Henry VIII

"*My brother is combative in opposition, but he is of Plantagenet stock. I see the parts of him that earn your ire, and perhaps they are justly judged, but it is important to understand his position - why he is so abrasive.*"
―Thomas Filzroy to Evelina Rurik

## Basics

### Title(s)

Earl of Richmond, Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Earl Marshal of England, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, Prince of Wales (former)
 Knight of the Bath, King of England

### Partner(s)

Katherine of Russia
 Jessica Marcuson
 Anastasia John

### Issue

Mary Plantagenet (b. 1457)
James Arthur John (b. 1460)
Sarah Marcuson (b. 1462)

### Relatives

Beatrice Plantagenet (siblings);
Tristan Fitzroy, Anne Cecily Fitzroy, Thomas Fitzroy (step-brothers).
⁍Edmund of Gloucester (uncle, paternal); Louis III of France (uncle, maternal); Annalise of France (aunt, maternal).
⁍ Louis IV, King of France (cousin); Serfyne of Vienna, Edmund of Anjou (cousin).

## Reign

### Successor

Mary I

Henry VI (19 August 1430), also called Harry of Wales, was King of England. Son of King Edward IV, he was the husband of Katrinka, Grand Duchess of Russia, and father to Mary I. Henry's outstanding military success made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. His marriage to Katrinka Rurik, later Katherine, Princess of Wales, secured an English alliance with Eastern Europe.

## Early life

Henry was born at the Palace of Placentia on August 19, 1430. A diary kept by his mother, Eleanor of England, described the way he was born as "unhurried and unceremonious", although economic records suggest that the queen was kept at maximum comfort and majesty during his lying down. Henry was baptized by Richard Fox, the bishop of Exeter, in an Observant Franciscan church near the palace.

Just three days after Henry's birth, Isabel of York, the king's precious mistress, gave birth to her first child. His name, Thomas Fitzroy, was an obvious nod to his father, King Edward. Thomas's birth is an event that is said to have caused Eleanor distress, due to the celebrations and lavishness of the bastard prince's baptismal processions. His is an unease that, almost two decades later, Henry himself would have adopted; as for Thomas Fitzroy, later Plantagenet, a possible rival to his throne. However, as children, Henry and Thomas did not show an unusual rivalry.

## Years as Prince of Wales

Before the death of Prince Arthur (then Prince of Wales) in 1432, Henry was made Earl of Richmond. The newborn prince was also named Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Earl Marshal of England, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Knight of the Bath. Further ceremonies followed when two-year-old Henry was created Duke of Cambridge, just weeks before the death of his older brother Arthur. Henry received a first-rate education from prominent tutors, becoming fluent in Latin, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Not much, apart from the numerous assignments bequeathed to the child, is known about Henry's early life, as he was not expected to become king.

The death of Prince Arthur at the age of fifteen imposed his duties on his younger brother, then only thirteen. After a long debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in 1432 and the new Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in 1433. Now the undisputed heir to the English throne, young Henry was tightly controlled and did not appear in public at the behest of his uncle. , Edmund, Duke of Gloucester. The death of Prince Arthur triggered a series of events that would leave an indelible mark on the forming heir, despite his new position as his father's successor; one is his mother's rapidly diminishing mental stability. Arthur's death had a harrowing effect on Queen Eleanor, who is said to have declined rapidly - in both body and mind - in the wake of her funeral, unduly relying on her brother-in-law, Henry's uncle, in the period of mourning that following.

Queen Eleanor's withdrawal from public duties and court life allowed Isabel of York, a widowed wife, to return to the king's good grace. Shortly after the birth of her son Thomas Fitzroy, Isabel and her husband had been exiled from court and sought refuge in Rome, returning with great pomp and circumstance to London when Eleanor's departure enabled her to reclaim her place alongside Edward. . Henry, his full sister Beatrice and Thomas grew up in the royal preschool together, too young to know about the difficult relationship between their parents. A papal legate visiting London wrote extensively about the trio's extraordinarily "intimate" relationship, and also about the one that existed between Henry and his father's mistress, Isabel. In the absence of his own mother, who continued to mourn deeply at the loss of her eldest son to the point of being receptive to little else, Henry was known for his dependence on Isabel and his childish jealousy of his affections, dispersed between him and his parents. his own children. It was only when Henry's court was permanently moved to Wales, when he was only thirteen, that he and his brothers were separated; the beloved stepbrother who left Thomas in London would have made him a bitter enemy again.

Eleanor's condition would continue to deteriorate over time. In 1445, it was clear that Eleanor's situation was "delicate", as pointed out by Pierre Shaffeild, the French Earl who accompanied Eleanor as ambassador to England at the time of her marriage. In Wales, Henry became aware of the unfolding hostility between his mother, father and Isabel, aggravated by rumors that had swept the nation about the Yorkists' ambitions to plant Isabel on her mother's throne. It was then, at the tender age of fifteen, that Harry's enmity towards the Yorkists took off. As he tried to bolster his mother's claim to the throne and the determination of her marriage, however, he was scorned by Eleanor's rapid decline and fluctuating upheaval, blaming Isabel for her mother's horrible disposition and self-imposed exile.

The queen's death would only exacerbate the relationship between him and Isabel. When Eleanor died in 1452, preparations were quickly underway to bury the late queen's legacy and ready for the birth of a new one. Motions had already been enacted and plans to legitimize Thomas Fitzroy have been implemented; to do this a special papal dispensation was required which was later granted by Pope Callisto. Shortly after Henry's return to Westminster court in the same year as his mother's death, Isabel and Edward were both quietly and privately married. The Prince of Wales was one of the few witnesses - including Isabel's children and a grim Queen Mother (Anna Costance) - when they married on the morning of April 19, 1453 in Lesnes Abbey. Though he had apparently reunited with the wedding revelers, inside Harry had harbored a devouring aversion to his father's new queen and stepbrother who was getting closer and closer to taking on the role of alleged heir.