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  • Catherine of Aragon on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#3) Catherine of Aragon

    • Dec. at 51 (1485-1536)

    Age: 23. She has the distinction of being the only one of Henry's wives whose exact birth date has been recorded.

    Dowry: Worth 200,000 crowns

    Interests and Skills: Catherine received a wide-ranging education appropriate for the daughter of Queen Isabella of Spain. She learned languages, literature, religion, and art. According to Sebastian Giustinian, the ambassador from Venice and a court observer, Catherine was "not handsome, though she had a very beautiful complexion. She was religious and as virtuous as words could express."

    Politically, Catherine of Aragon would be hard to beat as a potential bride. She had impressive connections to Spain and Rome, boasted a wildly extravagant dowry, and was a capable leader. 

    Considering her piety and resentment over Henry's mistresses, however, she wouldn't be an easygoing partner. Yet despite her religious conservatism, she didn't balk at a relationship that verged on incest: Catherine was Henry's sister-in-law before she was his wife. She had been briefly married to his older brother Arthur before he passed in April 1502, less than four months after their wedding. Henry had to get the pope's permission to marry his deceased brother's wife.

  • Anne Boleyn on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#5) Anne Boleyn

    • Dec. at 35 (1501-1536)

    Age: Between 26 and 32

    Dowry: None

    Interests and Skills: As a lover of the arts, Boleyn patronized an active literary community at court. She also had more than a passing interest in theology, which would have consequences for the entire kingdom.

    Life would never be dull with the intelligent, witty, and confident Anne Boleyn, who rose in the Tudor court by inflaming Henry's passions - and shrewdly declining to become merely his mistress.

    On the other hand, Anne reportedly had a jealous streak. She was considerably less tolerant of Henry's affairs than Catherine of Aragon had been. Similarly, she wasn't always discreet; she is said to have claimed that Henry's skills as a lover were unimpressive.

    Moreover, marriage to her would be a political gamble. Her ascendance brought about England's break with the Catholic Church and scandalized the court.

  • Anne of Cleves on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#2) Anne of Cleves

    • Dec. at 42 (1515-1557)

    Age: 25

    Dowry: Henry insisted that there was no need for a dowry

    Interests and Skills: Like Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves loved stitching and doing embroidery. Since her mother directed her education, Anne was not as educated as some of her royal counterparts, though she was literate. 

    Kind, humble, and peaceable, Anne would be a remarkably good sport as a wife. After all, she graciously agreed to an annulment after only a few months of marriage and maintained a positive relationship with Henry until his passing in 1547.

    This was all despite Henry's callous treatment of her. He directed humiliating criticisms - which were painfully, unfairly, and wrongly personal - at her. Though Henry reportedly fell for her when he saw her portrait, he later insisted that she wasn't as good looking as she appeared in the painting. Henry - who would soon suffer from leg ulcers that emitted a foul smell - also complained about the "evil smells about her."

    Marriage with Anne of Cleves would make political sense. It could build an alliance with Protestant Cleves in order to check Catholic France and Spain's influence on the continent.

    Though Anne was sharp, she wasn't totally fluent in English when she arrived in 1540. This would make communication difficult for two people who didn't speak the same language. Due to her upbringing in Cleves, Anne also lacked some courtly accomplishments, such as musical proficiency, that English courtiers would expect of their queen.

  • Catherine Howard on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#6) Catherine Howard

    • Dec. at 21 (1521-1542)

    Age: 17

    Dowry: None

    Interests and Skills: Catherine Howard loved dancing and music. She may have loved music a little too much, actually, since she had a dalliance - which may not have been consensual - with her thirtysomething music teacher Henry Mannox when she was around 14. 

    Cheerful, exuberant, and attractive - Henry VIII described her as a "rose without a thorn" - Catherine Howard would be fun to be around. She would also be a good hype woman and self-esteem booster: Howard was a flirtatious flatterer, and she had the good sense to ignore the aging Henry's ailments, including an ulcerous leg that wept and reeked

    But teenage Catherine Howard would make a risky spouse since she apparently had all the maturity of a teenager; fidelity wasn't necessarily her top priority. After little more than a year of marriage to Henry, Catherine was accused of adultery with Thomas Culpepper, a courtier.

  • Jane Seymour on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#4) Jane Seymour

    • Dec. at 29 (1508-1537)

    Age: 28

    Dowry: Though Jane Seymour didn't have much of a dowry, Henry gifted her with, in biographer Antonia Fraser's words, "104 manors scattered through 19 counties, five castles and a number of chases and forests, including Cranborne Chase, and the Paris Garden in London."

    Interests and Skills: Jane Seymour was a first-rate needleworker and Catherine of Aragon fangirl.

    Gentle and docile, Jane Seymour would make a drama-free spouse. Bonus: Her lack of drama would be politically expedient, too, since Seymour "represented no ideology," as biographer David Loades put it. 

    Unlike Catherine of Aragon or Catherine Parr's exceptional educations, Jane Seymour's education was more typical of a Tudor gentlewoman; she was, according to historian Alison Weir, "barely literate." While that makes for a peaceable spouse - she wasn't likely to fire off letters to nobles across the kingdom and coordinate a coup, for example - it also makes for a less cultured one.

  • Catherine Parr on Random Henry VIII's Wives By Which One Would Be Best Wife

    (#1) Catherine Parr

    • Dec. at 36 (1512-1548)

    Age: 31

    Dowry: None

    Interests And Skills: Catherine Parr was well educated and intelligent, and her accomplishments went far beyond what was generally expected of a Tudor gentlewoman. She was a scholar and published author in an era in which many women were illiterate.

    Mature, sensible, and kind-hearted, Catherine Parr would be an ideal companion. Another plus: Parr could bring stability to any family she joined, since she was a good, supportive stepmother to the surviving royal children. She even saw to it that Princess Elizabeth - who would become Queen Elizabeth I - had access to an education similar to that of her brother.

    Parr could also be a savvy political partner who could help shoulder the burden of ruling. She proved herself to be a capable ruler who had a hand in some of Henry's decisions and took the reins of government when the king was away.

    On the downside, Catherine Parr would have little to offer by way of foreign alliances. Plus, she was a bit overzealous in her Protestant faith - a fact that could heighten religious tensions in an already divided kingdom.

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About This Tool

Royal gossip will never be eliminated. The several marriages of Henry VIII is a famous royal story that has been passed down to this day. As the second king of the Tudor dynasty, Henry VIII was always looking for a new wife. Britain has become one of the most powerful countries in Europe at that time, but many European princesses refused the title of Queen of England. 

Although these royal stories are a bit exaggerated, it must be said that the refusal of the princesses is correct. Henry VIII had six wives in his lifetime, two were beheaded, two were forced to divorce, one died of illness after one year of marriage, and the last wife is luckier because Henry VIII died in front of her. The random tool introduced all 6 wives of Henry VIII.

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