marriage to Catherine Parr -

Feeling it was her duty to oblige the monarch, Catherine accepted Henry's offer of marriage. The royal couple were wed on July 12, 1543 at Hampton Court Palace.

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The King is dead! -

King Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547. After his death, Catherine secretly married Thomas Seymour and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. She died on September 5, 1548 due to childbirth complications and is buried in the chapel at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire. Pictured is Henry's will. It contains instructions as to the succession of the throne, and makes provisions for his children.

Sources: (BBC) (Historic UK) (TudorHistory) 

See also: The craziest celebrity wills and dying wishes

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