Henry VII was born in 1457 to Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort in Wales. He was the King of England from seizing the crown on August 22, 1485 until his death on April 21, 1509, and the first monarch of the House of Tudor. He won the crown after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 with the much needed assistance of his stepfather Lord Stanley. He ruled the Principality of Wales until November 29, 1489 and was Lord of Ireland.
Henry was not an obvious candidate for the throne when he seized it by victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The Tudor family at the time were thought of at court as little more than Welsh gentry. Henry was a Lancastrian, with a tenuous claim to the throne.
Henry was born in Wales when his mother was just 13 years old. His father Edmund died before he was born. Edmund’s father Owen was a squire at the court of Henry V and he was secretly married to Henry’s widow, Catherine of Valois. Edmund was declared legitimate and named Earl of Richmond.
Henry's claim came through Margaret Beaufort, his mother, who was descended from John of Gaunt and his mistress (later wife) Katherine Swynford. The Beaufort line's claim to the throne was dubious, as Richard II had granted the line legitimacy but Henry IV had declared that they nevertheless could not inherit the crown.
When the Yorks took the throne, Henry and his young mother were put into the guardianship of William Herbert until 1469 when Warwick the Kingmaker switched sides and executed Herbert during his restoration of Henry VI. With Henry VI back on the throne, Henry’s uncle Jasper Tudor returned from exile and brought Henry to court. Less than a year later, Edward IV regained the throne and Jasper and Henry fled to Brittany where he spent the next 14 years.
During this time, his mother’s persistent and ambitious plotting paid off. Henry pledged to marry Elizabeth of York, Edward IV’s eldest daughter; he garnered the support of the Woodvilles and the French who readily supplied him with troops and equipment for an invasion. His first attempt failed but he landed in Pembrokeshire on his second attempt, meeting Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Henry’s father-in-law, Thomas Stanley, was officially a Yorkist and had pledged his support to Richard III but, no doubt influenced by his wife, and with the opportunity to be father to the King of England, he and his brother switched sides during the battle and Richard was killed.
He married Elizabeth of York, despite her alleged affair with Richard III, and attempted to unify the houses of York and Lancaster. Henry overturned Richard III’s statute that declared Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville as invalid, thus legitimising his new wife and their future children.
Henry was threatened by several rebellions in the next few years and always fearful of threats to his throne by anyone of royal blood. Lambert Simnel, a boy claiming to be the Earl of Warwick (who was actually a prisoner in the Tower), was supported in a rebellion by Yorkists but was defeated. It is rumored that Simnel ended up serving in Henry’s kitchens.
In 1490, a boy who became known as Perkin Warbeck appeared and claimed to be Richard, the younger of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ and Edward IV’s second son. Warbeck won the support of Edward IV's sister Margaret of Burgundy. He led attempted invasions of Ireland in 1491 and England in 1495, and persuaded James IV of Scotland to invade England in 1496. In 1497 Warbeck landed in Cornwall with a few thousand troops, but was soon captured and eventually executed.
In 1499, Henry had the real Earl of Warwick executed. However, he spared Warwick's elder sister Margaret. She survived until 1541, when she was executed by Henry VIII.
Henry arranged the marriage of his eldest son Arthur and the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. When Arthur died suddenly at Ludlow Castle, Henry appealed to the Pope for a papal dispensation so that Arthur’s younger brother Henry could marry Katherine and maintain the Spanish alliance. And, as his wife Elizabeth of York died in childbirth, Henry also had the dispensation to marry Katherine himself but reconsidered when her mother died and her sister took over as queen.
Henry died in 1509 at Richmond Palace. He is buried at Westminster Abbey and was succeeded by Henry VIII.
The Spanish Princess[]
Henry is first introduced upon the arrival of Catherine of Aragon to England. Impatient to see what he has "bought" from the Spanish and wanting to make sure they haven't cheated him with a deformed or ugly Princess, Henry rides up to meet her at Dogmersfield palace in Hampshire. Henry barges into her tent despite the resistance of her Spanish servants trying desperately to protect the young girl's modesty. Henry angrily dismisses them as he forces his way into her bedchamber as Catalina just has time to veil her face with a mantilla. Unveiling her, Henry is completely struck by Catherine's beauty and feels a thud of lust when he imagines what he could do with her. The potency of her beauty and sex appeal (as well as Catherine's icy dignity) cow Henry as he commands her to meet her betrothed his son Arthur. Despite his feelings of arousal, Henry is still dismissive of her spanish ways and determined that she will do as he commands while in England.Unlike his father, Arthur is approving of the public reaction to Catherine's progress through England and of her Spanish fashions (opinions that make him a "fool" in his father's eyes). Catherine is at last presented looking “ far more beautiful” and “a million times more haughty” than Prince Arthur had imagined. To his astonishment she is impertinent and cool towards King Henry who is equally as curt and rude towards her as the three of them dine together. The meal is formal and uncomfortable with King Henry’s rudeness bringing out Catherine’s pride though Arthur sees through this to see the nervous young girl in a strange land she truly is and softens towards her. When Arthur privately apologises for their dragging her from her tent, Catherine tells him that she is proud and fearless (though in truth she was frightened and used her determination to be princess of wales to calm her nerves). Over the course of the meal, King Henry admits Catherine is prettier than her portrait (finding her intriguing and still arousing) and Catherine tells them of her rough sea voyage to England. Arthur clumsily admits that his parents forced him to write his letters of courtship to Catherine which earns him a scolding from his father. King Henry requests Catherine to dance for them and finds himself increasingly irritated that such a sensual girl should be put in Arthur’s bed but is comforted by the thought of her impressive dowry and the wealth it would bring to England.
Relationships[]
Henry is one of the most lustful and sexuallised characters in all of Gregory's novels with a high sex drive and multiple lovers or sexual interest in characters in both the Cousins War and Tudor series of books.
Catherine of Aragon[]
Catherine is Henry's beautiful and sensual Spanish daughter in law. Their first meeting takes place when Henry all but drags her from her bed to inspect her before the wedding. Henry is exceedingly aroused, and deeply frustrated by his arousal, by Catherine and is frustrated in her presence and the knowledge that her physical charms and natural rhythm would be wasted on his timid inexperienced son.
Gallery[]
