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THE WIVES OF HENRY VIII

Once upon a time there was a king who, like all kings, wanted his kingdom to last forever. For this to be, he needed a son, the first of a line that would have perpetuated the name of his dynasty and his kingdom. So he married, and he married the widow of his brother who had died very young. To marry a widow, however, he needed papal dispensation. His bride-to-be therefore had to prove that her previous marriage, entered into when she was sixteen, had never been consummated because of the couple’s young age. Once they received the dispensation, the newly-weds lived happily, but not “forever after” as most happy endings go. After the death of a couple of newborn sons, and after the birth of a daughter (a girl!) and a couple of miscarriages, the Kind began to worry about the future of his kingdom. But he didn’t only worry. Rather he did his utmost to rid himself of his wife and marry again, this time a young and prolific woman with whom to procreate, at long last, his much desired male son. The young and prolific woman he had had his eyes on for some time was a lady in waiting to his unfortunate wife the Queen. A real war was unleashed involving wise men, men of the law, judges, high prelates and even the Pope, between the King who even appealed to the Bible in seeking to prove the illegality of his marriage and the Queen, who refused to consider abdicating the throne. Meanwhile, the King secretly married the Queen’s former lady in waiting who was already expecting a child. And a child was born, a girl! Sadly for the neo-shadow-queen, subsequent pregnancies ended in miscarriages and stillborn babies. So, more or less, the same situation of the first marriage repeated itself. This time with a far more dramatic outcome. To rid himself of this other brood mare incapable of generating male children, a court plot was hatched out. She was charged with adultery, incest, witchcraft and high treason and sentenced to death. But she was spared the cruelty of the axe. She was beheaded by an expert swordsman who had come for the purpose from overseas and was considered by all to be a “swift and excellent executioner” who, like a sophisticated hairdresser, cut her head off with a single stroke. Characters and performers: The King: Henry VIII of England (1491-1547) First wife: Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) The Pope: Clemens VII (1478-1534) Second wife: Anne Boleyn (1507-1536) First daughter: Mary I, Queen of England from 1553 to 1558 known as “Bloody Mary” Second daughter: Elisabeth I, Queen of England from 1558 to 1603 Off-the-set characters: Jane Seymour (1509-1537) Third wife of Henry VIII. Died in childbirth at the birth of his son. Anne of Clèves (1515-1557) Fourth wife of Henry VIII. Divorced almost immediately. Kathryn Howard (1520-1542) Fifth wife of Henry VIII. Charged with adultery, was beheaded. Katherine Parr (1512-1548) Sixth wife of Henry VIII. Survived the King but died in childbirth. The historical consequences of this uncouth mix of male chauvinism and power in a soap opera type plot with Academy Award-type costumes and setting were: A schism with the Church of Rome and the Protestant Reformation. The illustration portrays Henry VIII (from a portrait by Hans Holbein) and his six wives. The executioner is an extra, ready to settle any family dispute...