King Henry VIII & King Henry VII

Driving on the Spare

As a boy, the future Henry VIII was not intended or expected to one day be king. His father, Henry VII, already had a son, Henry's older brother Arthur - a name his father had chosen with the intent that he would in time be King Arthur of England. Second son Henry, like his present-day namesake Prince Harry, was "the spare." Given child mortality rates at the time, a second son's prospects of inheriting the throne were greater than now, but he was still the spare.

While Arthur was being raised and trained to be a future king, second son Henry was intended for the Church. This was not uncommon for a royal second son. As a priest he could not be a rival for his brother's throne, nor have (legitimate) sons who might cause dynastic trouble later on. Instead a priest-prince could play a useful role. In the Church he would be no parish priest, but would be fast-tracked to become a bishop or even a cardinal, serving as an advisor to his royal brother and influencing the church on his behalf.

Henry VII thus saw to it that his second son Henry received a more academic education than Arthur - in fact he would end up one of the best educated kings in Europe.

Tragedy struck the Tudor household in 1502. Prince Arthur, at age 16, was married to a Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, and formally was made Prince of Wales. The young couple were dispatched to Ludlow Castle near Wales, for Arthur to begin learning his royal job. Arthur, never a robust boy, fell sick, and three months later he was dead. Henry, the spare, was now heir to the throne.

Prince Henry, then age nine, was already big for his age, and energetic. His upbringing from that point on, however, was sheltered and confined. His father Henry VII, having lost one son, was very careful about his only remaining one. A year after Arthur's death, Queen Elizabeth of York also died - a blow to young Henry, who was close to his mother (he would name a daughter, eventually Queen Elizabeth I, after her). It was a blow to Henry VII as well, who withdrew into himself and became even more the gloomy figure known to later history.

Henry VII died in 1509, and his son became King Henry VIII a month before he turned 18. Free of his stifling princely confinement, the new king promptly set a new and festive atmosphere at court, with jousting by day and dancing in the evenings - and soon married his brother's widow Catherine, then 24.

On a more serious note, young Henry VIII changed his father's policies and advisors as well. Two of his father's advisors, named Empson and Dudley, had distinguished themselves by squeezing Henry VII's wealthier subjects in order to fill the royal treasury. They had done so well at it that Henry VIII came to the throne as one of the richest kings in Europe. Empson and Dudley had also made themselves intensely unpopular with the people they were squeezing. Henry VIII boosted his own popularity by having them both arrested, tried, and beheaded. Having done so, he settled in to spend his inheritance and have a good time doing it.