The Children of Henry VIII

722 Pages·1997·2.06 MB·English

by  Alison Weir

The Children of
Henry VIII
Formerly Entitled Children of England
Alison Weir
Praise for The Children of Henry VIII
"Weir focuses on the uneasy relationships among Henry's
heirs, whose upbringing was strongly influenced by the
king's marital misadventures.... Drawing mainly on
contemporary documents, [Weir] provides captivating
glimpses of the daily experiences that shaped her young
subjects' personalities."
—Newsday
"[Weir] writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as
well as the mind. This, her fourth book on the Tudors,
affirms her preeminence in the field."
—The Independent
"This fascinating tale of murder, jealousy, religious
fanaticism, and political scandal among 16th-century British
royals makes the modern dysfunctional royal family appear
quaint by comparison... Weir's narrative brings to life both
the tangled relationships of these figures and the violent
religious tensions that dominated England during the 16th
century."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Weir can always be counted on to tell a superb story as
she relates particularly dramatic episodes in English royal
history."
—Booklist
THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII
is dedicated to
all the children in my family:

At Carshalton,
John and Katherine Weir;

at Chesterfield,
David and Andrew Weir;

at Edinburgh,
Paul Masterton,
Stephen and Susan Scott;

at Kidderminster,
David and Peter Marston;
David and Peter Marston;

at Melbourne,
Gemma and Kevin Cullen;

at York,
Angus, Bruce and Douglas Weir.
Acknowledgments

I should like to express my gratittude to all those who have helped me
with this book, and particularly to Mr Michael Cameron, formerly
Senoir Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St. Thomas's
Hospital, London, for his kindness in reading the manuscript and for
giving me his professional views in Mary Tudor's confinements; this
invaluable assistance enabled me to arrive at a convincing solution to
the mystery surrounding Mary's two supposed pregnancies.
My grateful thanks are, as ever, also due to my wonderfully
supportive editor, Jill Black, who suggested this project; to my equally
supportive agent, Julian Alexander, whose enthusiasm and
encouragement never flags; to Pascal Cariss, for all his hard work on
the manuscript; and to Sophie Martin for her painstaking efforts to
track down the illustrations.
Lastly, but not least, I owe special thanks to my husband and
children, who have patiently borne the absence of a wife and mother
over so many evenings and weekends, so that this book could be
completed on schedule. Without their unfailing support, it would not
have been possible.

Preface
T
his book is not a history of England during the troubled
reigns of Edward VI, Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I, but
a chronicle of the personal lives of four English sovereigns,
and the relationships between them, during the period
154710 1558. When Henry VIII died in 1547, he left three
highly intelligent children to succeed him in turn - Edward,
Mary and Elizabeth, to be followed, if their lines failed, by
the descendants of his sister Mary Tudor, one of whom was
the ill-fated nine-days queen, Lady Jane Grey.
The relationships between the royal siblings were
never easy ones for several reasons: all had very dissimilar
characters, and while they took after their father in many
ways, they had each inherited diverse characteristics from
their mothers, who had been the first three of Henry VIII's six
wives. Each child had spent its formative years in vastly
different circumstances, and had enjoyed - or suffered -
varying relations with its formidable father. Mary's mother
had been supplanted in King Henry's affections by
Elizabeth's mother, who had, in her turn, been supplanted
by Edward's mother. And while the King's daughters
suffered several vicissitudes of fortune in Henry's lifetime,
his son grew up secure in his august father's love and
protection.
In the pages of this book, which begins at the point
where my earlier book The Six Wives of Henry VIII came
to an end, I have tried to portray the characters of these
royal siblings and their cousin Jane Grey as realistically as
possible, and to describe how their personal relationships
with each other were affected by political and religious
considerations. In order to achieve this, I have consulted a
wealth of documentary evidence contemporary to the
period, including numerous private and official letters, the
great calendars of state and the masses of diplomatic
papers, as well as memorials and chronicles by
contemporary writers, including Edward VI's own journal,
and more mundane records, such as lists of privy purse
expenses, which can in fact yield fascinating information.
There have been many biographies of the later Tudor
monarchs, but never a book in which their personal lives
and relations with each other, and the effect of these factors
upon the history of England, have been the central theme.
One cannot of course write about kings and queens without
touching on the political and social issues of their times, but
what I have tried to bring into focus here is personal
information that has until now been treated as generally
subsidiary to the political ethos of other works. This book is
not intended to replace such works, but to complement
them.