My name is Henry VIII. I am going to tell you about my life, past and present, hopefully to show how stressful it is to be the mighty king of England.
My beloved, but weak father King Henry VII, died on the 21st April 1509. At the time of my fathers death, I was 18, and first in line for the throne. You see, in 1502, my brother Arthur, he died at the age of 15, from an illness, I don't know much about. But after his death all, major duties for the heir to the throne, were thrust on me. I had become the sole heir to the throne, and now the Prince of Wales. Being the Prince of Wales is a major honour, but it also means people will be keeping an eye on you. That was the time, when I learnt who my real friends were and who was only pretending.
So, back to the story. When my father died, in 1509, I became king. People ask me a lot, ' Did you actually care about your fathers death?' Of course I did, I am not that heartless. But on the other hand, I was also very excited to be king. I had been waiting for this day to come for a long time. The power of being king, unlimited money, and much, much more,. Power for a king is unlimited, right? But there was one thing in particular that I wanted. One thing that I knew would be nearly impossible to get. I wanted my dead brother's wife. Catherine of Aragon. Even her name at the time, made me swoon. But as I am writing this story about my life so far, I have had 4 wives. Catherine of Aragon, ( I will tell you about how I got her in a minute), Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. At this prisice moment in time, I am going through a divorce from Anne of Cleves. It didn't work out, like I would have hoped.
So when I became king in 1509, thought that now I had power, I could do what I liked. So, what I did was ride straight to Catherine's house and asked if she would make me the happiest new king in the world and marry me. And she said yes. Well, of course she would, why wouldn't she? I was young, fit, attractive and did I mention, King of all of England and France. I mean, I still am quite young, fit and attractive and of course I am still king, but I am not the same as I was before.
