Who was Henry VIII for kids

Quick Facts:

Born: 28 June 1491

Ruled: 1509 - 1547

Died: 28 January 1547

You might already know about Henry VIII because he is very famous for marrying 6 different women, but he also made lots of political and religious changes that transformed the world's history.

Henry was actually 6 foot tall, a good dancer and athlete when he was younger, quite the difference to famous portraits we see as he gets older!

He was the second son of King Henry VII. After his older brother Arthur died when Henry was 10 years old, he became next in line, so when his dad died in 1509 Henry VIII became the second king in the Tudor dynasty at 17 years old.

After becoming King, Henry married Catherine of Aragon, who was earlier married to his brother Arthur, yuck! They had six children together, but only Mary Tudor survived. In 1512 Henry joined his father- in- law, Ferdinand II of Aragon, in a fight against France, a place he tried to invade 2 more times during his reign.

After being married for 24 years Catherine couldn’t give Henry a son, so without an heir Henry needed a new wife. At this time in history, you weren’t allowed to get divorced, so the Pope refused Henry's request, which is a huge turning point in England's history, known as the English Reformation.

In 1533 Henry's new Archbishop of Canterbury annulled his marriage to Catherine and declared their daughter Mary illegitimate, so that his next children could inherit the throne. Henry then married Anne Bolyne, who used to be Catherines lady in waiting. That year Anne had a daughter, Elizabeth.

In 1536, Henry declared himself head of the new Church of England, creating Protestants and fully broke away from the Pope and Catholicisim. By creating a new church Henry could do what he liked. He also closed down monasteries and confiscated their land and money.  The fancy way to say this is the dissolution of the monasteries.

Henry got bored of waiting for a son, so Anne was executed for adultery and treason in 1536. This meant Elizabeth was also now illegitimate, and 2 weeks later Henry married one of Anne's ladies in waiting, Jane Seymour. Jane gave birth to a son Edward, but died only 12 days later. She had finally given Henry the heir he wanted, so was given a proper queens funeral and Henry wore black for three months.

Next in 1540 he married Anne of Cleves to form a political alliance with a powerful German family. He only saw a painting of her before marrying her and when she arrived she apparently wasn't as pretty as the picture, so he annulled their marriage too. In the same year Henry then married Katherine Howard, but it wasn't for very long and she was executed in 1542 after being accused of flirting with Henry's courtiers.

Lastly in 1543 he married Catherine Parr. She managed to convince Henry to reconcile with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and they were put back into the line of succession. In 1547 after getting more and more ill Henry died at 55 years old, and is now buried next to Jane Seymour in Windsor Castle.

Henry definitely left his mark on the world, he changed the country and shaped history, making him one of England's most famous monarchs. He liked to show off his wealth by building impressive things, like Hampton Court Palace, but he was a very tough ruler who apparently had 70,000 people executed!

Illustration by Alex West. Written by Katie Arnold.