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Henry VIII

3 stories mention Henry VIII on DeadlyCurious.

The Footnote June 27, 2026 · Tower of London

The French Swordsman Brought From Calais Because the English Axe Was Considered Too Crude for a Queen

Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower of London on 19 May 1536 with a French sword rather than the standard English execution axe. Henry VIII had paid for a substantial professional executioner to travel from Calais. The decision was made before the verdict was delivered.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Tower of London

The English King Whose Six Marriages Between 1509 and 1547 Produced Three Surviving Children, Two Beheaded Wives, and the English Reformation

Henry VIII married six times between 1509 and 1547. Two of his wives — Anne Boleyn (1536) and Catherine Howard (1542) — were beheaded at the Tower of London. Two were set aside by annulment (Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves). One died of childbirth complications (Jane Seymour). One outlived him (Catherine Parr). The pursuit of his desired succession produced the foundational break with the papacy that became the English Reformation.

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The Footnote June 25, 2026 · Newgate Street, City of London

The Demolished London Church Where Four Medieval English Queens Were Buried Under Whose Bones Modern Newgate Street Now Runs

The Franciscan Greyfriars Church on Newgate Street was the burial site of four major English royal women — Isabella of France, Margaret of France, Eleanor of Provence's heart, and Joan of the Tower. The church was dissolved in 1538, destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire, and the modern street pattern was laid out over the unrecovered burials.

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