The status of Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII

Henry Fitzroy was born in 1519, his mother, who was Henry VIII’s mistress was Elizabeth Blount, the daughter of a landed knight and politician.

I think an important question surrounding Fitzroy is what his titles and lands actually meant. They seem to demonstrate that he was brought up more like a King’s second or third son, rather than an illegitimate son.

Fitzroy was made:

• Duke of Somerset (A title given to Edmund Tudor, the shortly lived third son of Henry VII)(Also a title traditionally held by the Beaufort family, whom the Tudors were descended from)
• Duke of Richmond (Henry VII was Earl of Richmond before his succession)
• Earl of Nottingham (a title held by the Richard, Duke of York, the second son of Edward IV)
• Was to be referred to as ‘Prince Henry’
• Lord High Admiral of England
• Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (there was short-lived plans to make him King of Ireland)
• Lord President of the Council of the North
• Lord Warden of the Northern Marches

Henry Fitzroy (Zak Jenciragic) in The Tudors

He was also married to Mary Howard, who, excluding Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary, would have been the most sought after bride in England. Henry VIII proudly presented him to the royal court and his godfather was Cardinal Wolsey.

All of this was not the custom of illegitimate royal sons.

The more recent examples we have of illegitimate royal sons were given military appointments to castles and often served within their father’s household or court, but we’re given little else.

• Roland de Velville was potentially the illegitimate son of Henry VII. He was knighted, became a member of his father’s court and was appointed Constable of Beaumaris Castle.
• John of Gloucester was the illegitimate son of Richard III. He was appointed Captain of Calais by his father in 1484. John was likely executed by Henry VII.
• Arthur Plantagenet was the illegitimate son of Edward IV. Under the Tudors he served in the royal household (his sister was still the Queen), became a close friend of his nephew, Henry VIII, who appointed him Lord Deputy of Calais. He later become Viscount Lisle via marriage to Elizabeth Grey. He was later imprisoned for treason.

They were rarely nobles, they were not princes and generally not given top positions within the King’s administration. A change of dynasty would also leave them vulnerable as they had the status of a son of a King, but not the status of a prince, making their murder less controversial.

Fitzroy was given more honours than any illegitimate son of a King of England before him. He was essentially treated as a royal prince, perhaps akin to a King’s second or third son, rather than a King’s illegitimate son. He was also given much of these honours as a child, which was the custom for legitimate sons.

As Duke of Somerset and Richmond, he was one of only three Dukes in England (Charles Brandon, Fitzroy’s uncle and Thomas Howard, Fitzroy’s father-in-law) and the only double Duke. Thus, he was one of the senior nobles of the realm.

King’s giving their illegitimate sons noble titles had not occurred since the reign of Henry I. (Henry II’s son, William was the Earl of Salisbury, which he inherited from his father-in-law).

So we might suspect that Henry VIII had big plans for Fitzroy. However, there was a clear set of titles for the King’s eldest son and heir, they were made (as Edward VI, later was):

• Prince of Wales
• Duke of Cornwall
• Earl of Chester

Prince William is currently the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester

Fitzroy was not given any of these titles, nor would did he marry a foreign princess as Edward VI would have done. Remember that Edward VI wasn’t alive during Fitzroy’s lifetime, so there is no rival status between the two of them. At the time Henry had no male heir, yet to think that Fitzroy was clearly being styled as the heir to the throne would be misleading, the titles Fitzroy was granted does not mean he was Henry’s heir, but it just shows that Henry saw him as more than an illegitimate son.

It is interesting then to ask what would have became of Fitzroy if he did not die in 1536, at the age of 17?

Around the time of his death, was the Second Succession Act (1536), this removed Fitzroy’s sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession. It meant that there was no clear male heir, especially since Henry VIII’s nephew, Henry Brandon, had died in 1534 and that he ruled out any Scottish successors via his Stuart cousins. This act also gave Henry VIII the right to appoint his own successor. If Henry was to pick his own successor at the time, I find Fitzroy to be the most likely candidate.

I would also imagine that it would not have been overtly difficult to secure his hold on power, given that the Duke of Norfolk was his father-in-law and much of the nobility would have preferred a male heir. Henry’s closest advisors, Cromwell and Brandon, would likely have supported the King’s wishes too.

This of course would have meant little, as Henry VIII had a legitimate son the following year with Jane Seymour. The son, Edward, became Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester and heir to the throne.

A miniature of Henry Fitzroy painted by Lucas Horenbout (1533 – 1534)