History Characters / TheTudors

* TheBluebeard: He abandons his first wife shortly before she tragically dies (at Katherine of Aragon’s post-mortem a black spot was discovered on her heart, leading people to think Henry or Anne Boleyn poisoned Catherine, though the spot was more likely a sign of cancer), he orders two wives to be executed (one of whom was likely innocent of her charges), and his third wife dies in childbirth. While Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while willing to obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says she'll only marry him if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr is approached with his marriage proposal, she's terrified for this reason: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Not at first, since Henry was actually considered very attractive in his youth. Trouble is, he ''stays'' this way even through the period when Henry became obese and in terrible physical condition.

* {{Hypocrite}}: He's outraged at the idea that one of his wives may have been unfaithful to him. Meanwhile, ''he'' can't stay faithful to ''them'' for more than one episode after the wedding.

* KillEmAll: If you rebel against him, you will pay dearly for it...

* CoolPet: One of his earliest scenes shows him holding a [[NobleBirdOfPrey falcon]], the Boleyn family crest, on his arm.

* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Despite what Anne did to her, Mary is a very kind and loving sister to Elizabeth, same with Edward.

* [[WasTooHardOnHim Was Too Hard On Her]]: Regrets her initial dislike of Anne of Cleves after realizing how much more she dislikes Katherine Howard. It's a long way to come from hoping Anne drowns in the sea to defending her from Katherine Howard's characterization of her as 'a person of no consequence.'

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: How she meets her end. Henry is nice enough to bring in a professional from Calais to make it as quick as possible.

* [[UsedToBeASweetKid Used To Be A Good Man]]: A flashback to her childhood Anne has before her execution of her and her brother playing with their father as children would imply he was a nicer man when they were young.

** With all of his wives. In a CharacterEstablishingMoment he reveals his HairTriggerTemper when he explodes at Catherine teasingly stating she is as clever as her father. He immediately states that she is ''his'' wife and must obey him.

* {{Irony}}: Despite her downfall, her legacy ends up surpassing both her predecessor's and every single one of her successors' legacies thanks to her daughter becoming the most famed and successful monarch of the Tudor dynasty by far, arguably surpassing even Henry himself. Meanwhile, the son Henry so desperately craved and ultimately killed Anne for, which was born by Anne's immediate successor Jane Seymour, ended up dying at fifteen with no children, effectively making a mockery of all his father's attempts to secure the dynasty by having him in the first place. To top it off, her daughter Elizabeth effectively ended the Tudor dynasty willingly because her view of marriage was warped by her father's actions, including the death of her own mother, by choosing not to marry and have children. Ultimately, Anne in death is more victorious than she ever was in life, and she manages to effectively spite all her rivals, including Henry, from beyond the grave.

* AgeLift: In RealLife the person Catherine was based on was only 14 years old when she married Brandon. IN the series she's 17.

* DoomedMoralVictor: Despite her downfall, her legacy ends up surpassing both her predecessor's and every single one of her successors' legacies thanks to her daughter becoming the most famed and successful monarch of the Tudor dynasty by far, arguably surpassing even Henry himself. Meanwhile, the son Henry so desperately craved and ultimately killed Anne for, which was born by Anne's immediate successor Jane Seymour, ended up dying at fifteen with no children, effectively making a mockery of all his father's attempts to secure the dynasty by having him in the first place. To top it off, her daughter Elizabeth effectively ended the Tudor dynasty willingly because her view of marriage was warped by her father's actions, including the death of her own mother, by choosing not to marry and have children. Ultimately, Anne in death is more victorious than she ever was in life, and she manages to effectively spite all her rivals, including Henry, from beyond the grave.

* DoomedMoralVictor: Despite her downfall, her legacy ends up surpassing both her predecessor's and every single one of her successors' legacies thanks to her daughter becoming the most famed and successful monarch of the Tudor dynasty by far, arguably surpassing even Henry himself. Meanwhile, the son Henry so desperately craved for and ultimately killed Anne for, which was born by Anne's immediate successor Jane Seymour, ended up dying at fifteen with no children, effectively making a mockery of all his father's attempts to secure the dynasty by having him in the first place. To top it off, her daughter Elizabeth effectively ended the Tudor dynasty willingly because her view of marriage was warped by her father's actions, including the death of her own mother. Ultimately, Anne in death is more victorious than she ever was in life, and she manages to effectively spite all her rivals, including Henry, from beyond the grave.

* NiceHat: She has quite a collection of plumed hats.

* NiceHat: It looks kind of like a Stetson.

* NiceHat: Her fabulous pearl-lined atifet (a heart-shaped bonnet).[[http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/1/vyvbY20jNIhXKBfoqSii8g63115/GW330H463]]

--> '''Henry:''' Why are you here?\\
'''Anne:''' To see my daughter. She was the only pure thing in my life and in my life I neglected her because she was only a girl and I wanted so much to give you a son. But now I'm so proud of her. Fiercely proud. She is so clever... you must be proud of her too, Henry.\
'''Henry:''' I am very proud of her. And I know how clever she is. And I wish I could love her more. But from time to time, she reminds me of you, and what you did to me.

* ControlFreak: Oh, my, yes. As Cromwell realizes (too late) in Season 3, this is the true reason why he began the Reformation: he has no particular theological disagreements with the Catholic Church, he simply won't countenance the idea that someone, somewhere in England might ultimately be under the authority of someone who isn't him.

* HypercompetentSidekick: As Henry soon discovers to his chagrin after dismissing him from his post. In Wolsey's absence, the King's privy council is almost completely ineffective, save for Cromwell and Thomas More for the brief time he's present.

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Henry goes to terrible lengths in order to have a legitimate son, he's right to be worried about only having a daughter for an heir. England ''never'' had a queen regnant before, so a woman being the sole ruler would have been contested both at home and abroad. (Also, Henry had no way of knowing that his daughter, Elizabeth, would become one of the country's most successful monarchs.) Plus, the Tudor dynasty itself is distinctly shaky since Henry's father had a very weak claim to the throne ''and'' usurped it; in the first season alone the Duke of Buckingham tries to usurp the throne, claiming to have a stronger right to it.

