There has probably been more interest in the wives of Henry VIII than in the King himself, although it is impossible not to wonder about the man that brought these six women together in history. Their lives were all unique, yet all had fates ultimately decided by the same man. Two were divorced, with one getting a much better deal than the other. Two were beheaded, one falsely accused, the other probably not. One died shortly after giving birth to the male heir Henry so desperately longed for. And one survived as his widow.

In these pages, I hope you will learn more about these fascinating women. Many books have been written about them, each probably with its own unique interpretation of their lives. I have tried to consult several sources in each case, and I hope to present some new (and sometimes controversial) views put forth by historians today.

There has been some of discussion of the spelling of the wives' names, especially with regards to the three Catherines. It is not possible to say that any one spelling is correct or incorrect since in all cases, they each employed different spellings for their own names.

Here is the convention I decided to use after reading "Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII" by Karen Lindsey: Catherine of Aragon, Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr. This way they can each be referred to with little confusion. As for the two Annes, hopefully context will clarify which is being discussed.