Magnet #156 - King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547)For some reason, King Henry is one of the most recognized of all the English monarchs. It seems he's almost everywhere - in books and plays, in the movies and music, on English Toby jugs and even on The Simpsons.
I've been debating on whether or not I should be blogging my collection of the Kings and Queens of England (from 1066 through the present) as individual magnetposts, or as a set. I'm still up in the air about it - but they're all individual magnets, and there's round about 40 total.
For now, we'll go individual, but I reserve the right to gang them up if I can't find anything interesting to say about Anne...or any of the Edwards. And, I'm not gonna give vastly scholarly info, as peeps across the pond can do a better job of that. But, I did find this supercool interactive game and timeline about the monarchs.
I will say that the best thing about Henry VIII is how he got my father very interested in English history. I'm hoping it's that we dragged my dad to Hampton Court Palace and to the Tower of London that opened up this new window of history for him. More likely, it was that Henry seriously questioned the Catholic faith, and my father respected that. Hopefully, it's not that he has designs on me mum.
Of course, my dad did make us repeat "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" a couple of times. Hmmmmm.
4 comments:
Ah, I recognize a fellow anglophile! :-)
While I've always found Henry VIII to be a very interesting guy, I've never been quite so enraptured with him as when he's played by JRM on The Tudors. (Eric Bana is hot, too, but that movie stunk a little.)
And don't you dare say there's nothing interesting to say about Anne! Boleyn? She's the most interesting of them all! Beheaded mom to Queen Elizabeth I? Crazy cool.
Oh, ya know what? I still haven't watched past the first episode of The Tudors. I'll get there eventually.
(And, yes, I'm sure I'll find *something* to say about dear Anne.) :-)
Dude! I'm only totally a year late. But you don't have to worry about the Edwards. Longshanks! The 100 years war! The War of the Roses! Henry VIII's only legitimate son!
It's the Georges that are tricksy. George I and II are totally interchangeable in my brain.
And for Anne (for whom I will admit some partiality solely on the basis of her name) you can talk about the Act of Union. Or Blenheim Palace! Or the statue of her by St. Paul's!
Better late than never, hon. glor, you would have come in handy during my English history courses at Carolina. Hahaha.
And, good call on the Blenheim Palace. I've been, but don't have a magnet from there. NICE.
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