The Tudors / Characters

* HotBlooded: Surprisingly subverted slightly
Even other tolerant monarchs at the time such as King Henry IV of France kept his distance from her when she was queen.. She's had a couple of hints of this, but is usually seen with a level head. Then again, this is before she became Queen.

Henry's siste, former Queen of Portugal and Henry Brandon's first wife. An combination of Henry's two RealLife sisters, she's just as headstrong and as passionate as her brother. After being forced to wed to a man old enough to be her grandfather, she murdered her then spouse and then married Charles Brandon without Henry's permission. Punished with banishment, she and Charles watched as their marriage deteriorate. Unfortunately, before Charles could reconcile with her, she dies from consumption.

* TheFundamentalist: Downplayed. While she was staunchly Protestant and had similar religious viewpoints of Martin Luther, King Henry VIII, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, she did not want to "make windows into people's souls". While Catholics were executed under her reign (similar to Henry VIII and Edward VI) they were executed for treason, not heresy. She hated Spain and Portugal and helped the "black legend" spread, contuined the alliance with Northern European Protestant majority countries, etc. Even other tolerant monarchs at the time such as King Henry IV of France kept his distance from her. At the same time, some hard core Protestants at the time thought she did not go far enough and left to the Netherlands, other Northern European countries, Switzerland and North America to spread their Protestant views there.

* BrainyBrunette: As a Spanish princess and the long-standing Queen of England, Katherine is highly educated and intelligent, aware and involved in diplomacy as well as secular and religious matters.

* TheHighQueen: She is charitable to the common people, well-connected, loyal and faithful to the royal family, and beautiful on top of all of that. The only thing she doesn't have going for her is the lack of a living son.

* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: To Anne Boleyn. She lacks Anne Boleyn's violent anti-Catholicism, racism against the Spanish and Portugese and fanatical Protestantism. She also is greatly turned off by king Henry VIII's depraved and cantekerous personality. Also, while King Henry VIII was smitten by Anne Boleyn, he is disgusted by Anne of Cleves. To put things in perspective, while even Mary Tudor and Bishop Gardiner respects her, they both hated Anne Boleyn.

* OddFriendship: With the HonorBeforeReason Thomas More.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Even the people who hate him recognize that he is a ''brilliant'' minister to Henry, who also realises it not long after having Cromwell executed and finding his new ministers aren't as skilled at the task of managing his affairs.

The monarch of England and the main focus of the series. He's obsessed with siring a legitimate a male heir to inherit his throne and is willing to do anything from tearing England away from the pope to executing his closest friends and advisors if it means he'd get his way. Despite being a charming and charismatic man, many of those close to him must learn to handle his increasingly tyrannical and mercurial rule. The father to Lady Mary, Elizabeth, Henry Fitzroy and Prince Edward. And the husband to six women, all who learned that being wed to him does not mean they are safe from Henry himself.

* TheBluebeard: He abandons his first wife shortly before she tragically dies (at Catherine’s post-mortem a black spot was discovered on her heart, leading people to think Henry or Anne Boleyn poisoned Catherine, though the spot was more likely a sign of cancer), he orders two wives to be executed (one of whom was likely innocent of her charges), and his third wife dies in childbirth. While Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while willing to obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says she'll only marry him if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr is approached with his marriage proposal, she's terrified for this reason: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* GeneralFailure: He's every soldier's nightmare general. His army barely held together at Boulogne because of his erratic leadership.

* TheGoodKing: What he sees himself as, though in truth he is closer to being the [[TheCaligula opposite]]. By around the end of Season 4, which depicts his last years, England is both broke due to Henry's extravagant lifestyle and several war campaigns that didn't bring any significant gains whatsoever and politically isolated due to the King splitting from the Catholic Church, his nasty tendency of breaking off deals and treaties (in some cases only days after signing them) and his tendency to declare war on his neighbors. The few people competent enough to solve this situation, such as Wolsey and Cromwell, are dead due to Henry's paranoid mindset of seeing even the ''slightest'' act as a betrayal - even of those 100% loyal to him and him buying to rumors delivered by greedy and corrupt individuals.

** His failed marriages are always someone else's fault, usually the unlucky wife's.
** He convinces himself that the apparent deformity of Anne Boleyn's last miscarried child is ironclad proof of her supposed adultery since obviously, the kid must be ''someone else's''.

* AbusiveParents: Her father forbids her from seeing her mother, doesn't allow her to attend her funeral, and then sends thugs to threaten and coerce her into signing a document declaring herself a bastard, as well as betraying her dead mother and her faith.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Like the rest of the Tudors, Mary had red hair in real life.

* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Despite what Anne did to her, she's a very kind and loving sister to Elizabeth, same with Edward.

* ChildProdigy: Reported to have "exceptional talents," particularly in music, as a little girl. This is TruthInTelevision as the real-life Mary was able to perform on the harpsichord for a visiting French delegation at the age of four.

* DrivenToVillainy: It's implied her parents' divorce has slowly been breaking her to where, by the final season, she is willing to "burn every heretic".

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: While the show doesn't shy away from her violent hatred of Protestants in Season 4, we are ultimately still made to sympathise with Lady Mary and her undeniably horrible circumstances.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: In Season 4, she becomes alienated from Katherine Parr, while becoming friendly with [[SinisterMinister Bishop Gardiner]] and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Sir Richard Rich]]. Katherine Parr is a strong Protestant and therefore (to Mary's eyes) an AffablyEvil heretic at best.
* TheIngenue: Henry refuses to believe how little she knows of the oft-licentious language of the English court. He sends Sir Francis Bryan to find out, with amusing results.
** Henry uses exactly this term to describe her in Season 3.

* ProneToTears: Mary is a very sensitive person and is usually seen crying or sounds sad in most of her scenes. Then again, given the shit she's gone through...
* ProperLady: In social settings, she is unfailingly polite and gracious to everyone she meets -- except Katherine Howard, who turns her into an IceQueen.

* SiblingRivalry: Zig zagged. She loves her siblings, but hates that they are being rased as Protestants.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Her misfortunes slowly take her from a gracious and loving Princess who just wants to defend her poor dead mother and faith, to the first glimpses of the bloodthirsty tyrant who would become Bloody Mary.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: How she is potrayed in the show.

