Did all of Henry VIII’s wives struggle with fertility problems? It’s a common belief, but is it really true?
In this video, I dive into the reproductive histories of Henry’s six queens, separating fact from fiction. From Catherine of Aragon’s tragic stillbirths to the myth about Anne Boleyn’s “series of miscarriages,” I’ll explore what we really know about their pregnancies. Plus, I’ll uncover theories like the infamous Kell positive blood type and discuss Henry’s own role in his wives’ fertility challenges. Let’s bust some myths together!
Links for further reading:
- Henry VIII, Kell Positive Blood Type and McLeod Syndrome: Part One – Guest Post by Kyra Kramer
- https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/henry-viii-kell-positive-blood-type-and-mcleod-syndrome-part-two-guest-post-by-kyra-kramer/
I don’t believe Henry’s wives had fertility issues, when paired with her fourth husband, Katherine Parr fell pregnant easily, and his first queen was pregnant six times which proves neither she nor the king had problems there, Katherine’s main problem however was delivering healthy children and it is believed, her extreme fasting had a detrimental effect on her issue, her first born a daughter sadly was born dead and her second named Henry, lived only fifty two days, we do not know if he was underweight but there are no records that tell us he was anything other than a healthy baby, as we know Anne Boleyn was pregnant three times and her first born was healthy and thrived, her miscarriages were possibly brought on by the frailty of her situation, stress and worry and her final one was no doubt caused by the shock she encountered, by her uncle barging into her apartments to tell her very clumsily that the king might be dead, after he had the near fatal fall in the joust, but no she did not have a succession of miscarriages, the fact that she was married for just three years proves she too like Katherine of Aragon was perfectly capable of becoming pregnant, this was an age when childbirth was extremely dangerous for mother and baby, and the sacred ritual of being churched after deliverance showed how hazardous it was, thanks for given for the safe delivery of mother and child and she had to sustain from intimate relations with her husband for several weeks after, we can say numerous women lost children over the years but as they were not prominent their names are not known to us, years ago I read the theory about Henry V111 having syphilis as the reason for his queen’s miscarriages, placing the blame on his shoulders, but as we have seen Katherine from Aragon put her body through the most extreme rituals of fasting, with Anne Boleyn there was even bigger pressure to give the king a son as he had split from Rome in order to achieve that end, and apart from the kell theory her failure to carry her children to full term was possibly just brought on by stress which is a killer, and can cause heart disease in many a healthy male today, consider Jane Seymour, she gave birth to Edward V1 after being married for about eight months which compared to when Henry was much younger was rather long in the tooth, but there is the possibility he was undergoing sexual problems which embarrassingly for him, was made public by George Boleyn at his farcical trial in May 1536, this titillating piece of bedroom gossip was allegedly passed onto George by his wife the notorious Lady Rochford who had the queens confidence, Henry V111 once said to Chapyus ‘am I not a many like many others?’, he must have bewailed the fact that his great rival and contemporary the King Of France had several sons and daughters and by his sickly wife to, but if he had indeed suffered in his bedroom performance that could explain why Jane Seymour took rather long to get pregnant, however she did not have fertility issues and her son was a beautiful baby, a joy to behold, but she suffered a most arduous labour lasting for nearly three days, contrary to popular belief which is wrongly given in old school texts books and early biographies of this king, he was not an unhealthy child, the charming portrait by Holbein of him as a toddler shows he had the chubby rosy cheeks of a child that is thriving well, we do not know had Jane survived if she would have been able to have more children, it is possibly that like Margaret Beaufort her body might have been ruined beyond repair and so further pregnancies would have been out of the question, Katherine Parr fell pregnant easily not long after her fourth and large marriage to Thomas Seymour, she gave birth to a baby girl but we have no knowledge of that baby after her parents were both dead, we must assume she died young, no there is no evidence any of Henry’s queens had fertility issues and we know with his fourth wife he was so repulsed by her he never even tried, with his fifth he was very amorous towards her we are told, and there were obviously no problems there between himself and his young wife, Catherine thought at one time she was expecting so Henry obviously had been able to copulate, there are rumours she had tried to pass of her alleged lovers child as the kings but it was no doubt a rumour spread by the anti catholic faction, as Claire says by the time he wed his sixth and final queen, he was more than likely past it, and by now his increasing body weight and health issues left him rendered impossible to do anything much in bed but sleep, I think in the sad history of Henry V111’s wives it was just a case of bad luck coupled with circumstance and the lack of scant medical knowledge of the day, Katherine’s ignorance towards her strict religious observances at a time when she was pregnant, and Anne Boleyn’s stress made much worse by her volatile nature could not have helped both women in their fruitless quest to give the king a son, Henry lovers by comparison had healthy children and they had no problems carrying their offspring to full term, without the undue pressure his queens had, they gave birth easily and with happiness.