Search results for ""author caroline angus""

Of the five Tudor monarchs, only one was ever born to rule. While much of King Henry VIII's reign is centred on his reckless marriage choices, it was the foundations laid by Henry and Queen Katherine of Aragon that shaped the future of the crown. Among the suffering of five lost heirs, the royal couple placed all their hopes in the surviving Princess Mary. Her early life weaves a tale of promise, diplomacy, and pageantry never again seen in King Henry's life, but a deep-rooted desire for a son, a legacy of his own scattered childhood, pushed Henry VIII to smother Mary's chance to rule. An affair soon produced an unlikely heir in Henry Fitzroy, and while one child was pure royalty, the other illegitimate, the comparison of their childhoods would show a race to throne closer than many wished to admit. King Henry's cruelty saw his heirs' fates pivot as wives came and went, and the birth Princess Elizabeth, saw long-term plans upended for short-term desires. With the death of one heir hidden from view, the birth of Prince Edward finally gave the realm an heir born to rule, but King Henry's personal desires and paranoia left his heirs facing constant uncertainty for another decade until his death. Behind the narrative of Henry VIII's wives, wars, reformation and ruthlessness, there were children, living lives of education among people who cared for them, surrounded by items in generous locations which symbolised their place in their father's heart. They faced excitement, struggles, and isolation which would shape their own reigns. From the heights of a surviving princess destined and decreed to influence Europe, to illegitimate children scattered to the winds of fortune, the childhoods of Henry VIII's heirs is one of ambition, destiny, heartache, and triumph.

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Almost 500 years have passed since the death of Anne Boleyn, and yet, there has never been asuggestion she was guilty of the crimes which saw her executed. Attempts to muddy Anne'sreputation throughout history have not lessened her popularity nor convinced anyone she wasan adulterer. But many myths surrounding Anne's conviction for sleeping with George Boleyn,Henry Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton have cropped up due tocenturies of lies, slander, and misinformation from detractors. One month after Anne was executed, the Convocation of Canterbury ratified the paperworkdetailing her arrest, conviction, execution, and the annulment of the marriage between KingHenry VIII and his second wife. As parliament had already ruled Anne's only child, PrincessElizabeth, was no longer heir to the throne, all the paperwork surrounding the trial wasdestroyed. No trace of her charges, witness statements, evidence, or even Archbishop ThomasCranmer's reasoning for annulling the

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