* CuteBookworm: Elizabeth has mostly been seen in this series with her reading or showing off her book knowledge.
* DaddysGirl: Despite her father being a total dick to her at times, Elizabeth shows she does love her father very much and admires his approval.

** However, by the end of the series she seems to have turned against him, since when he sends her away from Whitehall along with Katherine Parr and Mary, she doesn't shed any tears for him but strides off without looking back.

** After Katherine Howard's death, Elizabeth tells her sister she vows to never marry. There's a reason why she's nicknamed the "Virgin Queen".
*** [[TruthInTelevision Elizabeth truly did say this at age 9]]. [[FreudianExcuse No doubt her father's six marriages warped her view of marriage]].

* TheFundamentalist: Downplayed. While she was staunchly Protestant and had similar religious viewpoints of Martin Luther, King Henry VIII, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, she did not want to "make windows into people's souls".
** While Catholics were executed under her reign (similar to king Henry VIII and king Edward VI) they were executed for treason, not heresy. She shared her mothers hatred of Spain and Portugal and helped the "black legend" spread, contuined the alliance with Northern European Protestant majority countries, etc. At the same time, some hard core Protestants at the time thought she did not go far enough and left to the Netherlands, other Northern European countries, Switzerland and North America to spread their Protestant views there.

* HotBlooded: Surprisingly subverted slightly. She's had a couple of hints of this, but is usually seen with a level head. Then again, this is before she became Queen.
* MyGreatestFailure: She did not manage to keep the peace between Catholics and Protestants in Europe and even goes to war with Spain and Portugal as queen. Catholics were executed under her reign (for treason mind you, not heresy) and even other tolerant monarchs at the time such as King Henry IV of France kept his distance from her when she was queen. She also fails to have an heir, thus the Tudor era came to an end.

* SignificantWardrobeShift: Like Mary, her clothing becomes much more elaborate after she is welcomed back to court, and even more so after she is restored to the line of succession. Special mention goes to the frilled white collar she wears when she appears in Henry's vision of Anne Boleyn, which looks exactly like the one in the famous "Darnley portrait" of Elizabeth I.[[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Darnley_stage_3.jpg]]
* SoProudOfYou: In the final episode, Anne states how proud of Elizabeth she is. Henry also admits he is very proud of Elizabeth and admires her cleverness. However, the fact that she is Anne Boleyn's daughter puts a strain on his relationship with her.

'''Anne:''' To see my daughter. She was the only pure thing in my life and in my life I neglected her because she was only a girl and I wanted so much to give you a son. But now I'm so proud of her. Fiercely proud. She is so clever...you must be proud of her too, Henry.\\

* TheFundamentalist: As king. He is one of the most fanatical Protestants in this series alongside Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. So much so that even Protestants at the time thought he was going way too far.

Henry's sister and former Queen of Portugal and Henry Brandon's first wife. An combination of Henry's two RealLife sisters, she's just as headstrong and as passionate as her brother. After being forced to wed to a man old enough to be her grandfather, she murdered her then spouse and then married Charles Brandon without Henry's permission. Punished with banishment, she and Charles watched as their marriage deteriorate. Unfortunately, before Charles could reconcile with her, she dies from consumption.

Henry's first wife. Daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, she is well-beloved by all. However, she and Henry were only able to sire one living child, Mary. A lack of legitimate male heir eventually led to Henry finding a way to have his marriage to her annulled but due to political circumstances instead of a quick annulment, Henry found himself having to spend 7 years of stall tactics and pressure as Katherine refused all of his attempts
to annul their marriage.


Eventually, tired of waiting, Henry broke away from the Catholic Church, creating his own where he's the supreme head and had his marriage annulled and Katherine banished from court, forbidden to see Mary ever again. Katherine was forced to watch as her husband weds Anne Boleyn and her daughter reduced to nothing more than a royal bastard. Ill and grieving, she died only a few years later, alone and abandoned but still believing that her marriage to Henry as true and lawful in the eyes of god.

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Almost universally beloved across Europe. Even Reformists like Thomas Cromwell who played a big part in her banishment from court at least pitied and respected the Queen. And it says a lot that even the French Royal Court -- sworn enemies of Katherine's family -- recognized her as the true and legitimate Queen of England. TruthInTelevision, too; Catherine of Aragon was incredibly beloved by the common people, even decades later (which proved a significant advantage when her daughter needed to fight for her throne).

* BrainyBrunette: As a Spanish princess and the long-standing Queen of England, Katherine is highly educated, aware and even involved in diplomacy, and intelligent in matters both secular and religious.
* BreakTheHaughty: Her divorce and banishment from the royal court.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Never stops referring to herself as Queen of England and the true and legitimate wife of the King.
* DoomedMoralVictor: While she wasn't executed like most other examples, she did go to her grave defending her status as queen.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Averted. Henry fears the daughter of Isabella of Castile will [[LadyOfWar go to war]] in order to defend her own daughter's claim, but she is determined [[NoHarmRequirement never to hurt him on purpose]].
** In real life, while England was at war with Scotland in 1513, Katherine rode north in full armour [[PregnantBadass while heavily pregnant]] to rally the troops -- perhaps giving Henry extra reason to fear this.

* GratuitousSpanish: Slips some Spanish phrases into her regular speech, especially in [[AffectionateNickName sweet moments with Mary]] or [[ForeignCussWord tense moments with Anne Boleyn]]. Subverted as her Spanish is not gratuitous [[HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier when sensitive information is being discussed]].
* TheHighQueen: Incredibly popular with the people, pious, well-educated, loyal and faithful to the King, and beautiful on top of all of that. The only thing she doesn't have going for her is the lack of a son.

* MamaBear: Very protective and loving of her only surviving child, the Princess Mary. Katherine tries to prevent Henry from betrothing young Mary to potential husbands who might prove wrong, and continues to fight for her daughter's rights even as her own are stripped away.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Unreservedly kind and warm to her servants, which is why they collapse into sobs upon her death.

* RichesToRags: What happens to her after king Henry VIII's divorce.

