Henry the Eight's Wives
King Henry the Eighth was a ruthless glutton of an English king but many people know him for his six wives.
Catherine of Aragon: the daughter of the
first king and queen of a unified Spain,
Catherine was the wife of Henry's brother
and once heir to the English throne Arthur
until his premature death. She was the
mother of Bloody Mary herself, Mary
Tudor or by her royal title, Mary I of
England.
'Anne Boleyn: unproven Tudor legend says that
Greensleeves came to be because of her
(who's to say) but she definitely played a
key factor in the Protestant Reformation
when the Pope refused to grant Henry a
divorce (marriage breaks down due to
people not loving each other anymore)
which resulted in Henry setting up the
Church of England and being
excommunicated. Despite this, her many
affairs, alleged witchcraft and her failure
to produce a son for Henry (She had
Elizabeth with red hair) led to her losing
her head to a sword.
Jane Seymour: Not to confuse her with actress
Jane Seymour (whose real name is Joyce
Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg but chose
Jane Seymour as an easy way for people to
remember her), Jane was the only wife Henry
truly loved so much that after dying from
childbirth complications following the birth of
her son Edward, Henry had a tomb arranged
for her to be buried in that had enough room
for him.
Anne of Cleves: Henry fell in love with her portrait but when she arrived in England, he realised that he had fell for a Renaissance case of catfishing as the artist Hans Holbein had made Anne look more beautiful in the portrait than she actually was in real life. The marriage was cancelled six months later but Anne stayed in England at Richmond Palace as a divorce settlement.
Catherine Howard: With an age lost to the ages,
Kathrine Howard had 4 lovers (including Henry) at such a young age but her last fling cost her life.
Catherine Parr: While she wasn't keen on marrying him, she ended up being not only his wife but also his nurse as his health and weight problems took a turn for the worse. Henry the Eight lay on his deathbed at the tender age of 55 while Catherine Parr and Anne of
Cleaves outlived him.
Note
*back then it was annulment where the marriage was not only axed, it was declared non existent. The Divorced, Beheaded, Died rhyme is a simplification of the whole fiasco as divorces are a lot more common than annulments these days.