Henry VIII: King of England and Very Bad Husband - Part 1

Henry VIII is definitely one of the worst husbands in history.

I am currently reading a novel entitled (somewhat confusingly) The Autobiography of Henry VIII and it certainly highlights his failings as a husband.

When Mr. B (definitely not one of the worst husbands in history) and I were happily honeymooning in England last year, I was very excited to visit Hampton Court Palace, often referred to as "the home of Henry VIII". Hampton Court Palace was where I discovered my passion for the historical re-enactment. To the delight of Mr. B, I spent a great deal of our honeymoon hunting down more historical re-enactments for us to enjoy. My secret goal was always for us to be picked from the crowd to actually participate in the re-enactment. Mr. B caught onto this pretty quickly and was always standing by with the camera so that he could photograph my enthusiastic participation.

In fact, when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull delayed our return to Australia (thank you Iceland), I made a solo return visit to Hampton Court Palace to further indulge my passion for the historical re-enactment.

I digress.

Henry VIII's behaviour was so outrageous that it makes today's celebrity and royal scandals look as innocent as a baby lying in a pram beside her mum as she updates her blog (shout out to Miss E there).

So, as I read The Autobiography of Henry VIII, I will update you, three key points style, so you can share in my shock at Henry's bad husband behaviour.

Here is the first update:

1. Henry's older brother, Arthur, marries Katherine of Aragon. Sadly, Arthur gets sick and dies at 15.

2. Seven years pass... Henry's Dad kicks the bucket and Henry becomes King of England at 17.

3. Henry marries Katherine of Aragon. Correct. His dead brother's wife.  This was actually pretty nice of him as Katherine's future wasn't looking too bright. However, question marks start to appear on Katherine's ability to give Henry a son and he starts to doubt his decision to marry her (bad husband behaviour right there).

More to come...

Disclaimer: I am reading a novel (based on fact but, still, a novel) and am providing updates from that. I offer my heartfelt apologies to  anyone who has actually studied Tudor history or has any real knowledge on this topic.