Henry's second wife and mother of Elizabeth. A passionate reformer and sophisticated beauty, Anne caught the eye of the King of England but refused to become his mistress vowing her virginity was meant for her husband only. Henry, dazzled by her promise of a legitimate son, made moves to annul his first marriage with Katherine but even he and everyone in Europe could not have guessed just how tumultuous that move turned out to be. Unfortunately, after years of waiting and after breaking away from the Pope and executing some of his closest friends to do so Anne was only able to carry one daughter to term.

Several miscarriages followed, the last ended with a young stillborn son. Henry, now tired of her passion, jealousy and broken promises had her executed on trumped up charges.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Got this treatment from the people of England and the whole of Europe as she was deemed 'the other woman' and the main scapegoat of the Great Matter. It does not help that she's a reformist and is blamed for the rise of Protestantism in, back then, a Catholic England.

* AlasPoorVillain: Despite how unpopular Anne was amongst the people of England as well as abroad, her execution was not considered justified. Even the Duchess of Milan, Catherine of Aragon's own niece, brings it up when Henry's ministers ask her to marry Henry, saying Anne was an innocent put to death.

* BecomingTheMask: Is sent in to seduce Henry for her family's ambitions, but falls genuinely in love with him--which makes her story all the more heartbreaking.
* BettyAndVeronica: is involved in two love triangles of this sort, and is the Veronica both times. In the first instance this works out well for her. The second time around... Not so much.
* BrainyBrunette: Although her intelligence is aimed at more ambitious goals than Katherine's, Anne is another educated and clever queen.
* BreakTheHaughty: Her downfall, imprisonment and execution. Similar to Thomas Cromwell.

* CompetitionFreak: Very much so. She is the most competitive of the six wives by far.
* ControlFreak: Not to the extent of king Henry VIII, but she does how signs of this.

* DeathGlare: She gives one to Catherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wosley, Thomas More, John Fisher and Jane Seymore among others.

* DisappointedInYou: To House Howard. The Howards are a devoutly Catholic royal house who takes part in Anne Boleyns' downfall, though it is not shown.

* EntitledBitch: She is extremly entilted. In her eyes, she deserves all kinds of special privileges and treatment just because she is the queen.
* ExtremeDoormat: While not usually this with others, Anne Boleyn tends to defer to her father. He controls her by threatening her, even physically abusing her as he sees her as a way to power.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Played around with. At first she does feel like the more responsible sibling, working hard to ensure her family's ambition and the rise of their at court. She's also shocked and sided with her father when Mary wedded a man far below her station and without permission at that, making Mary the foolish one. She also has shades of this with George - who tended to be reckless and foolish as well. It's only when she's executed that people viewed Anne (and George) as the foolish one and Mary the responsible one, as banishment allowed her to escape persecution.

* HiddenAgendaVillain: YMMV on the villain part but at first it seems like she's only there to marry Henry and become Queen but as the show goes it's shown that aside from that she also wished to introduce the Christian Reformation to England, and works hard to achieve that.

* HotBlooded: Anne's fiery passion attracts Henry early on, but eventually is used against her when Henry wants to be free of their marriage.

* InLoveWithYourCarnage: She seems to be sexually aroused by king Henry VIII's violent fits and brutal temper.

* IronicEcho: Her death, long after Henry comments that he loves her neck.
** Also her death, shortly after threatening to have Cromwell "cropped at the neck" after he displeases her.

* MamaBear: TruthInTelevision, she was a devoted mother to Elizabeth and for a Queen, unusually interested in her education.

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Consummates her relationship with Henry in the woods. She refuses to let him....finish though, much to his frustration.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Her passion and intelligence charmed Henry, yet it was the same behaviour that repulsed him once she miscarried her babies and led her to the scaffold.

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: How she meets her end. Henry's nice enough to bring in a professional from Calais to make it as quick as possible.
* OddFriendship: With the stauchly Catholic (but still tolerant) Margeret of Austria. Margeret of Austria would not have approved of what she did to Catherine of Aragon, who was her relative.

* PermissionToSpeakFreely: Zig-zagged; she doesn't think she needs this from Katherine and is quickly corrected.

* ProperlyParanoid: After her marriage, she gets increasingly paranoid about the king's new affairs, her enemies at court, Catherine and Lady Mary's possible attempts to plot against her (the look on her face when she hears that Mary will be the one attending to her infant daughter Elizabeth has "uh oh" written all over it) and even the king himself once his powers become absolute. Then again, she ''does'' have plenty of enemies trying to put her down, and she's ''not'' wrong when saying that the king can do whatever he pleases and then take it back, including putting her daughter on the line of succession and then taking her out again.

* SelfMadeWoman: She certianly sees herself this way. Despite the fact that she would not be in her position without the aid of her family, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Once she starts actually throwing her weight around at court, it becomes glaringly obvious that she has little intrinsic political worth. Henry's advisers, for example, bristle whenever she voices her objection to the king's policies, and when she can't bear Henry a son, Henry tires of her and has her executed.
* TakingTheVeil: After one too many delays, Anne wondered that if this was going to be her final fate. Unfortunately for her, Henry was determined that she's executed.
* UpperclassTwit: She acts like this even before she becomes queen. She isn't even a BlueBlood.
* VerbalIrony: Her motto as queen is "The Most Happy." By the end of her life she was anything but.
* WickedStepmother: She's most definitely this to Mary. Although she does offer an olive branch towards Mary during a visit to Elizabeth, asking Mary to acknowledge her and in return Anne would ask the King to restore her to his affections. Mary, understandably rejects this and even insults her to her face.
* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: She is not gracious in victory. She openly gloats at the death of Cardinal Wosley, Catherine of Aragon, Thomas More and John Fisher among others.

* WeakButSkilled: She is arguably the weakest of the six wives, but she makes up for it with brains and talent.

Henry's third wife and mother to his only legitimate son. One of Anne Boleyn's LadyInWaiting, Jane was the opposite of his second wife: submissive and calm where Anne was headstrong and passionate, she caught his eye during his visit at her family home, Wolf Hall. After Anne's execution she weds Henry only to find that her position is even more precarious than either of her predecessors.

