Children of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England had several children. The best-known are the three legitimate children who survived Henry and succeeded him as monarchs of England successively, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

His first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, had several pregnancies that ended in stillbirth, miscarriage, or death in infancy. Henry acknowledged one illegitimate child, Henry FitzRoy, as his own, but is suspected to have fathered several illegitimate children by different mistresses.^[1] The number and identity of these is a matter of historical debate.

There are many theories about whether Henry VIII had fertility difficulties.^[2] His last three wives, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr are not known to have conceived by him, although Parr conceived in her next marriage.^[3]

Legitimate children

Known children of Henry VIII of England

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
By Catherine of Aragon (married Palace of Placentia 11 June 1509; upheld by Catholic Church, annulled in the Anglican Church 23 May 1533); died 7 January 1536.
Unnamed daughter	31 January 1510		stillborn
Henry, Duke of Cornwall	1 January 1511	22 February 1511	He died aged almost two months
Henry, Duke of Cornwall	17 September 1513		He was either stillborn or died shortly after birth[4]
Henry, Duke of Cornwall	8 January 1515		He was stillborn
Queen Mary I	18 February 1516	17 November 1558	She married Philip II of Spain in 1554 with no issue
Unnamed daughter	10 November 1518		stillbirth in the 8th month of pregnancy[5] or lived at least one week
By Anne Boleyn (married Westminster Abbey 25 January 1533; annulled 17 May 1536) beheaded on 19 May 1536
Queen Elizabeth I	7 September 1533	24 March 1603	She never married so she had no issue
Unnamed son	August / September 1534		miscarriage without explanation
Unnamed son	29 January 1536		miscarriage of a child, believed male, in the fourth month of pregnancy[6]
By Jane Seymour (married Palace of Whitehall 30 May 1536) died 24 October 1537
King Edward VI	12 October 1537	6 July 1553	unmarried; no issue

Illegitimate children

Henry VIII of England had one acknowledged illegitimate child, as well as several others who are suspected to be his, by his mistresses.

He acknowledged Henry Fitzroy (15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536), the son of his mistress Elizabeth Blount, and gave him a dukedom.

Others suspected of being his include:

• Catherine Carey (c. 1524 – 15 January 1569), daughter of his mistress Mary Boleyn, the sister of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and wife of William Carey. Ancestress of Diana, Princess of Wales (Princess Diana).
• Henry Carey (4 March 1526 – 23 July 1596), brother of Catherine
• John Perrot (November 1528 – 3 November 1592), his mother being Mary Berkeley the wife of Sir Thomas Perrot
• Thomas Stukeley (c. 1520 – 4 August 1578), his mother being Jane Pollard the wife of Sir Hugh Stukeley
• Richard Edwardes (1523? - 1566), born to Mrs. Agnes Edwardes
• Ethelreda Malte (born c. 1527), born to Joan Dingley, alias Dobson. Paternity was claimed by John Malte.^[7]

Fictional portrayals

• The Secret Daughter of Henry VIII by F. W. Kenyon, a novel which depicts Lady Jane Grey as the King's daughter by Jane Seymour and Edward VI as really his bastard child
• In the Shadow of the Throne by David Tudor about the life of Richard Edwardes

See also

• Mistresses of Henry VIII

References

1. Hart, Kelly (June 1, 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-4835-8.
2. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7918883
3. "Catherine Parr: Children". The Six Wives of Henry VIII. PBS. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
4. The Pregnancies of Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon in: theanneboleynfiles.com [retrieved 17 April 2016].
5. Starkey 2003, p. 160
6. Starkey 2003, p. 553
7. Hart, Kelly (June 1, 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-4835-8.

Further reading

• The Children of Henry VIII by John Guy (Oxford UP, 2013 ISBN 978-0-19-284090-5)
• Children Of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII 1547-1558 by Alison Weir (Jonathan Cape, 1996; Vintage, 2008 ISBN 9780099532675)
• Hart, Kelly (June 1, 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-4835-8.
• Starkey, David (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0-7011-7298-5.
• Whitley, Catrina Banks; Kramer, Kyra (2010). "A new explanation for the reproductive woes and midlife decline of Henry VIII". The Historical Journal. 53 (04): 827–848. doi:10.1017/S0018246X10000452. ISSN 0018-246X.
• Hart, Kelly (June 1, 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-4835-8.
• Jones, Philippa (2009). The Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses and Bastards. London: New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84773-429-7.