‘Til Death Do Us Part

Having unfulfilled his goal of a male heir, King Henry VIII of England, married six women and left behind a country on the edge of breaking. His self-destructive journey began at the age of seventeen. When his father Henry VIII began his turbulent journey to provide the Tudor family with a male heir to carry on the royal lineage; however, unlike his ancestors, Henry VIII was willing to go to great lengths in order to fulfill this goal. After marrying six wives and having multiple dead children, two dead sons, and two healthy vibrant daughters, Henry VIII’s expectations fell quite short of his idea. Instead of creating a future full of strong male leaders he became dominated by the women who so many times were unable to provide him with the male sons he wanted. Because of Henry VIII’s selfish ambitions, the many women in his life became the reason for his downfall.

As the first wife of Henry VIII (Henry VIII 1), Catherine of Aragon, a devout and well educated woman (Dwyer 32), became subjected to Henry VIII’s drive for a male heir. Shortly after their marriage on June 17, 1509, Catherine found herself pregnant. Their first child was born in January 1510 (Catherine of Aragon 2). When this premature baby

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It was in 1526 that Henry VIII started to become attracted to someone else. ON September 7, 1533, Princess Elizabeth was born, much to Henry VIII’s disappointment (Anne Boleyn 3). After only six months of marriage, the king was already attracted to someone else.

After the death of his son, this was followed by a series of miscarriages and stillbirths; Henry VIII was forced to seek a more fruitful union to fulfill his goal of a male heir. These two women became better leaders than Henry was and were much stronger. The annulment process took close to six years, and in 1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry’s mistress, became pregnant. On January 6, 1540 the king married Anne and even then he was already looking for a way to get out of the marriage (Plantagent 49).

Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII were forced to marry when she became pregnant in 1533. Ironically, his wives, the weaker sex deemed by Henry VIII, produced two strong and powerful females, more powerful than any male Henry produced: Mary I and Elizabeth. died almost immediately, Catherine became pregnant once again. In 1535, Anne was pregnant again: however this child like most of the other children was also a miscarriage. The king now had eyes for Jane Seymour. She played a role also (Jane Seymour2). Katherine managed to soothe the king’s temper and bring the family closer together during his last days Katherine Howard 1). Henry’s punishment for his unusual way came in the form of only sickly male children, a punishment inflicted upon himself by God.

Approximate Word count = 1692
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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