Jane's sweet and charming demeanor captured Henry's heart. Married just days after her predecessor's death, she was to become Henry's favorite wife. Jane, unlike any of Henry's other wives, gave Henry the one thing he wanted most -- a son, an act that would lead to her death.
Jane Seymour is often described as Henry's true love, the woman who tragically died after giving the king his longed-for son.
Edward VI. Edward VI, born 12 October 1537, was Henry VIII's first surviving and only legitimate son and the heir to the throne. Henry VIII described him as 'his most noble and most precious jewel.
After the execution of her mother and the birth of her younger half-brother, Edward, Elizabeth was deemed illegitimate and removed from the English line of succession. After her father's death, she was raised by a series of governesses, as well as by her stepmother, Catherine Parr.
Sebastian was Henry's first son, and possibly because of that, his favourite.
Anne Boleyn, by all accounts, was a very loving mother. An old story claims that Anne wished to breastfeed Elizabeth personally, but Henry wouldn't allow it. The story demonstrates that Anne's love for her daughter might have been widely known, but it has no basis in fact.
Anne Boleyn
Henry despised writing letters but Anne's appeal for him made him pick up a pen and write several love letters to her. He was in awe of her sophistication, her confidence and her charm. Her dark eyes had won over both Henry Percy and Thomas Wyatt before the King of England made his intentions known.
“She was given to nervous fits, as they were described, and often stomach complaints. She had migraines. It was very obvious that she been literally traumatised by her early history and, when she was pressed on the issue of marriage, she would become almost hysterical.”
Elizabeth is two years and eight months old when her mother Anne Boleyn is accused of adultery and beheaded on the orders of Henry VIII. Her father marries Anne's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour a week later.
Seymour was the uncle of Elizabeth's half-brother, and the newly-wed husband of her stepmother. Now, living under the same roof as Elizabeth, Thomas Seymour began to show affection toward Elizabeth, tickling her, and slapping her on her behind as she lay in her bed, or coming into her room in his nightclothes.
Although Anne would conceive twice more, both her pregnancies ended in stillbirth -- in 1534 and 1536. The baby stillborn in January 1536 was a boy and it was then the dismayed king cried, "I see God will not give me male children." The king now doubted Anne's ability to bear him sons.
How many kids did she have? Anne had one living child—who went on to become the legendary Queen Elizabeth I. But historians also note that she also had a miscarriage in 1534 and gave birth to a stillborn boy in January 1536, per Brittanica.
Anne Boleyn fell from Henry VIII's favor when she failed to give birth to a male heir.
Anne, however, had fallen in love with Lord Henry Percy, heir to the earl of Northumberland. They were secretly engaged and planned to marry. As Cavendish's account makes plain, Henry ordered Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. The Cardinal did so, thus earning Anne's lasting enmity.
Anne Boleyn's iconic 'B' initial necklace is famously seen in the 17th century portrait of Anne in the National Portrait Gallery, but the whereabouts of the original necklace is unknown.
Henry was becoming increasingly desperate for a legitimate son and heir to secure the future of the Tudor dynasty. Either driven by her own virtue or ambition, or by her scheming relatives, and aware of the King's dynastic dilemma, Anne refused to become a royal mistress and held out for the possibility of marriage.
The affair lasted for about three years and ended around 1525. During these years Mary gave birth to two children: first a daughter, Catherine, in 1524, and then a son, Henry, born in 1526. The conception dates of both these children coincide with Mary Boleyn's affair with Henry VIII.
Anne became known as the 'Flanders Mare' only much later in the 17th century. Henry preferred to select his own wife and court them directly. Once the political motivation for marrying Anne had receded Henry began to look for reasons not to marry her. Her unattractiveness became one of them.
Why did Henry VIII marry Katherine of Aragon? He loved her – and Spanish Katherine's powerful family also provided useful allies to the English throne.
Henry VIII of England had one acknowledged illegitimate child, as well as several others who are suspected to be his, by his mistresses.
While Anne Boleyn's sister Mary was King Henry VIII's mistress for several years, Diana's elder sister Lady Sarah Spencer (now McCorquodale) was one of Prince Charles' earlier girlfriends. In addition, they are also related to each other: Mary Boleyn is Diana's 13th great-grandmother.
It has been rumoured that she bore two of the king's children, though Henry did not acknowledge either of them. Mary was also rumoured to have been a mistress of Henry VIII's rival, King Francis I of France, for some period between 1515 and 1519.
Queen Elizabeth had bone marrow cancer, according to new biography.
Henry was desperate for an heir to continue the Tudor dynasty and to avoid any future civil war. Twenty years of marriage to Catherine had resulted in just one surviving child, Mary, and now at the age of 40, Catherine was unlikely to bear any more children.
4. Mary Tudor: Henry VIII's favourite sister and future Queen of France. Mary Tudor was born on the 18th March 1496 at Sheen Palace. She was the youngest of Henry VIII's siblings to survive infancy.