About

I was grateful to adopt the fanlisting for The Six Wives of Henry VIII from Amanda (thanks, Amanda!) because I have been interested in the history of these women, and the light they throw on Tudor and Elizabethan England, since I was very young and my mother first told me the 'Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived' jingle.

I grew up to be a rabid history fan and I've read several versions of their biographies, notably the ones by Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir, and if there's a set of stories that better illustrates the way power corrupts, I have yet to come across it. Their various fates were so sad and moving and interesting in turn. From Catherine of Aragon's absolute religious faith, to Anne Boleyn's sheer feistiness, to Jane Seymour's tragic end; from Anna of Cleves' mellowness, to Katherine Howard's pathetic attempts to fend off the implacable assassin Henry had become, and finally, Catherine Parr's twilight diplomacy. All are interesting in their own way and all illustrate different qualities.

Although they are long dead, traces of these ladies remain in the environment and culture of England. I have visited Catherine of Aragon's grave in Peterborough Cathedral, the Tower of London where Anne Boleyn was executed, and Hampton Court Palace where poor Katherine Howard is sadly supposed to still be seen as a ghost, begging for her life. Like the Suffragettes, these women had a significant impact on the course of history. For example, were it not for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, there would have been no Reformation in England, and in Anne's case, there would have been no Golden Elizabethan Age.

Read more about the individual queens in their individual pages linked below, and let me know if you have any comments to add.