I seem to recall that Pope Peter O’Toole gave Francis the title after Henry killed an English cardinal and Tom More for refusing to sign on with the ‘Henry is Head of the Church’ drive.
Then Francis was surprised in Rome, encouraged to wage war on England.
It must give the Catholic church some satisfaction that the protest-ants came to be, or sprang from Henry’s overheated loins/libido. And desire for heirs.
I never understood why Rome never came to the conclusion, “You know what? We think he means it.”
The pope at the time being a ‘guest’ of Catherine’s uncle Charles prolly had a lot to do with it.
Catherine’s nephew Charles V.
I think you have just won the History According to People Who Get All Their Information From Movies contest. Funny thing, but there were at least five English kings named Henry (and quite a few who weren’t) between number II (the Peter O’Toole one who accidently ordered Richard Burton murdered in Canterbury Cathedral) and number VIII, the one who decided that A Man for All Seasons needed to be around ten inches shorter.