On January 19, 1547, King Henry VIII was at Whitehall Palace in Westminster, England. At 55 years old, his body and mind had been deteriorating for years, and he knew his death was close. But before it came, he had one last man to destroy. Despite his grotesque obesity and a condition that left his body covered in painful, infected boils, the dying king’s focus wasn’t on saving his own health.
It was on securing his legacy. Henry’s first wife had been Catherine of Aragon. They married in 1509, and by all accounts, he had deeply loved her. They had six children together, but only one survived—a daughter.
But to secure his dynasty, Henry believed he needed a son. By the late 1520s, it was clear Catherine’s childbearing days were over. Though it likely pained him to do it, Henry asked the Pope to annul the marriage so he could marry one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused,so Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, an act that sparkedthe English Reformation.
Freed from Rome’s authority, the English Church granted Henry his divorce and married him to Anne. But Anne also failed to produce a son, and in 1536, Henry had her beheaded. Later that year, he married Jane Seymour. And in October 1537, Jane finally gave Henry the son he so desperately needed—the future King Edward VI.
But lying in state at Whitehall, Henry grew paranoid that two of his enemies were conspiring to seize the throne from Edward and return control of the English Church tothe Pope. One of these men was another Henry. Henry Howard, son of Thomas Howard, Third Duke of Norfolk, who was also Anne Boleyn’s uncle. Henry Howard was a devout Catholic and a hot-tempered, skilled soldier.
But even more troubling to Henry VIII was that Howard descended from two kings—Edward I and Edward III. That meant he had a legitimate claim tothe throne, and there was good reason to believe he had his eye on it. Howard had recently incorporated the royal badge of the former king, Edward the Confessor, into his own personal emblem. Though legally entitled to do so, it was seen as an arrogant and provocative move against the monarchy.
He had also tried to persuade his sister, Mary, to seducethe king into making her his mistress,so she could wield influence over him like Madame d’Etampes did overthe French king. Mary, who later married the king’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, refused theoverture, along with her mother and stepmother. She later gave testimony that led to her father and brother being arrested and tried for treason. Henry Howard denied the charges, but proving his innocence proved difficult.
In those days, defendants accused of treason weren’t allowed to see the evidence against them before trial,and they couldn’t hire lawyers. That meant Howard had to respond immediately tothe case against him, with no preparation, no chance to investigate,and no freedom to interview witnesses. Unsurprisingly, on January 13, 1547, both Henry Howard and his father were found guilty and sentenced to death. Whether they were actually plotting to seize the throne from young Edward remains unknown, but there is a strong possibility thatthe entire conspiracy existed only in King Henry’s paranoid mind, which had broken years earlier.
As a young man, Henry had been athletic, charming,and even generous. But on January 24, 1536, at age 44, during a jousting tournament at Greenwich Palace, Henry was thrown from his horse. He was wearing full armor atthe time,and the armored horse fell directly on top of him. Accounts differ on what exactly happened thatday, but the most credible version, according to historians, is that Henry lay unconscious for over two hours,and it was thought his injuries might well be fatal.
The news reportedly so shocked Anne that she miscarried her unborn child—a son. But Henry didn’t die. He miraculously survived, but he was never the same again. For one thing, the accident caused serious physical problems that plagued him forther rest of his life.
But perhaps more seriously, the king suffered a kind of brain injury that radically altered his personality. From that time onward, he proved to be a vicious, cruel,and thoroughly paranoid tyrant. That wasn’t Henry’s only sporting injury. An earlier jousting accident had given him long-term migraine headaches,and he had injured one of his legs playing tennis.
Meanwhile, in a bid to show off his muscular calves, young Henry had taken to wearing tight garters on his legs. Those garters were likely responsible for the two varicose ulcers that developed on his legs, which were aggravated bythe jousting accident and never healed. Forced to give up jousting and sport after his near-death experience, thedull Henry took to eating. Some sources even claim he ate 13 times a day, devouring chicken, beef, rabbit, mutton, peacock, and goose.
At the same time, he drank vast quantities of wine and at least 10 pints of ale a day. As a result, his weight ballooned. And though it’s now impossible to prove, many modern experts believe he likely suffered from untreated type 2 diabetes. Whatever the cause, the consequences of that lifestyle caught up with him in the following years,and Henry became obese.
Bythe end, his waist measured 54 inches,and he was said to weigh around 25 stone, or 350 pounds. His ulcers also continued to fester,and when he was on his deathbed, doctors had to repeatedly cauterize the infected tissue with hot irons. He also needed a wheelchair to move around,and could only reach the upper floors of his palaces with the help of a winch specially installed for that purpose. At the same time, his temper swung wildly, sometimes vicious and paranoid, other times reverting tothe charming Renaissance man of his youth.
For example, on Christmas Eve 1545, just two years before his death, he delivered his final speech to Parliament. By all accounts, he was at his best that day. He humbly appealed to his country to unite in the spirit of Christian harmonyand rebuked the clergy for working against that goal. But it may have been an act.
Those who saw him daily knew he was actually a broken man. Despite his long list of physical and mental ailments, Henry was utterly determined to protect his only male heir’s claim tothe throne. But the task wasn’t easy. Henry’s Privy Council had long since split into two opposing factions.
