How Many Children Did Henry The 8th Have?
Henry VIII had three children who survived him. They became the monarchs Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. They ruled in that order. Mary I ,(1516-1558), was Henry’s child by his first wife, the Spanish Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Isabella financed Columbus’s voyages to the Americas. Henry had this marriage annulled after Catherine did not bear him a son who lived. Mary ruled in 1553 through 1558. Fiercely Catholic, she persecuted Protestants. She was married to the future King Phillip II of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. He would send the Spanish Armada against England in 1588. Mary died childless. Elizabeth I, (1533-1603), ruled from 1558 through 1603. Her mother was Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife. Anne was beheaded on a trumped up charge of adultery. Henry had grown disenchanted with her after she failed to bear him a surviving son. Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Elizabethan age. During it, Shakespeare began
