Katherine Parr was lucky to escape her marriage to Henry VIII alive. A devoted Protestant (which wasn't cool in Henry's eyes), Katherine was a clever woman who greatly influenced her step-daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I (when her husband wasn't flirting with Elizabeth, that is.)
I guess Henry really liked marrying women named Katherine. Poor Katherine Howard. She was not the brightest crayon in the box and not the best Queen,, but what else do you expect when a 50-year-old man marries a teenager?
Join us as we watch the first episode of the Showtime series The Tudors and offer some witty (ridiculous) commentary.
Jane Seymour, more like Plain SeyBORE. We talk about how Jane ended up in Henry's bed (quickly followed by her deathbed) and Cromwell's unfortunate attempt at a political match with Anne of Cleves."
Celebrity marriages: they never last. Anne's downfall was swift and definitely didn't have a happy ending.
Anne Boleyn had a pretty sweet gig going for 7 years as Henry's main squeeze, and her life before him wasn't that bad at European courts either. Gossip and puns and Henry the Baeighth and Kanye West all make an appearance.
Poor Katherine of Aragon couldn't catch a break. Widowed after 5 months (of an apparently sexless marriage) and then her father and father-in-law kind of sucked. But it's cool, she married Henry VIII, and he was Sir Loyal Heart (except if she couldn't give him a son, which was completely her fault, right?)
Episode one covers the basics of Henry VIII and how he ended up wearing the English crown, starting with his father's life, his brother Arthur's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Arthur's death, and Henry's ascension to the crown.
** Please be aware, there is a small audio glitch 23 minutes into the podcast. The podcast should work perfectly beyond that. We apologize for the annoyance and are making sure it won't happen again.