Henry VIII: Childhood

Six years after winning the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York- daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV- had their third child and second son: Prince Henry. Prince Henry was born on 28th June 1491 in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London. No one expected the royal baby to ever become king because he had an older brother- Prince Arthur, prince of Wales. But Prince Arthur passed away in 1502 from suspected sweating sickness but it may also have been typhoid.

Henry grew up as the 'spare' child. Nevertheless he was spoilt rotten by his grandmother- Margaret Beaufort, who managed his education- and his mother. At the time of his birth, Henry already had two siblings- Prince Arthur and Princess Margaret (later queen of Scotland and grandmother to Mary, Queen of Scots). He also had five other siblings: Elizabeth (died aged two), Mary (lived to adulthood and married Charles Brandon after the king of France), Edmund (died aged one year old), Katherine (died just before their mother in 1503) and Edward whose birth is unknown. In 1503, Elizabeth of York died on her 37th birthday, shortly after giving birth to her daughter Katherine. This left a distraught family and their is a theory that Henry loved his third wife Jane Seymour the best because she was most like his obedient mother.

Instead of attending a school, the young prince was taught by tutors such as John Skeleton. Prince Henry was extremely intelligent and knew how to speak fluent Latin, Greek and French and later he learnt Spanish. As well as learning languages, Henry was also taught arithmetic, astronomy, literature and history and more. When he was a small child, he was probably taught by his mother and with a horn book. A horn book had an alphabet and the Lord's prayer on one side and a blank wax side for practising writing. The young prince also had close friends as a young prince. Charles Brandon (later the husband of Henry's younger Mary Tudor and the grandfather of Lady Jane Grey), William Crompton and Sir Henry Norris (later the prince's 'groom of the stool') were among Prince Henry's closest friends. He also had a 'whipping boy' who was the son of a nobleman who received the prince's punishments however in most cases the whipping boy would become quite good friends with the royal boy.