Henry VIII was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty,

succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been

married six times and for wielding the most untrammelled power of any British monarch. Notable events during his reign included the break with Rome

and the subsequent establishment of the independent Church of

England.

Hans Holbein, a German

Renaissance artist, painted this famous portrait.

Hans Holbein, the Younger, also

painted this famous portrait of Henry VIII.

Henry annulled his twenty-four year marriage to her after only

one of their six children, Mary I, survived infancy.

Mary I is remembered for her attempt to return England from Protestantism to

Roman Catholicism. To this end, she had almost three hundred religious dissenters executed; as a consequence, she is often

known as Bloody Mary.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen

Elizabeth I. Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage to

Anne was part of the complex beginning of the political and religious upheaval of the English Reformation, with Anne herself actively promoting the cause of Church Reform. She is

probably best known for her premature death when she was

beheaded on false charges of adultery and treason.

Queen Elizabeth I, queen from 1558-1603, daughter of Henry VIII and his second

wife Anne Boleyn. Sometimes referred to as The Virgin

Queen or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I was the fifth and final monarch of the Tudor

dynasty, having succeeded her half-sister, Mary I. She

reigned during a period of great religious turmoil in

English history. Elizabeth's reign is referred to as the Elizabethan era or the Golden Age and was marked by increases in English power and influence worldwide.

She gave him his only male heir, later Edward VI, but died shortly

after his birth. Henry married Jane only eleven days after

Anne's execution, and she quickly became pregnant.

Edward VI was only 10 when he became king, and he died when he was 16.

This complimentary portrait of Anne Cleves

by Hans Holbein the Younger hid the evidence of her smallpox scars.

Anne of Cleves also known as "The Mare of Flanders" was the queen consort of

Henry VIII from January 6, 1540 to July 9, 1540. This traditional image of Anne as

being "the ugly queen" was very prevalent amongst traditional historians however

more recent viewpoints suggest that it is more likely she found Henry to be the ugly one (he was by this time grossly obese) and purposefully made him dislike her. Another theory suggests that they agreed that they

just did not gel with each other and split on amicable terms — this theory is supported

by the good settlement she received.

Catherine Howard was the fifth queen consort of Henry VIII of England 1540-1542,

sometimes known as "the rose without a thorn.“As a young and very attractive teenager, Catherine caught the eye of

Anne's disenchanted husband, King Henry. Henry divorced

Anne in July 1540 and married Catherine, who had been his mistress for the last

few months. Henry was almost fifty, Catherine was still in her

teens.

She was executed for Treason (adultery).

Katharine Parr was the Queen Consort of

Henry VIII of England 1543-1547; the last wife

of his six.

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced,

Beheaded, Survived

Queen Elizabeth II Present Queen of

England House of Windsor

Queen Elizabeth, her husband Prince Phillip, her grandson Prince William, her son Charles (The Prince of Wales – Heir to the throne), and her

grandson Harry. In back, her son Prince Andrew

Princess Diana

Prince Charles and his second wife Camilla

Parker Bowles

Current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (England)

since May 2010

King Edward VIII of England, the second British monarch of the House of Windsor, reigned

for slightly less than a year, from the death of his father,

George V, until his own abdication in 1936. He also had some “problems” in his love life.

He fell in love with a divorced American woman, Wallis

Simpson.

He famously said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support

of the woman I love."