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Henry VIII Fun Facts for Kids

Henry VIII Fun Facts for Kids: There has never been a king that has made such an impact on English history than King Henry VIII. The Tudors have been a topic of fascination in schools around the country for children of all ages. From Henry VIII and his six wives through to Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada, it is a period of English History unlike any other.

King Henry VIII Interesting Facts

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One of the best-known facts about Henry VIII is that he was married a total of six times. The easiest way to remember what happened to each of the wives is with the following rhyme. “Divorced, beheaded, died – divorced, beheaded, survived.” Three of these wives all shared the name, Catherine.

Henry VIII Fun Facts for Kids

The motto of the king was ‘Coeur Loyal’ which literally means loyal-hearted, a strange motto for a man that married six times. According to the records that were made at the time, around 72,000 people were executed on Henry’s orders throughout the length of his reign.

Henry VIII Fun Facts for Kids

The most common nickname for King Henry was Harri, although he was also called ‘Coppernose’ for a time as due to the royal coffers running low, new coins that were minted had much less silver in them, meaning they were mostly copper. When Henry became king the navy at the time consisted of only five ships.

Henry VIII Fun Facts for Kids

At the end of his reign, there was a fleet of around sixty. When Henry became ill at the end of his life, none of his doctors were brave enough to tell him that he was actually dying. This is because talking about the death of the king had been made an act of treason. His doctors did not want to end up in the Tower of London or even worse, with the heads on the executioner’s block.

Henry VIII Armour

Throughout the course of his life, Henry went through several suits of Armour. At the start of his reign when he was still a young man, the waist measurement on his Armour was a mere 34″-36″, indicating that he was s fit young mad weight less than 200lbs.

Henry VIII Armour

However one of the more interesting fun facts about Henry VIII is that his last suit of Armour had a waist measurement of around 60″, meaning that he weighed at least 320lbs.

More Facts About Henry VIII

His Father was King Henry VII from the House of Lancaster, and his Mother was Elizabeth of York. The marriage of the two followed the War of the Roses in which the two houses were involved. It was during one of the battles, the Battle of Bosworth Field that King Richard III died, and Henry’s father became Henry VII.

Henry himself was never destined for the throne, as the younger of Henry VII’s sons, he was destined for religious life, the heir to the throne is his brother Arthur.

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When Arthur died at a young age, Henry became heir to the throne of England. Other than his six wives, Henry VIII is known to have had at least two mistresses, Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn, the sister of his second wife Anne.

More Info On- Henry VII Family Tree, Henry VII Love Letters to Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, Henry VII Parents Information

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