The Price of Being Queen
Marriage is a dangerous game, especially if the prize involves a king and the English crown in the early 1500’s. For some unfortunate ladies the price they paid in pursuit of being the queen of England was their lives.It was a race to produce a male heir that would decied thier fates and all but one would succeed, but not without dying in the process. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, and finally widowed was the fate of these English Queens and the journey that led them there would be just as harsh. Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain would become Henry the VIII 's first wife on the 11th of June and Queen of England on …show more content…
Hanson, Marilee. "King Henry VIII’s Love Letters to Anne Boleyn" Although his love for her was made clear with these letters, her lack of producing a male heir would become her downfall as well. Anne, like Catherine before her would suffer from miscarriages and only produce a female heir as well. Elizabeth was born on September 7th, 1533 and would be Henry and Anne’s only child to survive infancy. Once again Henry would take other women to his bed, and unlike Catherine, Anne refused to look the other way. This along with her inability to produce a male heir would result in the downfall of their marriage. Jane Seymour took advantage of these issues and would become Henry’s next target after Anne gave birth to another stillborn in 1536. Using the people’s opinion of Anne in the beginning Henry imprisoned her in the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest, and conspiracy. On May 19th, 1536, Anne was convicted of these charges unanimously and was taken to be executed at the Tower Green, in London, England. It was there, moments before her execution she gave her final speech. "I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul." With this, Anne gracefully met her fate of being beheaded, and unlike the other Queens, I believe Anne succeeded in something powerful that she would never lived to witness, and that was being the mother of one of England’s most powerful Queens, Elizabeth the
Marriage is a dangerous game, especially if the prize involves a king and the English crown in the early 1500’s. For some unfortunate ladies the price they paid in pursuit of being the queen of England was their lives.It was a race to produce a male heir that would decied thier fates and all but one would succeed, but not without dying in the process. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, and finally widowed was the fate of these English Queens and the journey that led them there would be just as harsh. Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain would become Henry the VIII 's first wife on the 11th of June and Queen of England on …show more content…
Hanson, Marilee. "King Henry VIII’s Love Letters to Anne Boleyn" Although his love for her was made clear with these letters, her lack of producing a male heir would become her downfall as well. Anne, like Catherine before her would suffer from miscarriages and only produce a female heir as well. Elizabeth was born on September 7th, 1533 and would be Henry and Anne’s only child to survive infancy. Once again Henry would take other women to his bed, and unlike Catherine, Anne refused to look the other way. This along with her inability to produce a male heir would result in the downfall of their marriage. Jane Seymour took advantage of these issues and would become Henry’s next target after Anne gave birth to another stillborn in 1536. Using the people’s opinion of Anne in the beginning Henry imprisoned her in the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest, and conspiracy. On May 19th, 1536, Anne was convicted of these charges unanimously and was taken to be executed at the Tower Green, in London, England. It was there, moments before her execution she gave her final speech. "I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul." With this, Anne gracefully met her fate of being beheaded, and unlike the other Queens, I believe Anne succeeded in something powerful that she would never lived to witness, and that was being the mother of one of England’s most powerful Queens, Elizabeth the