(Cover image – The children of Henry VII, showing Prince Henry (1491 – 1547), Arthur Prince of Wales (1486 – 1502) and Princess Margaret (1489 – 1541), c1498. © Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
On this day, the 19th of September 1486, the first-born heir to the first King of the Tudor dynasty, Arthur Tudor was born. His birth acted as an assurance to the new King Henry VII and his beautiful wife, Elizabeth of York, that his reign was blessed in the eyes of God. It was on this day that the hopes of the people had been answered and on this day that a new king had been born, a king who would go on to preserve his father’s line for hundreds of years to come.
Except, this never happened.
Of course, it would be his brother who would become king, not poor Arthur Tudor, forever immortalized as the ‘king who never was.’
The story of how Arthur’s untimely death brought about the succession of Henry VIII to the throne is known throughout the world. Had it not been for Arthur’s weak constitution, the famous history of the Tudors might be a completely different story than the one we have now. Perhaps even… he might not have made the same mistakes as his younger brother did and might have succeeded in ensuring that the Tudor reign lasted longer than Henry’s somewhat stupidity had allowed it to.
And so, in honor of celebrating what is the 536th anniversary of Prince Arthur Tudor’s birth, we here at The Ill-Fated Wives of Henry VIII are going to investigate a subject matter which is not as widely discussed as Arthur’s death; the relationship between him and his younger brother, Henry VIII.
Let us begin, shall we?
. . .
The bond between two brothers had always been seen as a powerful and unbreakable one across the globe, with many literary works and movies focusing on how the bond between brothers can be broken and mended following a devastating blow over time. But sadly, this kind of bond is not always present in royal brothers or even brothers in the Tudor times.
You see, in the Tudor times, the first-born male (born to any family) would have been treasured and treated as if they were a piece of fragile glass that could be shattered at any given moment. Hence why royalty had a tradition of concealing him away from the public eye and training him for kingship with the best of the best. The second son or any sons born after the first had a very different upbringing; they were seen as the spare to the heir and treated less like a piece of fragile glass but like a forgotten ornament that you might polish once or twice in a year once you remember it exists. This meant that second sons had a little more freedom than their elder brothers as their parent’s attention would have been primarily focused on ensuring that the eldest son survives.
This is exactly the case with Arthur and Henry Tudor.
Being that Arthur was the eldest brother born in 1486 and Henry was born in 1491, their ability to form a close, meaningful relationship was difficult from the start. To ensure that their son was kept far away from any of the diseases that tended to plague (pun intended) the royal court and to ensure that he was protected, King Henry and Queen Elizabeth ordered that their one-month-old son be raised far away from the court in Farnham, meaning that he was practically driven away from London where all his family resided. Another reason why it was so important for Arthur to be moved away from the court is the fact that it is said he was born one month premature, and it was vital that he was moved somewhere that he could be nurtured and properly taken care of. As a result, his mother (or potentially his grandmother) appointed Elizabeth Darcy as his primary nurse and she was given the highest order that no harm shall come to the prince and he was to be kept away from London in case a civil war shall break out again—remember, a mere year or two before Arthur’s birth, his father had started a civil war against the previous king which later won him the Crown.
This meant that he was not present for the births of his younger siblings, including the future King Henry VIII.
The King’s second son, Henry Tudor, was born in 1491 and was already displaying contrasts to his older brother at a young age. Whilst his brother had been born weak, frail, and preferred to stay indoors, Henry was completely different. He was born healthy, energetic and very active both indoors and outdoors. It was almost as if the two brothers had switched places; Henry was displaying the features more associated with the preferred eldest child and Arthur was displaying the features of a younger child.
I wonder whether Henry would have faced a similar fate to his brother if he had been born first, not second.
Anyway…
. . .
Obviously, the five-year age gap between the brothers as well as the physical separation would not have presented the brothers with many opportunities to bond. Naturally, Arthur would have been able to visit his family and spend time with his siblings as the years went by and the fear of his father being rioted against decreased. But this still meant that they arguably would not have had many memories of one another. It is not like they could have picked up the phone and called or texted like we do today; their only options would have been to exchange letters or to arrange the occasional visits. And being princes meant that their hands would have been full.
Also, I cannot imagine that the brothers would have found time to write numerous letters a week or that they would have even known what to say.
I mean, what do you say to your elder brother who you probably have only met once or twice in person and who is arguably sometimes too sick to write?
What I can say is that neither Arthur nor Henry got to experience the unbreakable bond between brothers, but they did get to form some type of attachment to their sisters.
King Henry and Queen Elizabeth also had two daughters, Margaret, and Mary, who would also bring them political advantages by marrying them off to potential kings or princes intentionally. Therefore, these princesses did not experience the same kind of pressure that their elder brother Arthur did as the next in line to the throne.
