Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

Who would agree to become Henry VIII's fourth wife?

By late 1537, Henry VIII was back on the marriage market. Catherine of Aragon had been banished, Anne Boleyn had been executed, and Jane Seymour had died shortly after giving Henry the legitimate son he had longed for.

Now the 46-year-old king needed another queen.

And so began an extraordinary search across Europe.

In this video, I'm giving Henry VIII's search for wife number four th...

One of the most famous quotations attributed to Mary of Guise is her alleged reply to Henry VIII's proposal of marriage:

"I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck."

It's a wonderful story, cleverly alluding to Anne Boleyn's execution and Henry VIII's reputation. But did Mary of Guise really say those words?

In this video, I investigate the evidence by examining contemporary diplomatic correspondence, including the dispatche...

It's one of the most famous stories surrounding Henry VIII's fourth marriage. Hans Holbein the Younger was supposedly sent to Cleves to paint Anne's portrait, produced an image that made her look far more attractive than she really was, and Henry agreed to the marriage - only to be bitterly disappointed when he finally met Anne in person.

But is that actually what happened?

In this podcast, I'm going back to the evidence from 1539 to...

Did Christina of Denmark really tell Henry VIII, "If I had two heads, one would be at His Majesty's disposal"?

It's one of the most famous quotations associated with Henry VIII's search for a fourth wife. Christina, the young widowed Duchess of Milan, was considered as a possible bride for the Tudor king in 1538, and the story goes that she responded to Henry's interest with this wonderfully cutting remark.

But did she actually say i...

Did Henry VIII Have Erectile Dysfunction? The Anne of Cleves Bedroom Mystery

Did Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves ever actually "do it"?

Henry claimed that his marriage to Anne was never consummated because he found his new wife so unattractive that he simply couldn't bring himself to have sex with her.

But what if we've spent nearly 500 years looking at the wrong person?In this video, I take a fresh look at the contemporary evidence sur...

Why did so many people believe Henry VIII would remarry Anne of Cleves after Catherine Howard's fall?

While researching my forthcoming event, The Rise and Fall of Catherine Howard, I noticed something fascinating. Anne of Cleves kept appearing in the primary sources surrounding Catherine Howard's downfall.

By the end of 1541, Catherine Howard's marriage to Henry VIII was collapsing, and rumours spread rapidly across England and Europ...

Was Henry VIII a narcissist? A psychopath? A sociopath?

These labels are increasingly applied to England's most famous king, but after years of researching Henry VIII and reading contemporary sources, I don't think the evidence allows us to make that kind of diagnosis.

In this video, I explain why I believe there's an important difference between judging Henry VIII's actions and trying to retrospectively diagnose his personality usin...

Why did Henry VIII marry so differently from other European monarchs?

Most Renaissance kings married for diplomacy, alliances and dynastic advantage. Personal attraction might have mattered, but politics usually came first.

Henry VIII repeatedly did the opposite.

Instead of choosing the most politically advantageous bride, he often pursued the woman he personally wanted to marry, even when it transformed ...

People often call Anne Boleyn the love of Henry VIII's life, but was she really?

In this video, I'm taking a closer look at one of the most romanticised relationships in Tudor history and asking whether we've mistaken obsession, desire and possession for love. Henry VIII pursued Anne Boleyn for years, wrote her passionate letters, and changed the course of English history in order to marry her, yet in 1536, when Anne was a...

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England waited anxiously for the birth of Anne Boleyn’s child in 1533.

Henry VIII had broken with Rome, overturned his kingdom, and married Anne believing she would finally give him the son and heir he desperately wanted. Astrologers predicted a prince, celebrations were prepared, a letter announcing the birth of a male heir had even been drafted in advance, but behind the splendour of Greenwich Palace lay the terrif...

On 20th May 1536, just one day after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Henry VIII became formally betrothed to Jane Seymour. Even by Tudor standards, many saw the speed of the relationship as shocking and unseemly.

In this off-the-cuff video, I explore the gossip and murmuring at court following Anne’s fall, ask why Henry was in such a desperate hurry, and consider whether fears of pregnancy may have played a role. I also reflec...

Two young princes vanished inside the Tower of London, and history has never agreed on what happened next.

In 1483, Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, disappeared from public view after their uncle seized the throne as King Richard III. Were they murdered? If so, who was responsible?

For centuries, suspicion has fallen on Richard III, but was the case really that simple?

In this video...

Kings were overthrown, noble families destroyed, princes vanished, and England descended into decades of civil war.

In this Beginner’s Guide to the Wars of the Roses, I explore the dynastic conflict between the rival houses of Lancaster and York, a struggle that would bring down the Plantagenets and pave the way for the Tudor dynasty.

From the weak reign of Henry VI and the rise of Richard, Duke of York, to ...

In this episode of my Anne Boleyn series, we explore one of the most fascinating and controversial moments in Tudor history, the possibility of a secret marriage in November 1532, followed by a formal wedding in January 1533, all before the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been officially annulled.

After years of frustration during the Great Matter, Henry stopped waiting for Rome and began acting on what he...

What if one of the most powerful men in Tudor England was responsible for helping the king go to the toilet?

It sounds like the lowest of the low, but the Groom of the Stool was anything but a menial servant. In fact, this role placed a man at the very heart of royal power.

In this video, I explore the surprisingly influential position of the Groom of the Stool under Henry VIII. From managing the king’s priv...