His sister-in-law, Catherine, was the princess of Spain. She was newly widowed, so her country forced her to marry Henry, so that she still would be connected with royalty in England. Everyone either loved her or hated her; some even referred to her as the "spanish cow".
Henry was consistently unfaithful. He began to fall in love with a woman named Anne Boleyn. Henry asked for an annullment of his marriage with Catherine, on the grounds of incest. The church disagreed, so Henry decided to make a church of his own called the Church of England. In his church, he made divorce legal, and so he divorced Catherine.
All of the women that Henry had been with had conception problems, including Anne. Henry was demanding that she get pregnant, and so she did, but it was possibly with another man.
Henry did have two other children. Edward VI took over after Henry died, but Edward then died at the age of 16. Henry had a daughter named Mary with a woman named Katherine of Aragon. Elizabeth took over after her half-sister Mary died. Mary had gained the name "Bloody Mary" because she had sentenced many Protestants to death in order to bring back Catholicism.
Henry VIII was a party animal who liked to hunt, drink, dance, and just have fun. He was not prepared to be King. Henry's older brother, who was heir to the throne, died of an illness, shoving Henry into position as King.
Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was born a loud, scrawny, red-haired baby. Henry blamed Anne for having a girl. She was later put on trail for treason, and lost; Anne was beheaded.
Elizabeth grew up with a good education. She created a strategy that defeated the Spanish Armada. After that, people started liking Elizabeth.
Elizabeth never married, since she knew what it had done to her family. She also knew that if she married, then her power would be gone. Because she never married, she gained the name "Virgin Queen". She had fallen in love with a man named Walter Raley, but after he married someone else, she put him in the Tower of London.
Elizabeth was a fan of Shakespeare's plays. She requested a play be written with Fallstaff in it, so Shakespeare wrote Marry Wives of Windsor. Elizabeth and her women acted it out, which was an interesting change for that time period, considering women weren't allowed to act.
After Elizabeth
James I took over after Elizabeth's reign. He was a more serious man; some people even called him dour, which was a cross between being dark and sour. He couldn't compete with Elizabeth's elegant accomplishments, but he was able to translate the bible into english.
