The Children of Henry VIII Formerly Entitled Children of England Alison Weir Praise for The Children of Henry VIII "Weir focuses on the uneasy relationships among Henry's heirs, whose upbringing was strongly influenced by the king's marital misadventures.... Drawing mainly on contemporary documents, [Weir] provides captivating glimpses of the daily experiences that shaped her young subjects' personalities." —Newsday "[Weir] writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind. This, her fourth book on the Tudors, affirms her preeminence in the field." —The Independent "This fascinating tale of murder, jealousy, religious fanaticism, and political scandal among 16th-century British royals makes the modern dysfunctional royal family appear quaint by comparison... Weir's narrative brings to life both the tangled relationships of these figures and the violent religious tensions that dominated England during the 16th century." —Kirkus Reviews "Weir can always be counted on to tell a superb story as she relates particularly dramatic episodes in English royal history." —Booklist THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII is dedicated to all the children in my family: At Carshalton, John and Katherine Weir; at Chesterfield, David and Andrew Weir; at Edinburgh, Paul Masterton, Stephen and Susan Scott; at Kidderminster, David and Peter Marston; David and Peter Marston; at Melbourne, Gemma and Kevin Cullen; at York, Angus, Bruce and Douglas Weir. Acknowledgments I should like to express my gratittude to all those who have helped me with this book, and particularly to Mr Michael Cameron, formerly Senoir Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, for his kindness in reading the manuscript and for giving me his professional views in Mary Tudor's confinements; this invaluable assistance enabled me to arrive at a convincing solution to the mystery surrounding Mary's two supposed pregnancies. My grateful thanks are, as ever, also due to my wonderfully supportive editor, Jill Black, who suggested this project; to my equally supportive agent, Julian Alexander, whose enthusiasm and encouragement never flags; to Pascal Cariss, for all his hard work on the manuscript; and to Sophie Martin for her painstaking efforts to track down the illustrations. Lastly, but not least, I owe special thanks to my husband and children, who have patiently borne the absence of a wife and mother over so many evenings and weekends, so that this book could be completed on schedule. Without their unfailing support, it would not have been possible. Preface T his book is not a history of England during the troubled reigns of Edward VI, Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I, but a chronicle of the personal lives of four English sovereigns, and the relationships between them, during the period 154710 1558. When Henry VIII died in 1547, he left three highly intelligent children to succeed him in turn - Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, to be followed, if their lines failed, by the descendants of his sister Mary Tudor, one of whom was the ill-fated nine-days queen, Lady Jane Grey. The relationships between the royal siblings were never easy ones for several reasons: all had very dissimilar characters, and while they took after their father in many ways, they had each inherited diverse characteristics from their mothers, who had been the first three of Henry VIII's six wives. Each child had spent its formative years in vastly different circumstances, and had enjoyed - or suffered - varying relations with its formidable father. Mary's mother had been supplanted in King Henry's affections by Elizabeth's mother, who had, in her turn, been supplanted by Edward's mother. And while the King's daughters suffered several vicissitudes of fortune in Henry's lifetime, his son grew up secure in his august father's love and protection. In the pages of this book, which begins at the point where my earlier book The Six Wives of Henry VIII came to an end, I have tried to portray the characters of these royal siblings and their cousin Jane Grey as realistically as possible, and to describe how their personal relationships with each other were affected by political and religious considerations. In order to achieve this, I have consulted a wealth of documentary evidence contemporary to the period, including numerous private and official letters, the great calendars of state and the masses of diplomatic papers, as well as memorials and chronicles by contemporary writers, including Edward VI's own journal, and more mundane records, such as lists of privy purse expenses, which can in fact yield fascinating information. There have been many biographies of the later Tudor monarchs, but never a book in which their personal lives and relations with each other, and the effect of these factors upon the history of England, have been the central theme. One cannot of course write about kings and queens without touching on the political and social issues of their times, but what I have tried to bring into focus here is personal information that has until now been treated as generally subsidiary to the political ethos of other works. This book is not intended to replace such works, but to complement them.