Posted on 01/28/2018 9:43:51 AM PST by beaversmom
1
Henry VIII was slim and athletic for most of his life
At six feet two inches tall, Henry VIII stood head and shoulders above most of his court. He had an athletic physique and excelled at sports, regularly showing off his prowess in the jousting arena.
Having inherited the good looks of his grandfather, Edward IV, in 1515 Henry was described as “the handsomest potentate I have ever set eyes on…” and later an “Adonis”, “with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair…and a round face so very beautiful, that it would become a pretty woman”.
All this changed in 1536 when the king – then in his mid-forties – suffered a serious wound to his leg while jousting. This never properly healed, and instead turned ulcerous, which left Henry increasingly incapacitated.
Four years later, the king’s waist had grown from a trim 32 inches to an enormous 52 inches. By the time of his death, he had to be winched onto his horse. It is this image of the corpulent Henry VIII that has obscured the impressive figure that he cut for most of his life.
2
Henry VIII was a tidy eater
Despite the popular image of Henry VIII throwing a chicken leg over his shoulder as he devoured one of his many feasts, he was in fact a fastidious eater. Only on special occasions, such as a visit from a foreign dignitary, did he stage banquets.
Most of the time, Henry preferred to dine in his private apartments. He would take care to wash his hands before, during and after each meal, and would follow a strict order of ceremony.
Seated beneath a canopy and surrounded by senior court officers, he was served on bended knee and presented with several different dishes to choose from at each course.
3
Henry was a bit of a prude
England’s most-married monarch has a reputation as a ladies’ man – for obvious reasons. As well as his six wives, he kept several mistresses and fathered at least one child by them.
But the evidence suggests that, behind closed doors, he was no lothario. When he finally persuaded Anne Boleyn to become his mistress in body as well as in name, he was shocked by the sexual knowledge that she seemed to possess, and later confided that he believed she had been no virgin.
When she failed to give him a son, he plumped for the innocent and unsullied Jane Seymour instead.
4
Henry’s chief minister liked to party
Although often represented as a ruthless henchman, Thomas Cromwell was in fact one of the most fun-loving members of the court. His parties were legendary, and he would spend lavish sums on entertaining his guests – he once paid a tailor £4,000 to make an elaborate costume that he could wear in a masque to amuse the king.
Cromwell also kept a cage of canary birds at his house, as well as an animal described as a “strange beast”, which he gave to the king as a present.
5
Henry VIII sent more men and women to their deaths than any other monarch
During the later years of Henry’s reign, as he grew ever more paranoid and bad-tempered, the Tower of London was crowded with the terrified subjects who had been imprisoned at his orders.
One of the most brutal executions was that of the aged Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Salisbury. The 67-year-old countess was woken early on the morning of 27 May 1541 and told to prepare for death.
Although initially composed, when Margaret was told to place her head on the block, her self-control deserted her and she tried to escape. Her captors were forced to pinion her to the block, where the amateur executioner hacked at the poor woman’s head and neck, eventually severing them after the eleventh blow.
One of the very few things the French have done correctly was to EXECUTE all royalty, root and stem.
No doubt about that.
Kate Middleton is also related to the royal line.
He didn't own a microwave. He couldn't join the Mile High Club. He couldn't drive a car. He couldn't make international phone calls. He didn't have air conditioning. He didn't know how to Snapchat. He couldn't observe splendors underwater via a submarine. He couldn't make ice. He couldn't shoot a machine gun. He couldn't do internet searches. He couldn't edit his DNA with CRISPR. He couldn't make or watch movies. He couldn't make or eat popcorn (native American Indians could, though!).
Weren’t both William and Harry Princes of Wales until William married? At that point William was given the new title Duke of Cambridge. When Harry gets married, he will probably be given another title. I remember reading that both the boys were simply called “Wales” at school, and Harry in the army.
He could have gone to Germany or Switzerland.
Nope. Charles is the only Prince of Wales as of now. Once he becomes King (ugh), he should bestow the title on William, as he is next in line for the throne. Charles was created Prince of Wales in 1958, although his investiture did not take place until his mother crowned him in 1969. In 1970, he took his seat in the House of Lords.
At least according to Professor Peter Noone and his colleagues. Frankly, the British Invasion of the early 1960's is far more interesting than the history of the British monarchy.
