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The Private Life of Henry VIII was a commercial success. It made Alexander Korda a premier figure in the film industry, and United Artists signed him for 16 films. It also advanced the careers of Charles Laughton, Robert Donat and Merle Oberon (in her first major film role).
- Overview
- Accession to the throne
Henry was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. When his elder brother, Arthur, died in 1502, Henry became the heir to the throne. He was an excellent student and athlete who enjoyed hunting and dancing. When he became king at age 18, great things were expected of him.
When did Henry VIII get married?
Henry VIII married six times between 1509 and 1543 in pursuit of heirs and political alliances. His wives were Catherine of Aragon (the mother of Mary I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the mother of Henry’s successor, Edward VI), Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.
Who were Henry VIII’s children?
Henry VIII was survived by three children, each of whom sat on the throne of England: Edward VI (ruled 1547–53), Mary I (ruled 1553–58), and Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603). Several of his children died soon after birth; his affair with a mistress also produced a son, Henry Fitzroy, who died at age 17.
How was Henry VIII influential?
Henry was the second son of Henry VII, first of the Tudor line, and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, first king of the short-lived line of York. When his elder brother, Arthur, died in 1502, Henry became the heir to the throne; of all the Tudor monarchs, he alone spent his childhood in calm expectation of the crown, which helped give an assurance of majesty and righteousness to his willful, ebullient character. He excelled in book learning as well as in the physical exercises of an aristocratic society, and, when in 1509 he ascended the throne, great things were expected of him. Six feet tall, powerfully built, and a tireless athlete, huntsman, and dancer, he promised England the joys of spring after the long winter of Henry VII’s reign.
Henry and his ministers exploited the dislike inspired by his father’s energetic pursuit of royal rights by sacrificing, without a thought, some of the unpopular institutions and some of the men that had served his predecessor. Yet the unpopular means for governing the realm soon reappeared because they were necessary. Soon after his accession, Henry married Catherine of Aragon, Arthur’s widow, and the attendant lavish entertainments ate into the modest royal reserves.
More serious was Henry’s determination to engage in military adventure. Europe was being kept on the boil by rivalries between the French and Spanish kingdoms, mostly over Italian claims; and, against the advice of his older councillors, Henry in 1512 joined his father-in-law, Ferdinand II of Aragon, against France and ostensibly in support of a threatened pope, to whom the devout king for a long time paid almost slavish respect.
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Henry himself displayed no military talent, but a real victory was won by the earl of Surrey at Flodden (1513) against a Scottish invasion. Despite the obvious pointlessness of the fighting, the appearance of success was popular. Moreover, in Thomas Wolsey, who organized his first campaign in France, Henry discovered his first outstanding minister. By 1515 Wolsey was archbishop of York, lord chancellor of England, and a cardinal of the church; more important, he was the king’s good friend, to whom was gladly left the active conduct of affairs. Henry never altogether abandoned the positive tasks of kingship and often interfered in business; though the world might think that England was ruled by the cardinal, the king himself knew that he possessed perfect control any time he cared to assert it, and Wolsey only rarely mistook the world’s opinion for the right one.
- Henry VIII was slim and athletic for most of his life. At six feet two inches tall, Henry VIII stood head and shoulders above most of his court. He had an athletic physique and excelled at sports, regularly showing off his prowess in the jousting arena.
- Henry VIII was a tidy eater. Despite the popular image of Henry VIII throwing a chicken leg over his shoulder as he devoured one of his many feasts, he was in fact a fastidious eater.
- Henry was a bit of a prude. England’s most-married monarch has a reputation as a ladies’ man – for obvious reasons. As well as his six wives, he kept several mistresses and fathered at least one child by them.
- Henry’s chief minister liked to party. Although often represented as a ruthless henchman, Thomas Cromwell was in fact one of the most fun-loving members of the court.
Henry VIII (1491 - 1547) became king of England in 1509. He was a successful and learned, although ruthless, monarch. Henry is popularly famed for having six wives, but, far more significantly, he instigated the English Reformation.
Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled.
Sep 9, 2001 · Alexander Korda’s The Private Life of Henry VIII (London Films, 1933) is probably best remembered by cinema historians as the first British film to challenge Hollywood at its own game, both artistically and at the box office.
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Sep 5, 2011 · Henry's fame rests on a striking personality, expressing itself in its technicolored private life, and on the almost perfect success of his sovereign policy. The king stamped himself on his age and country with all the vehemence of the true ruler; today he appears as the very embodiment of personal monarchy.