Claire | June 27, 2019
King Henry VIII has gone down in history as the king who had six wives and who executed two of them, as well as having three of his marriages annulled. He had quite the marital history! But did you know that Henry was just thirteen when he broke one of his wives’ hearts for the […]
Claire | June 24, 2019
On this day in Tudor history, 24 June 1509, Midsummer’s Day and the Feast of St John the Baptist, England’s new king, seventeen-year-old Henry VIII, and his bride of thirteen days, Catherine of Aragon, were crowned king and queen by William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a joint ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. The […]
Claire | June 12, 2019
On this day in Tudor history, 12th June 1530, King Henry VIII got criticised for “the evil life he was leading and the bad example he was setting”. Who had the nerve to speak like this to King Henry VIII? His wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, who was at her wit’s end with her husband’s […]
Claire | June 11, 2019
On this day in history, 11th June 1509, seventeen-year-old King Henry VIII married twenty-three-year-old Spanish princess, Catalina de Aragón, or Catherine of Aragon, in the Queen’s Closet at Greenwich Palace. Henry had come to the throne on 21st April 1509 following the death of his father, King Henry VII, and although he had previously repudiated […]
Claire | April 1, 2019
On this day in Tudor history, 1st April 1536, the imperial ambassador passed on information he’d received from two separate sources to his master, Emperor Charles V. The news was regarding Henry VIII and his behaviour towards one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting, a certain Jane Seymour. Find out exactly what happened, what Henry and Jane […]
Claire | December 10, 2018
On 10th December 1541, just a month and eight days after an investigation into Queen Catherine Howard’s past was ordered, two men were executed at Tyburn. They were Thomas Culpeper, a gentleman of the privy chamber, and Francis Dereham, a member of the queen’s household. Both men had been tried for treason at Guildhall on […]
Claire | November 14, 2018
On this day in history, 14th November 1541, an inventory was taken “of the goods and chattels, lands and fees of Thos. Culpeper, the younger”, a member of the king’s privy chamber who had been having secret meetings with the queen and who Francis Dereham claimed had replaced him in the queen’s affections. By 14th […]
Claire | November 6, 2018
On this day in history, Sunday 6th November 1541, four days after allegations had been made regarding her sexual history, Queen Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, was abandoned by her husband at Hampton Court Palace. While the king and queen had been on their royal progress to the north of England, a man named […]
