Early on, Henry had two of his father's advisors executed. They were not popular and Henry claimed they had been stealing from the money they had been looking after. Henry would often execute anyone he did not like during the rest of his reign. From 1514, Thomas Wolsey became an important advisor to Henry. Wolsey helped Henry change the government to give the king more power. Wolsey later became a cardinal, making him an important figure in the church.
At first, Henry wanted to be friends with the King of France. But soon, he instead joined with Spain, the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire to weaken France. He dreamed of gaining more lands in France. The results were mixed: England won some battles against France in 1513. The alliance weakened France`s power over the Pope. Scotland invaded England in 1514 but lost badly at the Battle of the Flodden. But Henry spent a lot of money and did not gain much land.
In 1520, an event named; 'The Field of the Cloth of Gold', took place in Calais (at the time, the city was part of England rather than France). It was held to celebrate peace between France and England because they had been at war for a long time. Loads of money was spent on it. People enjoyed music, dancing, food, wine and culture for two-and-a-half weeks. Henry famously wrestled King Francis I of France and lost. Despite this, England and France were soon fighting again. After they signed a treaty in 1525, there was less fighting.
The most important event that happened in England when Henry was the king was the country's change in religion. At first, there was no sign that Henry would do this. Eight years into Henry's reign, the Protestant Reformation began in Germany. Until then, all of Western Europe had been part of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Reformation began, some countries broke away from the Roman Catholic Church to form Protestant churches. At first, Henry was against this. The Reformation did not spread to England straight away. But by the 1530s, there were many powerful people in England who liked the idea of the Reformation.
Henry became desperate to have a son. By 1527, Henry was wanting to divorce Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. The Roman Catholic Church said he could not divorce without asking the Pope. Henry asked the Pope, but the Pope would not do this. The Pope said it went against the teachings of the church. Henry blamed Wolsey for failing to change the Pope's mind. He sacked Wolsey and ordered him to be put on trial, though Wolsey died before the trial could happen. After that, Thomas More became his main advisor. But More opposed the divorce, so he was replaced a few years later by Thomas Cromwell. Henry also chose a man called Thomas Cranmer to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry knew that Cranmer would do what he wanted, and Cranmer agreed that Henry could have a divorce from Catherine. The Pope did not know this, so he let Cranmer become the archbishop.
A powerful ruler might have forced the Pope to change his mind, but the most powerful rulers would have opposed the divorce. Catherine's nephew was Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and Catherine came from Spain, the largest Catholic country. In 1534, attempts to reach an agreement over the divorce failed.
Henry asked Parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy, which meant that the king, not the pope, was the head of the church in England. This created the new Church of England. The Pope was so angry that he excommunicated Henry, meaning Henry was thrown out of the church. Henry then forced all priests and bishops to accept him as the new leader. Anyone who refused was punished. Among those killed were Thomas More and his old teacher John Fisher.
Henry was not a true Protestant. He wanted the Church of England to be similar to the Roman Catholic Church but under his control. Some Protestants were even executed, including Anne Askew. However, Henry was easily led by people like Thomas Crownell, Thomas Cranmer and Anne Bolyen, who secretly wanted the country to become Protestant. It was not until the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I that the Church of England became fully Protestant.
Henry and Cromwell thought that monasteries, in which Roman Catholic monks and nuns lived, had more money and land than the monks and nuns needed. Henry forced the monks and nuns to move out of the monasteries. Then Henry gave their money and land to men who supported him. Most of the men who received money and land from the closed monasteries were Protestants. This event was called the dissolution of the monasteries.
After his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn, who was younger than Catherine and still able to have children. Henry soon became unhappy with the marriage. He and Anne did not get on well as they had before they married. Anne had many enemies in the government, including Henry's most loyal minister, Thomas Cromwell. Henry was also unhappy that Anne, just like Catherine, only had a daughter and no sons. Henry started looking for another wife.
In January 1536, Henry fell off a horse while jousting and was badly injured. He took a long time to wake up and his leg was wounded. The wound never properly healed, and he had painful ulcers on his leg for the rest of the his life. This meant it was hard for him to do exercise, so after this he started to become obese. The head injury may have also caused him to become more bad-tempered.
Later that year, Cromwell helped Henry to find a way to get rid of Anne, by finding people who said that she had been the lover of several other men. Anne was put on trial and found guilty, and she was executed by having her head chopped off by a French swordsman.
Henry's third wife was Jane Seymour. She soon gave birth to a son called Edward. Although this made Henry very happy, a few days later Jane died. Henry had loved her very much and he never got over his sadness at her death. He lost interest in everything, and became bigger in size. He became angry with Thomas Cromwell when Cromwell suggested that he should get married again after Jane's death.
After a while, Henry changed his mind. As he still only had one son, he realised that it might be a good idea to marry again, and he agreed to marry Anne of Cleves, a German princess. When Anne arrived, Henry did not think she was as pretty as she looked in the pictures he had seen, and he was not satisfied with her. Anne was also unhappy and agreed to be divorced from Henry after only a few months. Cromwell had helped arrange the marriage. Henry was angry with Cromwell and had him executed.
In the meantime, Henry had noticed a young lady at court, called Catherine Howard, and thought that she might make a good wife. Catherine Howard was a cousin of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry and Catherine got married in 1540, but Catherine was much younger than Henry and she soon got tired of him and started to flirt with other men. After they had been married for just over a year, Henry found out that Catherine had been having an affair with someone else. She was found guilty of treason and was executed, just like Anne Boleyn had been a few years before.
Henry's sixth and last wife was called Catherine Parr. She was a woman in her thirties who had already been married twice. Her first two husbands had been much older than she was, and both had died. Henry thought that she would be more sensible and faithful than his other wives, and he turned out to be right. Catherine Parr stayed married to Henry for over three years until he died, but they did not have any children.
After divorcing Catherine of Aragon, Henry began to suffer many different ailments, he never again regained health. He died on 28 January 1547 at the age of 55 and was buried in Windsor Castle. Henry was the father of two queens and one king. They were Mary I of England, Elizabeth I of England, and Edward VI of England. None of them had any children of their own.