As the younger son, Henry spent most of his childhood living in the same household with his sisters with who he shared close relationships—particularly with his younger sister Mary Rose Tudor who was the last surviving child of the King and Queen.
Unfortunately for Arthur, his distance from his siblings prevented him from forming a close relationship with his sisters too. However, fortunately, his sisters were able to frequently visit their elder brother unlike Henry because their gender meant they were less ‘precious’ and they had no official role in the court that would prevent them from visiting him. Their relationships with him can be seen as close considering how distraught both were following Arthur’s death, both of them mourned for many months and Margaret was said to have wished to keep some strands of his hair to remember him by. Whether this claim is true or not is irrelevant.
. . .
Now—there is a lingering question regarding the relationship between the two brothers which has continued to divide historians everywhere; was there resentment and envy on Henry’s part regarding his brother being the heir to the throne? And did this hinder the chance for them to be close?
Well, many believe that the lack of relationship between the brothers showed that Henry held some resentment towards Arthur for being the eldest and being the one who got to be King, and some believe that Henry was quite distressed about his brother’s death and about being King.
Arguments that Henry resented/envied Arthur: the first piece of ‘evidence’ historians use to say that Henry held some resentment towards his older brother is by pointing out how much of an attention-seeking child Henry was. Whilst it was inevitable that Henry would seek to take some of the attention his brother was receiving and place himself in the limelight—I mean, don’t all younger siblings do this at least once in their life—historians believe that Henry went above and beyond to both shine the light on himself and humiliate his brother.
One well-noted event of this happening was Arthur’s own wedding.
Oh yes, Henry couldn’t let his brother have all the fun and the attention at his own wedding, he had to take some for himself.
Whilst the shy, sickly, and reserved Arthur was probably thrilled at the attention he was receiving from his new wife at his wedding, the lively and energetic Henry was anything but happy for him. Once again, his brother had everything he wanted; the limelight, the crown in his sights and a beautiful bride. And Henry had to do something about it; make a scene. And make a scene, he most certainly did, as records note:
At his brother’s wedding in November 1501, the ten-year-old Henry drew everyone’s attention when he escorted his future-wife Princess Catherine. He continued to attract the eye during the entertainments when he flamboyantly threw off his very expensive jacket so that he could dance more energetically.
It is easy to see that Henry was full of mischief and ready to cause mayhem at any moment at such a young age.
Another fact that historians use in this argument is the stark contrast in the boys’ households; as the Crown Prince and the heir to the throne, Arthur’s household was quite large and he had complete control over everyone. He was essentially acting as a king whilst training to be a king. On the other hand, Henry’s household was quite different; as we’ve mentioned before, he lived with his sisters at court with his mother and father and was treated just like any other royal child would but he was not taught the same things as his brother—yet another thing he resented.
Education for Arthur and Henry was also another thing that separated the brothers and might have caused resentment; as the heir to the throne, Arthur was taught the ways of the kingdom and was brought up to be ‘erudite, studious, cautious, and pious’ in the way that his father was. His brother, Henry, was practically thrust into learning the ways of joining the church; it was custom that the second prince would join the church but this did not mean that Henry was happy about having his choice of livelihood taken away. Yes, he learnt many subjects that most boys his age might have loved to learn; church law, religious philosophy, copying scriptures, difficult languages such as Latin etc, but his education was far from being as in-depth or ‘kingly’ as Arthur’s and he might have felt that Arthur, being sickly and shy, was undeserving of being the Crown Prince.
I mean, besides his parents’ enabling his temper tantrums, his flirtatious manner and his impulsive behaviour which meant he could have got away with murder, they practically allowed resentment from Henry toward Arthur to form by denying him a similar education to his brother. I mean, shouldn’t they have taken Arthur’s weak health as a sign that he might not live to be King and educate Henry in the same manner as a backup?
It should also come as no surprise that their mother, Elizabeth, doted more on Henry whilst Arthur was the pride of his father’s life. Perhaps Henry was resentful that his father did not love him in the way that he did Arthur and wished him to be proud of him also.
It's even reported that Henry VII was so disturbed by his newest heir that when he was considering marrying Catherine of Aragon, it was in the hopes that she would give birth to a son much more like the husband she had just lost rather than the boy who would later become her second husband. Some historians claim that on his deathbed, he begged God for more time—now, whether that was to marry Catherine and give England a new heir or to mold his son into a better man and King, we will never know.
Hearing this almost makes you feel so sorry for Henry, it’s not entirely his fault. His parents were the ones who enabled his behavior his entire life!
