Monday, November 30, 2020

Question from Keely - Public confrontations between Henry VIII and his children

Are there any eyewitness accounts of Henry VIII ever having a face-to-face confrontation with any of his children? Did he ever yell or reprimand them in public once?

4 comments:

Codebender_Cate said...
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Anonymous said...

The only thing that comes to my mind is his long lasting feud with Mary. He demanded for her to recognise the invalidity of her parents' marriage but also her father as being the head of the Church (of England) and Anne Boleyn's queenship. Which she would not. He was so relentless that he eventually broke her spirit but it took years of fighting and bickering for her to give in. She really did her best to defend her mother for as long as she could. But I guess it was a lot more serious than a simple reprimand from a parent to a child for misbeheaving and might not have been the answer you were seeking.

I have never read anything about a public confrontation with Elizabeth and Edward. I assume that the royal children had their Lady Mistress for that. They had very limited time with their father anyway and were most likely used to being on their best behaviour in his presence. They were also very intelligent, which seems to be a Tudor gene, and probably knew better than to get on their father's nerves ;)

I do however have to disagree with Grimsfury on one thing. Henry VIII did not always insure that his children were well provided for. After the execution of her mother, the toddler Elizabeth was bastardised and there are records that her Lady mistress had to beg for new clothing for her because she was outgrowing every single one of her clothes. Elizabeth was not really well taken care of at the beginning. It improved thanks to Jane Seymour, fortunately.

And of course, about Edward, there is very little chance his father would have ever had anything against him as he was his precious heir, the son he had waited so very long for. He was very (over)protective of him and I am sure the little one got away with anything ;) By the way I read somewhere that the then-prince Edward formed a close friendship with one of the boys who were educated alongside him at court. This one in particular was the one beaten every time prince Edward was being a bit naughty, as no one was allowed to lay a hand on the heir to the throne! I do believe they called it a "whipping boy" but I am not sure.

Unknown said...

His daughter elizabeth was a "bastard" is that not abusive?

Codebender_Cate said...
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