A faithful Catholic, she wished to one day be able to steer her husband back to the old faith. Jane was also instrumental is bringing both Lady Mary and Elizabeth back to court, thus uniting Henry's family together for the first time in years. However, after a protracted child birth, she died from childbed fever but not before giving Henry the son he had always wanted.

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: Like Katherine of Aragon before her, she is almost universally loved both in England and throughout Europe.

* BettyAndVeronica: Just like Katherine of Aragon before her, she is the Betty to Anne Boleyn's Veronica.
* BreakTheCutie: Her death in childbirth.

* TheHighQueen: She plays this role similar to Katherine of Aragon.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Is viewed as this, although she started as the King's mistress, her conduct and submissive personality gave her this air.

* MoralityPet: She is this to King Henry VIII.
* NiceGirl: Sweet, kind, and gentle, Jane is the polar opposite of her predecessor, the witty and ambitious Anne Boleyn.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[DeadPersonConversation Her ghost]] accuses the elderly Henry of condemning Prince Edward to [[DeathOfAChild an early death]] by [[OverprotectiveDad overprotecting him]].

* StiffUpperLip: Her reaction to being informed that Henry has taken one of her ladies as a mistress; at this point, she knows she is about to give him [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter a reason to be loyal to her]].

* WackyCravings: Develops a taste for quail eggs while pregnant with Edward.
** In real life, she craved quail itself, not the eggs.

Henry's fourth wife, Anne was the only one of his spouses whom he wedded before seeing or knowing her. Due to cultural clash, Anne accidentally repulses Henry who then rejected her. At first, Henry was unable to call the wedding off due to the current political climate weds her albeit grudgingly. Unfortunately, neither of them were able to make the marriage work and Henry soon found himself falling in love with the young Katherine Howard.

After the alliance between Henry and Anne of Cleve's brothers were no longer worth keeping, Henry began the process to annul his marriage to Anne. Fearing for her life, Anne accepted and was soon raised to the rank of the King's sister and is known as the one of his two wives who survived him. The failure of this marriage led to Thomas Cromwell's downfall and execution.

* BetterAsFriends: She and Henry realize quickly that they are this. And because she's clever enough to accept this and not fight the divorce, they actually do remain friends. The real Henry VIII referred to his ex-queen as "his beloved sister."
* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: To Anne Boleyn. She lacks Anne Boleyn's violent anti-Catholicism, racism against the Spanish and Portugese and fanatical Protestantism. She also is greatly turned off by king Henry VIII's depraved and cantekerous personality. She even later willingly converts to Catholicism to please Mary Tudor. Also, while King Henry VIII was smitten by Anne Boleyn, he is disgusted by Anne of Cleves. To put things in perspective, while even Mary Tudor and Bishop Gardiner respects her, they both hated Anne Boleyn.

* GoodStepmother: Anne is a loving stepmother to all of King Henry VIII's children. In real life, she said that being Elizabeth's mother would have brought her greater happiness than being Queen of England, and her first request after the divorce was Henry's permission for Elizabeth to visit her.

* TheHeart: She is very loving and kind.

Henry's fifth wife and the youngest among the all. Katherine was barely an adult when she caught Henry's eyes and was more concerned with having a fun time rather than understanding her role as queen. Immature and reckless, she fell in love with Thomas Culpepper and soon entered into an affair with him. A former lover of hers prior to her marriage returned to her life, making statements that led to an investigation regarding her past. After finding out that not only was Katherine not virgin during before their marriage and the fact that she was having an affair with Culpeper, Henry had her and all her lovers executed for treason.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Despite Henry's affections, Katherine proves to be very unpopular due to her immaturity. She sees this first hand on progress when the people of England cheer for Mary, her enemy, and don't even notice Katherine's absence. She punishes Mary for her lack of respect but even Elizabeth, who is polite to her, truthfully can't stand her either.

* AntiHero: Katherine Howard is sweet-natured, vivacious, helpful, alturistic (for the most part), kind, tolerant and tries to be a good person. She is also ditzy, shallow, spoiled, lustful, weak, cowardly and has poor judge of character.

* DumbBlonde: Speaks with a girlish, ditzy voice, lacks queenly dignity, and is a sharp contrast to the well-educated, intelligent queens before and after her.

* IdealizedSex: With Henry. In real life, he was [[AdaptationalAttractiveness grotesquely obese and infirm]] by the time he had married Katherine and sex would ''not'' have been enjoyable with a partner in such condition. Here, given Henry is more attractive and healthy, Katherine apparently enjoys his company [[ImmodestOrgasm a great deal]].
** A notable exception is in episode 4.04, in which sex with Henry is [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland more of an obligation]] as she would rather be with Culpeper.

* NaiveEverygirl: She has no special abilities and is usually clueless as to what is going on.
* ParentalAbandonment: As a result, grew up under the [[HandsOffParenting very lax supervision]] of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who either turned a blind eye or was completely unaware of her dalliances with other men.

Henry's last wife. Another passionate reformer, Katherine reluctantly weds Henry after he made his feelings known. She nonetheless raises to occasion but her desire for a complete Protestant Reformation in England made her powerful enemies and she nearly lost her life after one too many debates with Henry. Loves all of her step-children and it was due to her influence that both Mary and Elizabeth were restored to the line of succession. She and Anne of Cleves were the only wives of Henry to survive him.

* {{Bookworm}}: Was personally invested in the education of Elizabeth and Edward, and was a proponent of allowing citizens to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. She also writes a book of her own during the series, becoming the first English queen to write a book published in her own name.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Much like his other blonde wives, she's not scheming or nefarious and contains a recurring golden theme in her wardrobe.

* ParentalSubstitute: She proves to be a very good maternal figure for her step-children, Elizabeth and Edward.

Initially a rake, who spent more time seducing women and being concerned of having a fun time, he soon grew more and more jaded as his loyalty to Henry forced Charles to act against his better judgement. As Henry became more like a tyrant, Charles became more grounded and started to take his own responsibilities seriously. In the end he became the only person Henry could trust implicitly and that loyalty took a toll on him and eventually costs Charles his second marriage.

