Henry VIII on marriage

Disappointed that his queen, Catherine of Aragon, could not bear him a male heir, King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547) requested Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage in order to marry Anne Boleyn.

When the Pope refused, he split with the Church of Rome, divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, and proclaimed himself head of the Church of England.

Excommunicated by the Pope in 1533, Henry eventually had Anne beheaded for high treason and infidelity, and then married Jane Seymour (who bore him his desired male heir, the future Edward VI, but died soon after). He then married Anne of Cleves, but the marriage was dissolved. Henry then married Catherine Howard, whom he later had executed for adultery, and finally Catherine Parr, who survived him.

When King Henry VIII realised that he would soon be reaching the end of his journey on earth, he surrounded himself with a few collaborators and reportedly told them: “My dear friends, we have lost practically everything, the state, honours and above all eternal happiness, because that which God has blessed in Holy Matrimony cannot be disgraced by man” (The Life of Martyrs, p. 175).

Now that the divorce debate is in full swing in Malta, it is good to keep Henry VIII’s words in mind. After all, it was he who broke with the Church of Rome because the Pope would not sanction his divorce.