But before we move on to the reasons why Henry might not have resented his brother, it is important to note that losing a brother, regardless of how close you are, is always a painful thing, especially if it is an older sibling whose presence brought about so much happiness. This might have been why Henry’s parents were so frightened of losing him that they forced him into the same isolation as his brother, if not more extreme. Sadly, Henry might not have been able to appreciate the amount of security his parents placed him within in the right manner—if anything, he definitely resented his father for doing this as his mother still doted on him after Arthur’s death.
Arguments that Henry did NOT resent or envy Arthur: one of the first points that I would like to make is the reality of the situation; when Arthur died at the tender age of fifteen, Henry was still only two months away from his eleventh birthday. Experiencing the death of a close family member can be devastating or difficult to deal with at any age but when you’re just ten years old, death is not something easy to comprehend or understand how to cope with.
As I’ve mentioned, Arthur and Henry were not the closest of brothers but that does not mean that Henry was not saddened or possibly even devastated over his brother’s death. All of his life, Henry knew that Arthur was going to be King and that he would only ever be the Crown Prince (until, of course, Arthur’s son took over the role when coming of age) but now that he was gone, Henry’s life was uncertain. Everyone in his life had focused all their attention on his older brother and now it was getting thrust onto him. Even though he was an attention-seeking child, to receive this amount of pressure and attention so suddenly must have been a shock and it might have made him wish that his brother was still alive—though Henry would inevitably fall in love with being the King and having all the court’s attention on him as the years went by.
The fact that Henry VIII never made a public statement over his brother’s death, both before and after he became King of England, does suggest that he did not love, care or mourn his brother as much as the rest of his family did. Arthur was not his playmate growing up so they did not have a close bond as he did with Charles Brandon, one of his childhood friends and closest member of the court. And some believe that Henry actually thanked Arthur for his unfortunate death and here are some reasons why: one; he had experienced freedom before becoming King that his brother never had which meant that he could find ways to still experience that freedom as King that Arthur might not have been able to, two; his father’s tight-hand on royal funds meant that the new King Henry VIII was one of the richest monarchs of his time and he intended to be a King who was loved in comparison to his feared father and much-respected brother; and three, his brother’s death meant that he could now escape the path that had been chosen for him and write himself into history as a King, not as a prince in a subordinate role. And of course, he would now forever be the center of attention.
Perhaps Henry was slightly upset by his brother’s death given the reaction of his father when he learnt that his only living son would eventually replace him. As mentioned, Henry’s father doted on Arthur and was not as ‘proud’ or ‘focused on’ Henry as he was Arthur and that must have struck hard in Henry, to know that your father was so disappointed in you because you were not your brother. And, if anything, he probably resented his father for never taking the time to ever prepare Henry for becoming King, should anything ever happen to Arthur as it inevitably did. He must have felt resentment for his father for not taking the time in his final years to mould Henry into a good king; he imprisoned him in a secure household to prevent any diseases from befalling him (which in a sense is good because that’s what happened to Arthur) but it meant that Henry wasn’t able to go to council with his father and watch how the intricacies of ruling worked or form relationships with any of his ministers or ambassadors—some even wrote that they barely spoke to their future King and that this hardened Henry’s distaste and even hatred towards his father.
It seems like history has confused where Henry’s resentment or envy lay; if anything, Henry VII was the one who Henry VIII resented or hated, not his older brother who did nothing to deserve it, he did not choose to be the first-born nor did he ask to be King. He was just doing what was expected of him and therefore, I believe that if Henry VIII did harbour any resentment for him, it was ill-placed. He could have spoken up to his father and asked to be taught more about the ways of the kingdom, just as a precaution. He had a mouth and liked to cause mayhem, didn’t he? So why not speak up?
. . .
But what about the representations of the relationship between Arthur and Henry Tudor on TV? Does The Spanish Princess do a good job of showing a realistic brotherly bond?
As you would expect, there are not a lot of portrayals of Prince Arthur or the relationship between him and Henry VIII. There are even littler examples of where he is mentioned in a movie or show as directors tend to focus more on the later parts of Henry VIII’s reign or establish the movie/show at a point where Arthur is already dead and buried and Henry has already married Catherine of Aragon.
However, I was able to find a small number of examples of either Arthur being mentioned or the relationship between the brothers being shown and I will try and do this in chronological order.
Anne of the thousand days (1969): In this classic and absolutely powerful movie (especially with Geneviève Bujold’s stunning performance as the bewitching Anne Boleyn), there is a scene where Henry describes how his marriage to Catherine of Aragon came about solely because of the death of his brother;
‘Here is my marriage, Nan. My older brother Arthur was heir to the kingdom. To make an alliance with Spain he married Katharine of Aragon. Then Arthur died—and I was heir to the throne of England. To continue the alliance with Spain I was advised to marry Arthur’s widow, six years my senior. And I did. At seventeen I married her. I never loved her. I should never have married my brother’s widow. There’s a curse on the marriage. We cannot have sons. Our sons are all born dead. There is no male heir to the English crown because of this accursed union. The kingdom faces anarchy when I die, and I face anarchy in my own life, because I have no male heir—yet because of the church and our friendship with Spain, I remain Katharine’s husband. More than anything in this world I want a son, and she cannot give me one—yet I must not publicly put her aside. Do you understand now? This marriage is a form—important only in statecraft and church craft, not to you or me.’
