I don’t tend to agree with your statement that Catholics are more knowledgable regarding Henry VIII than Americans in general. I’d say they know the negatives and only the negatives, viewed strictly through the lens of religion. This lumping of Henry VIII into Protestantism would have been a serious affront to him and to the Church of England. Despite the garbled history insisted upon by some, he persecuted the Reformers right up there with the worst on the European continent and professed himself Catholic for most if not all his life, despite breaking with Rome.
That is true. Henry VIII was not the "Reformer" some have portrayed him as.
"Despite the garbled history insisted upon by some, he persecuted the Reformers right up there with the worst on the European continent and professed himself Catholic for most if not all his life, despite breaking with Rome."
http://www.worldhistory.knowledge4africa.com/reformation/reformation-05.jsp
His 2nd wife Anne Boleyn and his last wife who outlived him, Catherine Parr were more the Reformists and Catherine Parr was personally involved in the education of Elizabeth and Edward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Parr
Anglican church services in some parts of the world ( the UK, Bermuda, and America ), as far late as the 1960s, were more “HIGH CHURCH”, than Catholic services, here were. They were probably closer to what both Catholic and Henry’s church services were like, when he was alive.