Horrible Histories Special: Cruel Kings and Mean Queens by Deary Terry

Author:Deary, Terry [Deary, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Henry Vlll (1509–1547) –

Henry Ate

Claim to fame

• Got rid of the Catholic Church in

England and made himself head of

the new Church. That gave him

the chance to divorce his first wife

and also to pinch the riches of the

Catholic Church.

• He built the first modern navy.

• He liked hunting, eating, riding,

eating, archery, eating, music,

eating … and getting his own way.

Anyone who annoyed him tended

to get the chop – even a good

friend like Thomas More.

Cruel king

Henry was famous for his cruelty.

Some of his worst acts were…

1 Henry held a party. He dressed in

bright yellow, had a thanksgiving

service at church followed by

feasting, jousting and dancing. What

was he celebrating? The death of his

first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

2 Henry insisted on wife number

two, Anne Boleyn, going through a

long, difficult coronation ceremony

even though she was expecting a

baby. Not only was she tired – she

also needed to go to the loo quite

often. She couldn’t leave the

coronation ceremony to do this, so

two ladies-in-waiting sat under her

table with a potty.

3 When Anne gave birth to a

daughter Henry was upset. He

wanted a son. He showed Anne how

annoyed he was by refusing to go to

the christening.

4 When he grew tired of Anne

Boleyn, he had her accused of having

other boyfriends. Her only real crime

was that she couldn’t produce a baby

boy who could be the next Tudor

king of England.

5 As soon as Henry heard the

cannon fire that signalled Anne’s

death, he set off for the house of his

next love, Jane Seymour. They were

engaged the next day. Jane was his

favourite wife – maybe because she

gave him a sickly son, Edward,

before she died.

6 He agreed to marry his fourth

wife, Anne of Cleves, after seeing a

painting

of

her.

She

looked

attractive. When he met her he

realized she was not so pretty – so he

divorced her.

7 Henry married Catherine Howard

when she was just 19 but decided to

have her executed when he heard

she’d had other boyfriends before

she married him. The young woman

ran to him, screaming for mercy,

begging to be allowed to live. He

ignored her pathetic pleas and sent

her to her death. Within a week of

the execution he was celebrating

with a feast again.

8 Wife number six was due to marry

Henry’s brother-in-law, Thomas

Seymour. The greedy old king took

her for himself instead, not caring

about how poor Thomas felt. Never

mind – Henry died less than four

years later and Catherine Parr finally

married Thomas.

9 Henry wasn’t satisfied with having

his enemies’ heads lopped off. After

Thomas More’s head was cut off, it

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