5 Lesser-Known Facts about Henry VIII

Most people know about Henry VIII and his six wives, his break from the Catholic Church, and his massive size.

I will not bore you with facts you already know.

Instead, here are five lesser-known facts about Henry VIII, one of England’s most notorious monarchs.

1. He loved music

Henry loved music and surrounded himself with it.

The Tudor court was a lively place filled with famous composers and musicians. William Cornysh, Thomas Tallis, and Robert Fayrfax are just a few of the famous musicians patronized by the King.

The King himself was also a skilled musician and talented composer.

He played the lute, organ, various flutes, the harp, and virginals. His most famous composition, “Pastime with Good Company”, became quite popular during his reign.

2. He was a sports enthusiast

Henry had a body built for playing sports.

He stood over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a muscular build. He was active, vibrant, and energetic. Everything a young, strong, and capable monarch should be.

He was an avid sports fan who enjoyed jousting, tennis, archery, hunting, and horseback riding.

Unfortunately, when Henry was 44 years old, he was involved in a jousting accident. He was thrown from his mount and his horse landed on top of him.

He survived the incident, but he would never fully recover. For the rest of his life, he suffered from chronic pain and ulcers in his leg.

He became less mobile, unable to participate in the sports he once loved. This led to massive weight gain, and the chronic pain in his leg affected his moods.

In the last years of his life, the King was obese, bedridden, ill-tempered, and tyrannical.

3. He established the English Royal Navy

Throughout his life, Henry was fascinated by shipbuilding and naval warfare.

Beginning in the 1510s, he formalized the existing English Navy into the British Royal Navy and laid the groundwork for England to become a formidable naval power.

He commissioned multiple warships, including the famous Mary Rose, built dockyards to maintain his expanding fleet, and established the Navy Board, a committee responsible for the administration of the Navy and its ships.

4. He defended Catholicism

Henry was well-educated and an avid reader of theology and philosophy.

In 1521, he wrote a theological treatise Defense of the Seven Sacraments.

With the book, he defended the Catholic Church and denounced the teachings of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

In recognition of the work, Pope Leo X awarded Henry the title Defender of the Faith.

However, thirteen years later, in 1534, Henry would break from the Catholic Church and establish the Church of England, throwing his country into massive religious reform.

5. All of his (legitimate) children would reign in turn after his death.

After years of chronic pain and declining health, Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, at age 55. Upon his death, the crown passed peacefully to his nine-year-old son, Edward VI.

However, Edward only ruled for six years. He died in 1553, throwing England into a succession crisis.

Before his death, Edward had named his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, his successor, passing over his older half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth.

Mary, the daughter of Henry’s first marriage, rose up, deposed Jane Grey, and took the throne for herself. She wasted no time in restoring Catholicism to England and spent the next five years hunting down and persecuting Protestants, earning her the nickname “Bloody Mary”.

When she died in 1558, Elizabeth, Mary’s half-sister, and Henry’s last surviving heir, ascended the throne. She became Elizabeth I and would rule England for the next 44 years.

In that time, she would re-establish England as a Protestant nation and usher in an era in English history known for its strength, growth, art, and culture.

The Elizabethan Era.