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HENRY V I I I
AND HIS SIX WIVES
King Henry the Eighth of England was famous for
many things, but he was also famous because he had six
wives. He was not a kind husband. People say that
when he was looking for a new wife, careful fathers
took their daughters away from the palace. They did
not want the King to choose their daughter to be the
next Queen, because some of his Queens had veryshort
and unhappy lives.
Why did King Henry divorce two wives, and kill two
others? What were his queens really like?
Catherine Parr, the sixth wife, lived on after the King's
death. One day she goes back to the palace of Whitehall
and finds a box of old letters written to the King — one
from each of the first five wives. She sits down to read
them to her young maid, Margaret. The firstletter is
from the daughter of the King of Spain, Katherine of
Aragon, who was Henry's wife for twenty-four years.
She died alone and sad and friendless . . .

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY

True Stories

Henry VIII and his Six Wives
Stage 2 (700 headwords)

Series Editor: Jennifer Bassett
Founder Editor: Tricia Hedge
Activities Editors: Jennifer Bassett and Alison Baxter

JANETHARDY-GOULD

Henry VIII
and his Six Wives

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6DP

CONTENTS
STORY INTRODUCTION

OXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
This edition © Oxford University Press 2008
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Databaseright Oxford University Press (maker)
First published in Oxford Bookworms 1996

ISBN 978 0 19 479062 8
A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of
Henry VIII and his Six Wives is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0194789851

Printed in Hong Kong
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Original illustrations by: Richard Alien
The publishers would like to thank
the following for their permission toreproduce illustrations:
The Bridgeman Art Library p 19, 24; His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury p 36;
The Hulton Deutsch Collection Limited p 34; National Portrait Gallery p 3, 7, 12;
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II p 29

Word count (main text): 6310 words
For more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library,

visit www.oup.corn/elt/bookworms

i

1 King Henry is dead1

2 Katherine of Aragon

6

3 Anne Boleyn

11

4 Jane Seymour

18

5 Anne of Cleves

23

6 Katherine Howard

28

7 Catherine Parr

33

GLOSSARY

41

ACTIVITIES: Before Reading

44

ACTIVITIES: While Reading

46

ACTIVITIES: After Reading

49

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

52

1
King Henry is dead

M

y name is Catherine Parr. A month ago I was the
Queenof England, the wife of King Henry the
Eighth. Henry died and we buried him last week in St
George's Church, Windsor. Two days ago, on 16th
February 1547, I went back to the palace of Whitehall,
which was once my home. I wanted to take my letters and
books and bring them back to my house.
Margaret, my new maid, came to the palace with me.
She's very young and doesn't know a lot about theworld.
She has only just come up to London from her home in
Somerset. Perhaps I was like her when I was twelve. I, too,

Two days ago I went back to the palace of Whitehall.

2

Henry VIII and his Six Wives

King Henry is dead

3

was always asking questions and wanting answers
immediately.
When we arrived at the palace, it was cold and dark.
We walked into Henry's room. I satdown in one of Henry's
large chairs in front of his wooden writing desk and looked
at the pictures around the room. Next to me there was a
big picture of Henry, when he was young. He was very
handsome then, not like the fat old man he was later. I
thought his blue eyes were watching me. I turned to
Margaret and said:
'You see that picture of the King? That's what he was
like when he was...