Though this does not explicitly say much about Arthur and Henry’s relationship, the way that he just bluntly talks about his brother’s death suggests that there are no emotions tied to this event, perhaps going further to suggest that Henry never really suffered at the hands of his brother’s death, but more like gained from it. His brother was the heir, he died and Henry was made King in his place, it seems almost as if he does not tie emotion to it because there would only be happiness, is that wrong to say?
Well, that is how it feels—that Arthur’s death was not as important as Henry becoming King.
The Tudors (2007-2010): What I like about this series is that although it does not follow the correct chronology of events in history e.g., in the first episode or so, we see that Bessie Blount is pregnant yet Princess Mary is already around six years old when, in reality, she was only three years older than her illegitimate half-brother, it does focus a lot on Henry’s relationship with his brother and the guilt he suffers from marrying his brother’s widow.
In the first season, Henry can be seen numerous times talking with a member of the Church or with his new mistress Anne Boleyn about the troubles he faces in his marriage; as the Bible says, marrying his brother’s wife would leave him childless or sonless (depending on which translation you site) and because he has only one child (a daughter) out of the possible six that they have conceived, he believes that God is punishing him. There is also a scene where Henry and Catherine can be seen talking about Arthur and how deeply they cared and mourned for him following his death, which now suggests that Henry did love his brother and shared a close bond for him to mourn his loss. Remember, this show has been created/written/directed by Michael Hirst, who is known for writing and producing other historical shows such as Vikings and both Elizabeth movies starring Cate Blanchett, so showing other interpretations of history is quite important to him.
At least this show takes it is time in showing why Henry was so distressed and disgusted over his marriage to Catherine of Aragon that he just had to divorce her for Anne Boleyn.
And finally, one of the most controversial representations of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon:
The Spanish Princess (2019-2020): Now, I have a lot of issues but also things I like with a lot of things in this show. Firstly, I am going to address that this historical portrayal of this time in history is based on the fictional work of Philippa Gregory who takes rumours or controversies about women in history and uses these to drive the narrative e.g., for this show, Philippa’s idea that Catherine slept with Arthur and then lied to become Queen is what defines her as a character and what defines her relationships with most of the main characters. Additionally, the historical accuracy in this show is almost non-existent; Henry is clearly older in the show than he is in real life as is Catherine (who both look the same age even though Catherine is six years his senior) and both look older than Arthur and the fact that Henry supposedly writes as Arthur to Catherine which is just not right but I digress.
This show focuses on Catherine of Aragon’s first marriage to Arthur in the first season and then moves on to her marriage to Henry VIII in the second season but for this post, we are going to be focusing on the first season mostly.
In the first season, Catherine has been corresponding to Arthur for about a year through letters and is surprised when he acts differently (less romantically and more awkwardly) than he was in his letters and is devastated when she finds out that Henry (Harry as most Henrys were nicknamed) had been writing to her pretending to be his brother. Early on, we can see that Henry likes to tease and belittle his older brother, almost using Catherine as fuel for their arguments, and we can see that he cares very little for his brother’s happiness by teasing his bride about how he managed to get her to write intimate details about herself by pretending to be his brother so easily. What is even sadder is that Arthur had written Catherine a letter very early on in their relationship and showed his brother who mocked him and stole it from him—this acting as the very reason why Henry wrote in Arthur’s place, it was a game to him.
The show makes a very good point by showing how records depict the young Henry; spoiled, selfish, taunting and attention-seeking. And they made excellent writing choices in making sure that Henry showed little to no emotion over his brother’s death and immediately focused both Catherine and Henry’s efforts to move on from his death on trying to court and marry one another. But you must remember that in this show, Henry loves Catherine and Catherine has been trying to flirt with Henry whilst Arthur was still alive and sleeping with her!
I believe that this show tries to focus more on the accepted version of the relationship between the brothers and to some extent, it does a really good job, if you excuse the historical inaccuracies.
But I find myself wanting to see a show or movie that represents a different version of the relationship, perhaps one where Henry wishes he was closer to his brother before his death or shows some emotions towards him.
It just feels like no one wants to find any happiness or love between them and solely wants to focus on the negativity, but I might be wrong.
Do you think the brothers might have shared a closer bond than we think, or do you agree with how their relationship has been portrayed in any of these examples?
Tell us down below in the comments about how you feel!
And, as always…
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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