Henry VIII's Pride And Joy

 In October 1537, Henry VIII, at long last, had an heir with the birth of a boy who would succeed him as Edward VI. Henry’s joy would be tempered by two things. First, the death of Queen Jane, 12 days after giving birth. Writing to the king of France, Henry said, with great and genuine sorrow”, “Divine providence has mingled my joy with the bitterness of the death of her who has given me this happiness.” Henry also had to live with the terrible thought that some childhood illness could claim the life of the little baby as it had done to a boy born to the king during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. That baby, named Henry, lived for just 7 weeks and Henry knew, in this day and age, history could well repeat itself. Nonetheless, despite these fears and sorrows, Henry rejoiced in the presence of his son. One day, when Edward was about 7 months old, the king spent a day at a hunting lodge with the little prince, holding him in his arms, playing with him and showing him off to crowds of people.

And it wasn’t just Henry who took joy in the Prince. One Lady described Edward as being “the goodliest babe that I ever set my eyes upon.” Edward was also described as being “so merry, so pleasant, so loving of countenance”. No doubt, such sentiments were designed to please the king but genuine delight at Edward’s birth wouldn’t have just been felt by Henry. On Edward’s birth, celebrations had been held in the streets of England with bonfires, drinking and feasting. People knew that a king without an heir could and almost certainly would prove extreme difficulties. Yes, before Edward’s birth, Henry had two living daughters. But the idea of female rule in Tudor England was still too alien a concept to comprehend for many. Henry also had an illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, who may have been a possible candidate to become king but had died the year before Edward’s birth.

So, Henry’s only option had been to have a legitimate son. And as time had marched on, with one wife divorced and another executed, and the king rapidly aging and with declining health, things began to look dire not only for Henry and his dynasty but also for the prospects of England in the not too distant future. Contested successions had brought troubled times in the past in English history; most notably on the deaths of Henry I and Edward IV. Henry not only needed a son but also to ensure that, if he survived the perils of Tudor childhood, his succession to the throne would be smooth. In an ideal world, Henry would go on to have a second son. And, in the brief period between Edward’s birth and Jane’s passing 12 days later, Henry’s thoughts may have briefly turned to that although, if it had, it would have been fleeting as Jane’s condition worsened. Despite Jane’s death and all the uncertainties of life in the 16th century, the birth of Edward remained a joyous thing for Henry VIII and proof that he could, in fact, produce a healthy son. In the years of failure with Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Henry’s fragile ego had taken a heavy hit but the birth of Edward was a triumph and vindication, in his mind, that he had been right all along and all others, especially his treacherous wives, had been wrong.