by Gary Watson

Created on: August 04, 2010   Last Updated: August 05, 2010

Henry VIII was born in 1491 and was the second heir of a new dynasty and a new kind of monarchy, a monarchy he would again change as king. He lived and ruled as the man his father had wished to be and though he never quite made it to warrior king status he did become one of the most famous English rulers heralding a new imperial age for England and Britain.

Henry spent much of his childhood out of the limelight overshadowed by his flamboyant older brother Arthur who showed all the signs of a future warrior king. Arthur however fell ill and died aged only fifteen and Henry young, unprepared and unready was suddenly thrust into the world of the royal heir. His father who maintained a solidified and more absolute monarchy in a country of independent minded people told him to ‘live like a king’ and Henry lived up to this at least.

He was crowned king on the 24th of June 1509 at Westminster Abbey. It was a great hope for the nation as they had come to despise the miser Henry VII and a truly great nation needed a monarch who would strike forth and not simply drain the nation dry to strengthen the crown. Henry wanted to make a true empire, an imperial crown not just of England but the British isle and France also. He wanted a different kind of monarchy to his fathers, and what was more the people knew it. In ‘living like a king’ he became a romantic and attractive personality in that respect and many held high hopes for his reign. He was well educated in his youth and as a young king was guided by the scholar and lawyer Sir Thomas More. This somewhat shifts the fat womaniser image with an intellectual figure seeking to make real change in the world.

He still however sought to rule as an Arthurian warrior king, admiring Henry V immensely and planned war with France. It was this reason along with love that he married his brother’s widow Catherine of Aragon the first of his six wives, solidifying an alliance with Spain against France. War came in 1513 with Henry leading the army into France, several major cities were captured and England’s military reputation was restored on the international stage but he made no significant conquest.

War was renewed with France in 1523 after a French revolt and the French were defeated in Italy leaving the English army a chance to conquer France. But this required money and Parliament for all it tried to do so could not levy it as there were mass riots at the amounts the people had to

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