The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

Katherine of Aragon had at least four pregnancies before the birth of Mary, notably Prince Henry Duke of Cornwall, born 1511, who tragically and unexpectedly, died just over 7 weeks after birth, likely from SIDS. After this two more sons were born before Mary, one still born, the other dying soon after birth, and an unnamed daughter after her.

Ots a wonderfully rich period of history -it captured my imagination at an early age .
I do take some of what I read with a pinch of salt .
I respect Tracey Borman as a respected Tudor historian.
She has just disputed something written in Wolf Hall for example as there is no proof of it happening .
I do think that these historical books are fabulous reads,but are sometimes distorted to be made palatable.
I've read several books by Alison Weir and enjoyed all of them.

AuntieE

Doodledog

I’m be theory about Henry is that he suffered from Kell Syndrome. People who have it are affected in various ways, including psychotic episodes (which he had) and the inability to have more than one child with any partner. The sex doesn’t matter - sufferers can produce male or female babies, but after the first one maternal antibodies attack foetuses in utero. Catherine had Mary, so subsequent babies died or were miscarried. It was the same with Anne - after Elizabeth she couldn’t carry to term. Jane had Edward. She died soon afterwards, but would not have produced any more children if Henry did have Kell blood.

It’s an interesting theory, but is still unproven beyond doubt. There is evidence that at least one of Henry’s ancestors had the syndrome, which is hereditary, however, so it is a plausible hypothesis, and explains why he went from a fit, rational young man to an obese monster in older age - a situation that is often thought to be the result of a fall from a horse.

Actually, Mary was Catherine and Henry's first child to survive, not the first baby Catherine had, which makes it more difficult to find a medical reason for their lack of children.

Until I read that, I had wondered whether Henry could have been rhesus negative, but in that case, surely his parents would not have managed three children who survived infancy?

If after Mary's birth. he contracted syphillis or gonhorrhea that might account for the one baby per wife with Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, although Anne cannot have become sterile after Elizabeth's birth, as she is known to have miscarried about a year after having her daughter.

Apart from the age gap, Catherine's re-marriage to Henry or anyone else was delayed because both Henry VII and Ferdinand of Aragon were hard-headed businessmen. The one demanded the rest of Catherine's dowry, the other was reluctant and possibly unable to provide it, and probably felt that he could more profitably dispose of a daughter, still said to be virgan elsewhere that to England's new Prince of Wales.

That marriage also required a papal dispensation, never a particularly speedy matter, and certainly no need for haste when the putative bridegroom was only twelve.

I didn't discover the theory, and don't have enough knowledge of DNA (or even of more general biology) to argue a case. I read about it and found it interesting when I was researching Anne Boleyn some time ago, so offered it as a point of interest.

This is an AI overview, but there are a lot of more scholarly articles on Google Scholar that back up the AI summary of anyone wants to follow them up.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24350322/

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110303153114.htm

www.theanneboleynfiles.com/henry-viii-kell-positive-blood-type-and-mcleod-syndrome-guest-post-by-kyra-kramer/

fancyflowers

This is my current reading, and I am amazed at how hard a life Katherine of Aragon had before she became Henry VIII's wife. She was short of money, to the point where she had hardly enough food and couldn't pay her ladies in waiting. Alison Weir's book is truly enlightening.

No wonder she copped for Henry.

She is buried in Peterborough Cathedral and there is info about her there

I'd not discovered 'The Spanish Princess' until this thread, so thankyou MayBee I'm loving it!

keepcalmandcavachon

I'd not discovered 'The Spanish Princess' until this thread, so thankyou MayBee I'm loving it!

I love all three series, The White Queen being my favourite though. I think Becoming Elizabeth is on Ch 4, too. Glad you’re enjoying it.

For those who like History podcasts, I recommend Not Jusr the Tudors on BBC Sounds- mainly women discussing the ins and outs of what went on - there are a few episodes on Henry VIII and his spouses….

Oh wow. Thanks. There are lots of them and, because it’s BBC Sounds I’m not going to find that the ones I want to listen to are subscriber only.

Shadow of the Tower (HVII and Elizabeth of York) part one

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk6FP8S3u28

BBC series from the 1970's.

I don’t remember that one. Does anyone remember Hereward the Wake with Alfred Lynch. It was totally erased by the BBC with no copies anywhere. I think it was the first historical drama that I watched.