* {{Foil}}: To Henry, in so many ways. Henry starts off as a promising, dynamic monarch, but quickly becomes DrunkWithPower and becomes a tyrant. Charles starts off a wastrel who ignores the duties of his office, but undergoes CharacterDevelopment and becomes the king's most loyal, capable, and reasonable servant, and a powerful magnate. They start off being very similar personalities, but end up being very different.

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Marrying Margaret did not please the king.

* OnlyFriend: By the end of the series, it becomes clear that Brandon is the only real friend that Henry has left.
* OnlySaneMan: As time goes on, he's then only sensible character amidst the increasingly unstable Henry and his scheming, ambitious courtiers.

One of Henry's closest friend. A devout Catholic, he became horrified at Henry's attempt at divorcing Katherine and the King's desire to break away from the Holy See to achieve it. An HonorBeforeReason man, his inability to compromise on his faith to the Catholic Church led Henry to execute him on charges of treason.

* AntiHero: His potrayal does seem to hint at this. He is not really a bad guy/villain/antagonist, but his execution of 6 Protestants is a stain on his otherwise immpeciable personality and reputation. His relationship with Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cranmer is potrayed as mostly sour (which was probably true in RealLife), but his rivalry with Thomas Cromwell is rather downplayed when compared to most potrayals. John Fisher is more closer to a classic hero in his potrayal, although it is hinted at that he encouraged Charles V to invade the United Kingdom.
** The more tolerant Protestants at the time such as Lady Margret Bryan and Mary Boleyn were most likely not happy about the death of Thomas More and John Fisher, despite their religious differences. Lady Margret Bryan was also possibly friends with Lady Margret Pole, despite the fact that Margret Pole was Catholic.
** Capital punishment was overwhelmingly supported by the vast majority Catholics at the time. Probably even more then Protestants. Mary Tudor and Catherine De Medici were both ruthless enforces of the Catholic counter-reformation in RealLife.
** Catholicism in the pre-Vatican II era, was extremly conservative/right-wing. Uncomprismly pro-monarchy, pro-medievalism, pro-capital punishment and pro-feudalist. Many Catholics lamented the decline of feudalism in the Early Modern Era. The majority of Protestants were the liberal/left-wingers of the 16th/17th centuries.
* BadassPreacher: Zig zagged. He was more of a religious scholar then a preacher. Played strait with John Fisher, however.

* FlawlessVictory: His martyrdom along with John Fisher.

* GentlemanAndAScholar: His anti-Protestantism aside, he is this in spades. John Fisher is this as well. The historical Thomas More and John Fisher both had a top notch Renissance education. They were among the most well-read and well-educated people in King Henry VIII's royal court.
* TheGoodChancellor: Literally, in this case. Despite his somewhat frequent butting heads with King Henry, he's an excellent and loyal chancellor. King Henry misses him sorely when he is gone, and deeply regrets his execution. It is not much of a stretch to say that king Henry VIII really did regret the imprisonment and execution of Thomas More and John Fisher, because in RealLife they were both close royal advisors to him and he almost certainly held them both in high regard. (King Henry VIII himself was also arguably more Catholic then Protestant in his religious views, despite making himself head of the Church of England).
* HonorBeforeReason: More is fully aware that continuing to choose his morals over his king is going to get him killed. That doesn't sway him at all.

* InspirationalMartyr: Invoked by Pope Paul III, along with John Fisher. He's upheld as such by the Catholic peasantry who regard them both as heroes.

* TheLastDJ: More is more concerned with his ideals than with politics, so he is no match for the intrigue of the Royal Court. He only takes the job of Chancellor as a favor to his friend the king, and as soon as things get too dicey for him, he resigns.

* KnightInShiningArmor: He is SIR Thomas More, after all. He was knighted in RealLife.
* NiceGuy: In spite of his anti-Protestantism, he still overall counts as this. So does John Fisher.

* ObstructiveZealot: More's idealism is partially responsible for the excessive prolongation of the King's "Great Matter". Additionally, More's willingness to burn heretics at the stake backfires, and he actually helps the Reformation gain momentum.

* OffWithHisHead: His ultimate fate, as in history.
* OhCrap: At his trial, More maintains that he has never spoken maliciously of the Act of Supremacy that makes Henry supreme head of the church in England. When Sir Richard Rich is called to testify, More suddenly remembers a seemingly casual conversation the two head the day before, in which he compared the Act to a piece of legislation that claims God is not God. He makes this expression when he realizes how he was entrapped--but then, knowing his fate is already sealed, [[DefiantToTheEnd he goes on to openly attack the Act and defend the supremacy of the Vatican]].

* {{Pacifist}}: More absolutely detests the idea of war, and makes a point of talking King Henry out of his poorly-conceived plans for war with France. The historical Thomas More likely had mixed views on the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's one of the most level-headed members of Henry's court. Right up to the moment he starts burning Protestants alive.

* WolverinePublicity: He is greatly respected and admired throughout Contiential Europe. His reception in the United Kingdom is mixed due to his anti-Protestant policies.

* AntiVillain: He's a corrupt bastard, no doubt about it. But damned if he didn't make for a great Lord Chancellor.

* ButtMonkey: Everyone except Henry hates his guts and plots against him, and Henry slowly becomes convinced that he is deliberately blocking his divorce from Catherine (even though the exact opposite is, in fact, true).
* DoomedMoralVictor: A much darker version than most, but yes. He is unapologetically corrupt, and is a venal hypocrite to boot, but he's ultimately trying to reign in a King whose capriciousness could ruin the realm. He's correct that the Church's stalling in the King's Great Matter threatens the unity of the Church in England, and that war with France is in both nations' worst interests. He's ultimately killed for it, because his life literally depends upon the king's favor, and he very quickly loses it trying to balance all of this at once.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: His mistress, Joan Larke, as well as his children.

* ManipulativeBastard: ZigZagged. He controls the politics of Henry's court quite adeptly, but he fails so completely at manipulating the Church to secure Henry's divorce that Henry thinks he's doing it on purpose.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: He deftly manipulates the politics of the King's court, but he's ''way'' out of his depth when it comes to trying to finesse the Roman Catholic Church. In part this is because the Church is subject to political forces far outside of Wolsey's control, but also because the Roman Curia makes for a far more sophisticated opponent than the English king's highly-incompetent courtiers.

