Royal Moments in History - January 28

1457 - Birth of Henry VII of England

Henry VII holding the Tudor Rose.

     Henry Tudor was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales to Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond and Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was only thirteen years old at the time she gave birth. During this period, the Wars of the Roses between the House of Lancaster and the House of York was two years old. The Tudor's were descended from the ruling Lancastrian's, and Edmund - who was twice the age of his wife - was captured by Yorkist forces and died of illness while in captivity before Henry was born. When the Yorkists seized the throne under Edward IV, Henry Tudor was sent to live in France for his own safety. 

     Eventually, Henry would return to England to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and become Henry VII, the first monarch of the House of Tudor. His 24 year reign was known for its restoration of political stability following the Wars of the Roses, but also for Henry's avarice and financial greed toward its end. He was peacefully succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Henry VIII in 1509.

1547 - Death of Henry VIII and the accession of Edward VI

Henry VIII of England and Ireland

     90 years following the birth of his father, Henry VIII died aged 55 at the Palace of Whitehall in London. The King had become obese in his later years, especially after a jousting accident in 1536 which resulted in a festering leg wound that robbed him of much physical activity. His last words were allegedly, "Monks! Mocks! Monks!", which may have been a reference to the monks he had evicted during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry was interred next to his third wife Jane Seymour at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales in a portrait taken in the year before his accession.

     On that same day, Henry's only legitimate son succeeded to the throne as Edward VI at the age of nine. During his reign, the Church of England took on a firmly Protestant identity as the Mass, celibacy, and other Catholic traditions were abolished. As such, Edward was England's first Protestant king, for though his father had broken with Rome, he remained Catholic and never renounced Catholic doctrine (except for papal supremacy) and ceremony. Edward's authority as monarch was exercised by a regency council throughout his reign since he never came of age, and he died at the age of fifteen in 1553.