The Young Henry VIII

Clips on Henry VIII's childhood and adolescence. Henry became his father's heir in 1502 following the death of his elder brother Arthur. In 1509, after his accession to the throne Henry married his brother's widow Katherine. This made political sense since Henry desired war with France and therefore needed an alliance with Louis XII's rival, Ferdinand of Aragon, father to Katherine. The portrait shown in the video of the young Henry dates to c.1509, the year of his accession to the throne. Although Henry has darkish hair in the portrait he was noted by contemporaries to have been very fair in the first years of his reign, which appears to have darkened into an auburn colour throughout his life. When Henry VIII came to the throne there was popular rejoicing due to the steady decline inn popularity of his father amongst not only the commons by with the nobility whose powers Henry VII had curbed. One nobleman, Lord Mountjoy said this about his new king: 'Heaven and Earth rejoices; everything is full of milk and honey and nectar. Avarice has fled the country. Our king is not after gold, or gems, or precious stones, but virtue, glory and immortality...' BTW, I love how ironic Thomas More's statement on the succession of Henry VIII is.