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The best known of all English kings was Henry VIII. This is partly for the reason that he married six times and partly because he separated himself from the Roman Catholic Church and made England a Protestant country. He was educated and in some respects, considered to be a good king, except for the fact that he held absolute power in England, and he often used it by putting people to death unjustly. He was physically strong and enjoyed sports and fun. In many respects, he was also very popular with his subjects.

His first wife was a Spanish princess by the name of Catherine of Aragon. Before she married Henry VIII, she was married to his brother who had died. Catherine had a daughter, who later became Queen Mary I, but she had no son. Partly for this reason, Henry wanted to divorce her and marry an English girl, by the name of Anne Boleyn. He requested the Pope to nullify his marriage to Catherine, by declaring that it was not legal, but the Pope refused, as a result of which, he arbitrarily established his own Church, which provided him the freedom to marry Anne.

Ann Boleyn had a daughter who later became Queen Elizabeth I. Three years later, Henry accused Anne of misconduct and had her beheaded, after which he married Jane Seymour. She gave birth to a son, who became King Edward VI. She died as a result of the childbirth. After her death, Henry married Anne of Cleves, s German princess, but later realized that he did not like her, and after a few months, in 1540, he had his Church nullify that marriage, too. He did not wait too long before he married another English girl, by the name of Catherine Howard who was only 19 years old at the time. Two years later, he had her beheaded, as he had Anne Boleyn, on a frivolous charge of misconduct. He then married Catherine Parr. She was the widow of an English nobleman. He seemed to have lived happily with her before he died a few years later, in 1547.

Henry VIII was dangerously temperamental and unpredictable. He wielded a great deal of power over his subjects and was considered a nonconformist whose indifference to the laws of the Pope was historically unusual. He was merciless and domineering, as well as egotistical by nature.

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