(1491-1547) A King of England who began as a handsome,
sweet-natured prince and became a fat, bloated, lecherous, ruthless, narcissistic tyrant whose split from the Catholic
faith to
divorce his first
wife and marry his second can be felt today.
He married six times, first to Katherine of Aragon (divorced), then to Anne Boleyn (beheaded), then to Jane Seymour (died), then to Anne of Cleves (divorced), then to Katherine Howard (beheaded), and finally to Katherine Parr (survived).
To his credit, he legitimized the crown after decades of the War of the Roses (warring between the two branches of the royal family), but he is remembered today for his lechery and for abusing his wives and his two daughters in a futile effort for a healthy son; only his daughter Elizabeth I would be his saving
grace.
After the
death of Jane Seymour from childbirth, a new
wife was sought for Henry VIII, reaching across Europe, but his reputation preceded him; he chose 16-year-old Christina of
Milan first, but the widowed duchess (a great-niece of Katherine of Aragon) refused, saying that she would be
happy to marry him if she had two heads. Henry next chose Marie
de Guise, another young widow, since "as a big man he needed a big
wife"; she rejected his offer and quipped that she
may have been a big woman but she had a very little neck (in reference to Anne Boleyn) and she wasted little time in marrying Henry's nephew, James V of Scotland. Anne of Cleves became the first pick as other candidates made excuses or married.
Henry VIII seemed to have a liking for redheads named Katherine, since he married three such women.
Messenger: (to a group of young noblewomen) "His Royal Majesty Henry VIII seeketh another
wife."
Young noblewomen: (screaming in horror and stampeding)