On one side were the religious reformers, led bythe Seymour family, the Dudley family, Henry’s new queen, Catherine Parr,and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. On the other side were the traditionalists, led byBishop Stephen Gardiner and supported byThomas and Henry Howard. But Henry, growing increasingly paranoid, felt he couldn’t trust any of them. He had done everything possible to play them against each other,and after his death, he would try the same tactic to protect young Edward.
Henry’s will stipulated thathis son would be advised bya regency council made up of both Protestants and Catholics. The hope was that each faction would check the other, preventing anyone from seizing power from Edward. That regency council included several members of Henry’s Privy Council, but he still didn’t fully trust them. For instance, as late as December 26, 1546, Henry amended his will to remove Bishop Gardiner fromthe future regency council.
That was a significant change, as it tilted the potential balance ofthe council slightly infavor ofthe reformers. Notably, historians have observed that Henry had stopped signing documents around this time and instead used a stamp to affix his signature. This has raised the possibility thatthis change was actually made bysomeone else who had access tothe stamp—someone who favored thereformers. However intriguing thatpossibility may be, it remains an unproven speculation,and it’s certainly possible, even likely, thatHenry made the change himself.
After all, his distrust of those around him was so profound that at some point in 1546, he had even drawn up an arrest warrant against his own queen. However, afterthe queen begged forgiveness for her alleged heretical opinions and swore she would never question him again, he refused to sign thearrant. Henry Howard, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. On January 19, he was beheaded on Tower Green.
That left his father, Thomas Howard, asthe only remaining threat toyoung Edward,and Henry had one last man to kill to protect his heir and preserve his legacy. To that end, on January 27, Henry gave his royal assent through his representatives tothe Duke’s execution,and the following day was set forthe carrying out of the death sentence. But fortunately forthe elder Howard, Henry’s health took a sudden turn forthe worse. At some point on the 27th, while attendants were applying ointments and poultices tothe king’s festering sores to mask thestench of his rotting body, Sir Anthony Denny, who helped Henry dress and was chief gentleman ofthe privy chamber, noticed thatthe king’s condition was deteriorating rapidly.
After a brief illness in December caused byhis leg ulcer, the queen and Henry’s daughters had been sent to Greenwich for Christmas. He had seemed to recover, but when they returned, they found they were barred fromthe king’s chambers. So it fell to Denny to inform the king thathis end was near and to prepare himself accordingly. It was a bold move, as predicting the king’s death could be considered treason, but it was clear what was coming,and even Henry was willing to acknowledge it.
Denny then asked Henry who should be summoned,and Henry asked him to send for someone to perform his final rites. According to Denny, Henry told him he believed that”Christ, through His mercy, would pardon all his sins. ” Quite a statement, given thathistorians believe Henry had seen some 72,000 people executed in England during his reign. Then he said, “Doctor Cranmer shall come, but I will first take a little sleep,and then, when I feel myself comfortable, I will deliberate on this matter.
” Those were Henry’s last words. Bythe time Archbishop Cranmer arrived, Henry had lost the ability to speak. But according to Cranmer, when he asked the king for a sign thathe was dying infaith in Christ, Henry squeezed his handand gestured upward. Then, early in the morning of January 28, Henry passed away.
Henry’s death was kept secret fromthe world for three full days. His body was left in his bed totrot, while servants continued to deliver meals tohis chambers with all the usual pomp and ceremony. No one is entirely sure why this was done, but rather good guess is thatthe nobility needed amoment to jockeyfor power among themselves beforethenews became public. Supporting thattheory is the fact thatduring thattime, theregency council took advantage of an unfilled gifts clause inHenry’s will to distribute lands and honors among themselves and other members ofthecourt.
At the same time, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, had young King Edward VI—just 10 years old—taken into his custody. DefyingHenry’s wish thathis son’s regency be governed bythe council of regents he had personally chosen, Hertford was almost immediately appointed Lord Protector bythe Privy Council. It is widely believed thatHertford made secret deals withother members ofthe regency council to secure thatappointment, but it didn’t matter. In effect, thattitle made Hertford thenew king until Edward was old enough to rule in his own right.
Nor was Henry’s will the only thing disregarded when it came tothe regency council. Even though his three children would sit onthe throne, the grand tomb Henry had planned for himself was never completed. Instead, he was buried in an unmarked grave beside Jane Seymour, Edward’s mother, in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
At the same time, toavoid beginning Edward’s reign with bloodshed, theking’s Privy Council commuted Thomas Howard’s death sentence. Instead, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London,and was later released during thereign ofHenry’s Catholic daughter, Mary. Thus, his son, Henry Howard, would forever be remembered as the last person executed underHenry VIII. Young King Edward, meanwhile, though he ascended thethrone at just 10 years old, had a relatively brief reign.
He ruled for less than six years before dying in July 1553 of a disease that modern experts believe may have been tuberculosis. He was just 15 years old at his death. In an attempt tokeep thethrone from his Catholic sister Mary, Edward had named his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his successor. But Jane reigned for just nine days beforethe Privy Council removed her and placed Henry’s eldest daughter, Mary, onthe throne.
Queen Mary then reigned for five years, during which she did everything in her power toreturn control of the English Church toRome. She died in 1558 without achieving that goal,and her younger sister succeeded her. And as it turned out, Henry hadn’t needed a son tosecure his legacy after all. The Elizabethan Age had begun.
So, what did you find most fascinating aboutHenry VIII’s final days? And what other stories aboutthelast days would you like to hear? Let us know in thecomments.
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