According to this, Elizabeth IIis a direct descendant of one of Henry VII’s (the first Tudor king) daughters.
, the House of Windsor is descended from the House of Tudor and the House of Plantagenet - through one of Henry VII’s daughters, who married a Scottish king and whose great-grandson was King James I of England (at the same time that he was King James VI of Scotland), then through James’ great-grandson Georg of Hanover (King George I), who is Queen Elizabeth II’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. There are probably also other lines of descent over the centuries and generations, but these are the official ones through which the monarchy traces its claim to the throne.
Oh, what bull.
That's arguing the facts.
The official website for the UK Royal Family says, "Prince Harry's official title is His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales."
fyi ya’ll
https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/the-prince-of-wales/titles-and-heraldry/previous-princes-of-wales
Josephine Tey wrote a historical mystery about Richard with the premise that history is written by the victors. (The Tudors with Shakespeare’s help)
Tey’s “The Daughter of Time” really supports your “he may be the most maligned monarch in British history.” And I agree!
IIRC they found his grave a couple years ago under a parking lot and discovered he wasn’t even a hunchedback!
Francis I of France, who reigned from 1515-47, was reputedly an enthusiastic tennis player and was responsible for the building of many courts and also promoted the sport among a wider cross section of people.
Not to be outdone by his French counterpart, on the other side of the English Channel, Henry VIII (1509-47) was a skilled practitioner of the sport and famously built a court at the Royal Palace of Hampton Court, which still survives today and is used for modern competition.
Henry’s second wife Ann Boleyn was watching a game of Real Tennis in Whitehall when she was arrested, and according to the official Web site of Hampton Court, legend has it he was playing when told she had been executed.
That was clearly not a “love” match but from Real Tennis it is generally accepted the modern tennis scoring system and terminology evolved.
If you had presented facts, I would have argued them. But you didn’t.
I suspect you barely knew the name “Stillington” until I mentioned him. I know you didn’t know the names Eleanor Talbot and Nicholas Von Poppelau. I imagine you scratching through Wikipedia to come up with arguments as to why Stillington wouldn’t happily rush forth to “out” Edward, as either the Duke of York or King of England. Do you really think Edward Plantagenet was a nice guy and he would have laughed it off? Would his coterie of friends and family such as Anthony Woodville and William Hastings and William Stanley and the truly awful Richard Grey have laughed it off? Edward Plantagent was, personally, one of the most ruthless figures in dynastic politics and he surrounded himself with ruthless men. He started out as a good king but soon fell into greed, sloth and corruption - thanks to his bride and her nasty upstart little family. He allowed her family to loot the treasury which placed huge monetary stress on the merchant class of London. The Duke of Gloucester put a stop to it and sent the poet poseur, Tony Woodville, to the block when he disobeyed Edward’s will which instructed him to place the boy prince in the care of the Protector of the Realm. Instead, Woodville attempted to secure the child himself and absconded with the remainder of the treasury. And yet you still wonder why Stillington hesitated?
Lastly: you think Richard the 3rd was a monster. I do not. As Lord of the North he did a brilliant job and the people of Yorkshire came to love him like a son. He fought hard for the commoners against the barons and distanced himself for over 10 years from his brother and his corrupt in-laws. He was not perfect and his awful position once his brother was dead and his wife’s family turned their sights on him and HIS family cannot be underestimated. He made some hard choices to protect his only legitimate son from harm.
We will never agree and it is pointless to continue this argument.
"I'm Henry The 8th I Am" - Herman's Hermits
She did bump off her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. Read arguments over the years. Was Mary really trying to dethrone Liz or was it the men around her? Was she just trying to stay alive?
My kid’s grade school library had a book praising Queen E. It mentions Elizabeth imprisoned her cousin and “later Mary died”. Forgets to mentioned Liz offed her! (Reminds of “The Clinton Body Count” compiled by Angelfire.)
LOL, I had the same impression about The Tudors: some very odd casting, silly costumes, pointless gratuitous sex. It seems to me that Wolf Hall at least attempted to be more authentic.
It still boggles my mind to think that world Christianity (and the history of the world, really) were profoundly changed just because Henry the Eighth wanted a divorce.
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