* SinisterMinister: He is a truly corrupt man, even by the standards of this series, and the fact that he's a priest only enhances his evil.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: By the time he's being executed, Cromwell is so unpopular that the event is met with cheers and applause. [[AlasPoorVillain Up until the executioner botches it, that is]].

* BreakTheHaughty: Cromwell's downfall is so sudden and drastic that it completely breaks him. He spends his last moments begging the king for mercy, and he's a teary mess on the executioner's block.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Because of his tenuous position, Cromwell constantly has to switch his loyalties around to make sure he stays on the king's good side. His only consistent loyalty is to the Reformation, and that ends up being his fatal weakness.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He's quite affectionate to his son Gregory and is clearly overjoyed when Gregory tells him he's a grandfather.

* TheFriendNoOneLikes: Everyone in King Henry's court despises Cromwell for his past as a mercenary, his scheming nature, and his secret Lutheranism. Not that it matters: not only is Cromwell very, very good at his job, but he's good friends with the Boleyn family, who are the royal favorites...for a while, anyway.
* TheGoodChancellor: He's arguably even better at his job than Wolsey was, and without all of the attendant corruption.
* GoodCopBadCop: During the efforts to find evidence against Anne Boleyn, Cromwell is definitely the bad cop to Richard Rich's good, overseeing the [[ColdBloodedTorture brutal torture]] of Mark Smeaton and being [[SuddenlyShouting extremely forceful]] in interrogating Anne's ladies in waiting.

* HiddenDepths: Was once a soldier-for-hire and is still a good archer. He's also not a particularly nasty man at heart, which is more than can be said about most of Henry's court.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His zeal for the Reformation catapults him into the King's good graces, but it also pisses off a lot of the commoners and alienates most of the Royal Court. By the time he realizes the King isn't so gung-ho about Protestantism after all, he has no friends to protect him, and all it takes is the insinuation of treason to get his head chopped off.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Even the people who hate him recognize that he is a ''brilliant'' minister to King Henry. Henry also realises it not long after having Cromwell executed and finding his new ministers aren't as skilled at the task of managing his affairs.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He loses support of everyone including Richard Rich and Thomas Cranmer. He also fails to bring down the Catholic faction in king Henry VIII's court.

** He also tells Thomas Wyatt he has no intention of acting on reports his spies gave him of a priest in Tewksbury offering prayers for Catherine of Aragon rather than Anne Boleyn; the priest in question is near 80 and they have bigger things to deal with than a slip of the tongue by a forgetful old man.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: To everyone involved, he seems like little more than a goofy backwater priest. Even the Pope regards him as completely non-threatening, despite rumors that he's secretly a Protestant. Cromwell however, recognizes him as the foremost theological advocate of the King's divorce and sponsors his ascent to Archbishop because of it.

* NiceGirl: Despite the fact that she is a mistress, she is still a nice/good person.

* TheGoodKing: He has his flaws, but he and Charles V are still potrayed as being better monarchs then Henry VIII.

* TheBluebeard: He abandons his first wife shortly before she tragically dies (at Catherine’s post-mortem a black spot was on her heart leading people to think Henry or Anne Boleyn poisoned Catherine, though the spot was more likely a sign of cancer), he orders two wives to be executed (one of whom was likely innocent of her charges), and his third wife dies in childbirth. While Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while willing to obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says she'll only marry him if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr is approached with his marriage proposal, she's terrified for this reason: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* AntiHero: Katherine Howard is sweet-natured, vivacious, helpful, alturistic (for the most part), kind, tolerant and tries to be a good person. She is also ditzy, clumsy, spoiled, lustful, weak, cowardly and has poor judge of character.

* TheBluebeard: He abandons his first wife shortly before she tragically dies (at Catherine’s post-mortem a black spot was on her heart leading people to think Henry or Anne Boleyn poisoned Catherine, though the spot was more likely a sign of cancer), he orders two wives to be executed (one of whom was innocent of her charges), and his third wife dies in childbirth. While Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while willing to obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says she'll only marry him if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr is approached with his marriage proposal, she's terrified for this reason: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* TheBluebeard: He abandons his first wife shortly before she tragically dies (many suspect he poisoned her to truly get rid of her), he orders two wives to be executed (one of whom was innocent of her charges), and his third wife dies in childbirth. While Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while willing to obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says she'll only marry him if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr is approached with his marriage proposal, she's terrified for this reason: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Henry goes to terrible lengths in order to father a legitimate son, he is right to be worried about only having one daughter for an heir. England had ''never'' had a queen regnant before so her position would have been contested both at home and abroad (Henry having no way of knowing that his second daughter Elizabeth would end up as one of the country's most successful monarchs) plus the Tudor dynasty itself is distinctly shaky since Henry's father had a very weak claim to the throne ''and'' usurped it; in the first season alone the Duke of Buckingham tries to usurp the throne in turn, claiming to have a better right to it.

* LadykillerInLove: Subverted. The closest he comes is with Jane Seymour, if only because she both gave him a son and died when their marriage was at its apex. It didn't stop him from having affairs. The series implies, especially in the series finale, that Anne Boleyn was his great passion (particularly in that her ghost is the only one he asks to actually stay). But to say that he truly loved any of his wives is really... dubious.

** He convinces himself that the apparent deformity of Anne Boleyn's last miscarried child is ironclad proof of her (nonexistent) adultery, since obviously the kid must be ''someone else's''.

* AbusiveParents: He dotes on Mary and Elizabeth...until his marriages to their mothers dissolve, at which point he strips them of their legitimacy, banishes them from his court, and occasionally toys with the idea of having them killed. His extreme protectiveness is also a form of abuse to Edward, as Jane Seymour points out in her Season 4 cameo. Granted, this time Henry really tried to do what he thought was best for him.
* AllForNothing: All his efforts to secure the Tudor Dynasty come to nothing. Edward dies young and neither Mary nor Elizabeth will have heirs, ending the reign of House Tudor and passing it on to his sister's descendants in House Stuart.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Later in the series. In Real Life, thanks to Henry's jousting accident, he weighed over 400 pounds by his 50s. In fact, it is presumed this gave him diabetes and led to his death. In Season 4, though it is evident he is ill, he is still played by the muscular Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
* BadBoss: Not at first, but as time goes on, he not only becomes impossible to satisfy, but also has an unfortunate tendency to behead his ministers for annoying him.

