23rd July 2015
In July 1536 Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's seventeen-year-old bastard son by Bessie Blount, died, probably of tuberculosis. Henry VIII was newly married to Jane Seymour, and their son Edward VI was not born until the October of the following year – in the meantime Henry was without a surviving acknowledged son. Fitzroy played an important part in his father's life: he had been proof that the Tudors could have a healthy boy, and he would probably have been named as heir if no legitimate son arrived. He had been honoured with the dukedoms of both Richmond and Somerset when he was just six years old, most likely causing horror and consternation among supporters of the nine-year-old Princess Mary. His significance increased after Mary and then the new princess Elizabeth were declared illegitimate.
Henry's grief, and, perhaps, humiliation, resulted in him barely acknowledging Fitzroy's death. He refused to grant his daughter-in-law Mary Howard her widow's lands, on the basis that her marriage had not been consummated. Mary's family's bid for a second husband for her is significant in The Taming of the Queen, my upcoming novel. I also cover the 1543/4 Act which returned Henry's bastardised daughters to the succession – no effort was made to legitimise them at the same time. It's highly likely that Kateryn Parr, Henry's sixth queen, influenced him in the decision to honour his daughters – she had strong relationships with both of them. But had Henry Fitzroy survived, he might well have inherited the throne ahead of his half-sisters, who were still officially fellow bastards. Instead of our first two reigning queens, we might have had Henry IX.
Click here for an excerpt from the scene where Henry VIII is brought the news of his son's death in The King's Curse, my previous book: http://www.philippagregory.com/books/the-king-s-curse/behind-the-book
Image: Miniature of Henry Fitzroy by Lucas Horenbout, c. 1533–4, Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015