The Six Queens of Henry VIII

Season

2016

UK

7.8

A series about Henry VIII and his wives, chronicling the ups and downs in his marriages and how they shaped his reign as King and ultimately the face of Britain.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Katherine of Aragon

The teenage Henry VIII falls in love with the beautiful Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. As his first queen she leads the kingdom at war, wins the love of the people, and teaches Henry how to rule. But tragically, Katherine cannot give Henry the son he wants to save the Tudor dynasty.

S1 • E2

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's bewitching mistress, is desperate to become Queen of England. Sexually obsessed with Anne and desperate for a son, Henry cruelly abandons Katherine of Aragon, his wife of twenty years. But Henry's obsession with Anne soon darkens into jealousy.

S1 • E3

Jane Seymour & Anne of Cleeves

After decades of disaster Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, finally gives him the son and heir he craves. But tragically she dies within days of childbirth, and Henry's joy turns to despair. Convinced to marry again, Henry chooses the German princess Anne of Cleves. But all he sees before the engagement is a painting, and in the flesh he finds Anne so ugly he becomes impotent. Now he must fight to escape the marriage, while his advisor Thomas Cromwell pays for the fiasco with his head.

S1 • E4

Catherine Howard & Catherine Parr

Dramatised documentary about the infamous Tudor king and the women he married. Historians Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones tell the stories of Henry's last two wives - the fifth, the young, beautiful but indiscreet Catherine Howard, the sixth, the mature and wise Catherine Parr who nearly lost her head when she pushed him too far on religious reform.