2-640-990 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Henry VIII, King of England from 1509, (1932). Henry (1491-1547) succeeded his father, Henry VII, in 1509. Obsessed with passing the throne on to a male heir, he had six wives in the course of his reign, none of whom provided him with a son who survived. In divorcing his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1533, Henry severed the English church from Rome. Below are portraits of Henry's six wives; Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. From "Kings and Queens" by Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon, illustrated by Rosalind Thornycroft [Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1932]