On his deathbed, King Henry VIII looks back over his eventful life and his six marriages.
On his deathbed Tudor King Henry VIII remembers his long reign, especially the crucial part his six marriages played in it, without producing the male heir he desired most to prevent civil wars for the succession as England suffered before his father's ascent. His first queen, Spanish Princess Katherine of Aragon, had one fatal flaw: her children died, except daughter Mary, so he pressed Rome for an annulment, and when that failed, out went Cardinal Wolsey as chief minister and Henry made himself head of the Church of England instead of the papacy and married Anne Boleyn. When she too failed to produce a male heir, only Princess Elizabeth, he made her head roll for "infidelity." The third queen, gentle Jane Seymour, died giving birth to sickly Prince Edward. For diplomatic reasons Henry married minor princess Anne of Cleves, whose utter lack of female charms caused another annulment and the fall of Thomas Cromwell, who recommended her. Fifth is the lovely Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn, but again childless and found to have been carnal with servants before and after her royal marriage, so also decapitated. Finally Catherine Parr, a young widow, stands at his deathbed.—KGF Vissers
On his deathbed in 1547, King Henry VIII of England (Keith Michell) looks back over his eventful private life, which included six very different wives. From the early disappointments of his marriage to the loyal and devout Katherine of Aragon (Frances Cuka), Henry moved to his controversial union with the seductive and clever Lady Anne Boleyn (Charlotte Rampling), but turned against her in the most brutal fashion. After her death, he married the meek and mild Jane Seymour (Jane Asher), but their marriage did not last long and it was followed by a disastrous arranged match with an unattractive German princess (Jenny Bos.) Henry then re-married the beautiful and sweet-natured Lady Catherine Howard (Lynne Frederick) - a girl young enough to be his granddaughter. Eventually, he becomes convinced of her adultery and has her executed, only to find comfort in his old age in marriage to a respectable widow (Barbara Leigh-Hunt.)
