Lesson 8: The Legacy of Henry and his Wives.
The wives surviving Henry.
This section aims to provide students with a summary concerning the fates of the wives surviving Henry.
Katherine Parr
After the King’s death, Katherine Parr married the Lord High Admiral, Thomas Seymour, uncle to the new King, Edward VI. In love with him before her marriage to Henry VIII, Katherine married him so soon after the King’s death that it caused something of a scandal – enough time hadn’t passed to be totally certain that Katherine wasn’t carrying the King’s child.
Poor Katherine. She had no idea that her husband might have been tempted by other, more lofty ambitions, brought about by the fact that the King’s daughter was in Katherine’s care, sharing her home at Chelsea home. Just months after her marriage to Thomas Seymour, during her first pregnancy in four marriages, Katherine realized that her husband (through his marriage to Katherine he had become Elizabeth’s guardian as well) was not satisfied with having married a widow of King. He also sought to possess the daughter, Elizabeth.
Thomas Seymour was the type of man that always would attract Elizabeth: a hot blooded male, handsome, possessing a rough charm. Despite his marriage to Katherine, he was willing to play with fire in his attempts to seduce a King's daughter. Today we would describe what happened at the Queen Dowager's home at Chelsea as sexual abuse of a minor, which probably stopped just short of a full on sexual affair. Katherine Parr sent Elizabeth away when she caught her husband kissing Elizabeth. Then Katherine, having brought to bed her first child in four marriages, died the same death as Jane Seymour. Katherine’s life deserved a better ending.
Anne of Cleves
Of all the wives of Henry VIII, there is only one with a life going anywhere near deserving the tag, “She lived happily ever after.” Only one wife out of six, and that one the rejected bride: Anne of Cleves. Swapped from King’s consort to a role as his royal adopted sister, Anne of Cleves lived a further seventeen years in England before her death in 1557.
Living her life as a wealthy relation of the Tudors, she rode with her former husband’s daughter, Elizabeth, to attend the coronation of another of Henry’s daughters, Mary I. If Anne of Cleves had lived but one more year to 1558, she would have seen the coronation of Elizabeth, her favourite daughter of Henry and the daughter who, as a child of seven, Anne had first met and taken to her heart as her father’s wife.
Her long period in unmarried limbo experienced its drawbacks. There were rumours at the court about Anne’s life away from court, rumours about loose behaviour and consequent bastard children, and a habit of overindulging with English ale. All these rumours effectively put a stopper on any possibility that Henry VIII might take her back as wife after the execution of Katherine Howard.
Interestingly, even after witnessing the ruin of young Katherine’s life, it seems that Anne of Cleves would have been happy enough to re-wed Henry. But in all, Anne of Cleves seems to have lived a fairly happy life, which is more than can be said for Henry VIII's other five wives.
References:
The wives of Henry VIII, by Antonia Fraser. Although more than just one book will be referred to during this course, The wives of Henry VIII is the main reference 'text.' Written in a very readable manner, this book is a very sensitive account of the six women who became the consorts of Bluff King Hal. Antonia Fraser's research is always excellent.
Please note my edition (published in Australia) is called Henry VIII and his Wives
HOW WELL DO KNOW YOUR TUDOR EVENTS?
