Henry VIII's six wives met various fates (summaried by the old rhyme, "divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived"), as Henry VIII sought a wife who would bear him sons.
- Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and Aragon. Catherine was first married to Henry's older brother, Arthur, and married Henry after Arthur died. Catherine gave birth several times, but her only surviving child was the future Mary I of England.
- Anne Boleyn, for whom Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon, and who gave birth first to the future Queen Elizabeth I and then to a still-born son. Anne's older sister, Mary Boleyn, had been Henry VIII's mistress before he pursued Anne Boleyn.
- Jane Seymour, who gave birth to the somewhat-frail future Edward VI, and then died of complications of childbirth. Her relatives, the Seymours, continued to play important roles in Henry VIII's life and reign and in that of his heirs.
- Anne of Cleves, briefly married to Henry in an attempt to have more sons -- but he was already attracted to his next wife and he found Anne unattractive, so he divorced her. She remained in England on relatively good terms with Henry and his children after the divorce, even being part of the coronations of both Mary I and Elizabeth I.
- Catherine Howard, whom Henry executed fairly quickly when he realized she had misrepresented her past -- and possibly present -- affairs, and thus was not a reliable mother of an heir.
- Catherine Parr, by most accounts a patient, loving wife in Henry's older age, was well-educated and a proponent of the new Protestant religion. After Henry's death, she married Thomas Seymour, the brother of Henry's late wife, Jane Seymour, and died of complications of childbirth amid rumors that her husband poisoned her in order to be free to marry the Princess Elizabeth.
An interesting side note on the wives of Henry VIII: all could claim descent as well through Edward I, from whom Henry VIII was also descended.