* TheBluebeard: Henry orders two wives to be put to death, he abandons his first wife, and many suspect that he poisoned her, and his third wife dies in childbirth; although Jane's death isn't his fault, it adds to his black reputation as a husband. Princess Christina of Denmark, while she will obey the wishes of the Holy Roman Emperor if he orders her to marry Henry, flatly says that she'd only be ''willing'' to do so if she had two heads. When Catherine Parr realises he's considering making her his wife, she's terrified: "You know what happens to his queens! ''Everyone'' knows what happens!"

* GlorySeeker: In the first episode, he's shown willing to impoverish his country going to war with France simply so he can one-up Theatre/HenryV.
* TheGoodKing: What he sees himself as, though in truth he is closer of being the [[TheCaligula opposite]]. By around the end of Season 4, which depicts his last years, England is both broke due to Henry's extravagant lifestyle and several war campaigns that didn't bring any significant gains whatsoever and politically isolated due to the King splitting from the Catholic Church, his nasty tendency of breaking off deals and treaties (in some cases days after signing them) and his tendency to declare war on his neighbors. The few people competent enough to solve this situation, such as Wolsey and Cromwell, are dead due to Henry's paranoid mindset of seeing even the slighest act as betrayal even of those that are 100% loyal to him and him buying to rumors and testimonies delievered by greedy and corrupt individuals.

* HeirClubForMen: Alas, his motivation, and he grows more desperate with each failed attempt at gaining an heir.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Not at first, since Henry actually was considered very attractive in his youth. Trouble is, he ''stays'' that way even through the period when Henry became obese.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Ultimately, it is his own attempts to secure the Tudor Dynasty that will one day lead to its downfall. His long-desired son, Edward, dies young, partially due to the stress of becoming king at such a young age. His eldest daughter Mary marries late (in part because Henry refused to let her get married for fear that her children would be used in a rebellion) and is unable to have any children before she dies. And finally, his youngest daughter Elizabeth ''refused'' to get married (even though she came to the throne still young enough to have children) because her own view of marriage was warped by Henry's six marriages, one of which ended in the beheading of her mother. While his fears were understandable, in the end Henry only has himself to blame for what would happen to his family.

* {{Hypocrite}}: He is outraged at the idea that one of his wives might have been unfaithful to him. Meanwhile, ''he'' usually can't stay faithful to ''them'' for more than one episode after the wedding.

* DiamondsInTheBuff: The first time we see her in Season 4, she is wearing nothing but a diamond necklace, unless you count the [[SomethingAboutARose rose petals]] strategically covering her midsection.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: It truly hits her how little the people of England think of her when she oversleeps and misses a speech, given by Mary instead. No one notices her absence and greets Mary with roaring celebration.

* IdealizedSex: With Henry. Though he should be [[AdaptationalAttractiveness grotesquely obese and infirm]] by the time he marries Katherine, she apparently enjoys his company [[ImmodestOrgasm a great deal]].

* MayDecemberRomance: The real Katherine was somewhere between 14 and 17 when she married 49-year-old Henry. In the show, she is 17 by the time she and Henry meet.

* NaiveEverygirl: She has no special abilites and is usually clueless as to what is going on.

* TooDumbToLive: When your husband executed a pretty wife on ''false'' adultery charges, it's probably not a good idea to have a ''real'' affair right under his nose.
* WickedStepmother: Mary sees her this way, despite her best efforts. She has better luck with Henry's other children, giving a necklace to Elizabeth and [[CutenessOverload playing Peekaboo with Edward]]. Elizabeth truthfully does not enjoy her either, she's just better at hiding it than Mary.

Henry's last wife. Another passionate reformer, Katherine reluctantly weds Henry after he made his feelings known. She nonetheless raises to occasion but her desire for a complete Protestant Reformation in England made her powerful enemies and she nearly lost her life after one too many debates with Henry. Loves all of her step-children and it was due to her influence that both Mary and Elizabeth was eventually restored to the line of succession. She and Anne of Cleves were the only wives of Henry to survive him.

* GoodStepmother: Loves her step-children and even worked with Henry to reinstate Mary and Elizabeth in the lines of succession.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Katherine Parr was around 32 when she married Henry, but was played by a woman close to 50.

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Henry goes to terrible lengths in order to father a legitimate son, he is right to be worried about only having one daughter for an heir. England had ''never'' had a queen regnant before so her position would have been contested both at home and abroad (Henry having no way of knowing that his second daughter Elizabeth would end up as one of the country's most successful monarchs) plus the Tudor dynasty itself is distinctly shaky and in the first season alone the Duke of Buckingham tries to usurp the throne, claiming to have a better right to it.

* RaisedCatholic: Ironically he was raised a devout Catholic who made himself head of the "Church of England." He wasn't really commited to the Protestant Reformation like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli and other figures of the Protestant Reformation were.
** Two out of the three most fanatical Protestants (Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer) in his royal court end up getting executed under his reign. In contrast the three most powerful Catholics in his royal court (Mary Tudor, Thomas Howard and Bishop Gardiner) all survive his reign.

* RaisedCatholic: So much so, her faith becomes the only thing she has left of her old life. She remains loyal to the Catholic faith even under threat of death.

* RaisedCatholic: As the daughter of the "Catholic Monarchs," she is deeply devout.

* RaisedCatholic: Just like Katherine of Aragon before her, she is a devout Catholic.

* RaisedCatholic: Not as pious as some of the other Catholic characters, but she is still a Catholic. Even if in name only.

* RaisedCatholic: Very much so. His family are all devout Catholics and so is John Fisher.

* RaisedCatholic: One of the most powerful Catholics in king Henry VIII's royal court alongside Mary Tudor and Bishop Gardiner. All three of them managed to survive in real life.