Click the flag for our US Resource Page
Claire | June 15, 2018
This date in history, 15th June 1519, is the date traditionally given for the birth of Henry VIII’s recognised illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Fitzroy was born at the Priory of St Lawrence, in Blackmore, Essex. His mother, Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount, had been sent away from court to the prior’s house […]
Claire | July 22, 2016
On this day in history, 22nd July 1536, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, died at St James’s Palace. He was just seventeen years of age, having been born on 15th June 1519 to the King’s mistress, Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount. In 1525, he had been elected as a Knight […]
Claire | November 26, 2015
On 26th November 1533, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset and the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, married Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, at Hampton Court Palace. They were both fourteen years of age. The wedding appears to have been rather low-key, so much so that it is […]
Claire | July 22, 2015
Today marks the aniversary of the death of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, at St James’s Palace, London. The seventeen year-old duke was the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, by his mistress Elizabeth (Bessie Blount), and the husband of Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. It is thought that […]
Claire | May 8, 2015
On 8th May 1536, while Anne Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, George Boleyn, Sir Richard Page and Sir Thomas Wyatt were in prison at the Tower of London, courtiers were busy writing letters to put forward their claims for offices and titles that may soon become vacant. In […]
Claire | May 2, 2015
According to Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, on the same day that Anne Boleyn was arrested and taken to the Tower of London, Henry VIII met with his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond: “On the afternoon of the very day on which the concubine was lodged in the Tower, as the duke of […]
Claire | November 26, 2014
On 26th November 1533 at Hampton Court Palace, fourteen year-old Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and the acknowedged illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress Elizabeth Blount, married Lady Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and his second wife, Elizabeth Stafford. Mary was also fourteen years of age. […]
Claire | July 22, 2014
On this day in 1536 (some sources say 23rd), seventeen year-old Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, died at St James’s Palace. It is thought that he died of some kind of pulmonary infection, such as tuberculosis (consumption). Fitzroy was the illegitimate son, and only son at this point, of Henry VIII. His mother […]
Click the flag for our UK/Europe Resource Page
