Six Queens: The Wives of Henry VIII

by Suzannah Lipscomb

'Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived': so goes the famous mnemonic by which we recall the varied destinies of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

The stories of these six consorts of the second Tudor king - their fates the brutal corollary of the stark dynastic imperatives of the royal succession - have assumed mythic status in the annals of English history. Only three of these women would give Henry a child that survived infancy: two girls (Mary and Elizabeth) and one boy (Edward). All three would inherit the crown worn by their mighty father, but the Tudor dynasty would not outlive their deaths.

Suzannah Lipscomb's crisply authoritative and insightful accounts of the lives of these six queens are embellished by beautiful images of the principal players in this most compelling of royal dramas.

Genres: History, Tudor Period, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

Published June 2, 2020

About the author

Prof Suzannah Lipscomb is Professor Emerita in History at the University of Roehampton. She is the author of 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII, A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England, The King is Dead: The Last Will and Testament of Henry VIII, Witchcraft, and The Voices of Nimes: Women, Sex and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc. She edited, with Helen Carr, What is History, Now? (out 2021). She also writes and presents television programmes, including series on Henry VIII and his Six Wives, Witches: A Century of Murder, and Elizabeth I; hosts the podcast Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, and writes a regular column for History Today.