Henry Fitzroy

Birth of Henry Fitzroy~ illegitimate son of Henry VIII

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Henry FitzRoy, the son of Henry VIII & Bessie Blount, was born near Ingatestone on 15th June 1519.

Although illegitimate, as the king's only male son at the time of his birth, he was a valuable asset.

He was given the Anglo-Norman surname "FitzRoy" meaning "son of the king" which had been used by several kings of England for their illegitimate children.

Henry wanted the world to know he could sire a male heir....

"A healthy boy was a sign of the king's virility; it was clear now that the lack of a strong son could be blamed on his wife."

Arrangements for his care were initially entrusted to his godfather, Cardinal Wolsey.

According to his biographer, when he was six years old:

"He was created earl of Nottingham and on the same day he received the unprecedented honour of a double dukedom.

As duke of Richmond and Somerset he was endowed with lands whose revenues amounted to £4,845 in the first year.

On 16 July 1525 he became lord admiral of England."

Such concentration of peerages and great offices, had never before been held by a subject, let alone a six-year-old boy.

Katharine of Aragon became concerned when Henry FitzRoy was brought to court in 1527.

Rumours began circulating that Henry was going to divorce Katharine, and make his young son his heir, instead of their daughter, Mary.

People began to speculate that Henry had "decided that gender was more important than legitimacy".

However, it soon became clear that Henry intended to marry Anne Boleyn, in an effort to obtain an legitimate male heir.

The terms of the 1536 Succession Act, renewed interest in the possibility of Richmond's succeeding his father.

In many respects he was an ideal candidate as heir.

He was widely reported to be as intelligent, articulate, and as athletic as his father.

His relationship with Henry VIII was consistently good.

Numerous gifts and letters were indications of a genuine affection between them.

When Henry FitzRoy, came to bid his father goodnight on the evening after Anne Boleyn's arrest, Henry embraced him and wept as he told him that his half-sister Mary ought to thank God for escaping "that cursed and venomous wh*re, who tried to poison you both".

There was no evidence for this, but Henry was prepared to believe that no crime was too monstrous to have been committed by Anne.

And when Richmond died of consumption the following July, Henry and most other people, would believe that Anne had administered a slow-working poison, which caused his death.

Richmond is believed to have died of tuberculosis, although the secrecy and speed of his burial might be due to the fact that he died, or was suspected of having died of pneumonic plague.

Richmond was only 17...

If the illness had been developing for some time, it was probably not plague, but his quick death may have convinced his attendants that it was.

The king had spent a lot of time with his son, throughout his childhood and was inconsolable on his death.

Henry VIII had always been terrified of death and ordered that Richmond's father-in-law, the duke of Norfolk, organise a quick and private funeral.

Henry wanted his dead son's corpse taken far away from him...

It is thought that FitzRoy actually died of consumption, although it could have been another lung condition.

A. S. McNalty, the author of Henry VIII: A Difficult Patient (1952), concludes that there was a history of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Tudors.

It allegedly killed both of Henry's sons, Richmond and Edward VI, contributed to the deaths of Henry's father and brother, Henry VII and Prince Arthur, and his daughter Elizabeth, may have suffered from tuberculous laryngitis.

When it came to the treatment of his corpse, the speed of his sickness and death may simply have overwhelmed the King.

The death of his beloved son may have devastated his father.

He had lost his only son who had died without heirs.

Henry's instructions to Norfolk may have been misinterpreted or confused by the chain of instruction, so that the body was roughly coffined and transported by Norfolk's servants.

But why did his father ignore his funeral and body, so completely, when he had favoured him so much before?

This might support the theory that Henry believed that FitzRoy was part of a planned revolt against the Crown, to take the Throne from his Father, rising from his huge support in Lincolnshire.

It would not be the first time an heir decided not to wait for his inheritance, and the uprising could have been triggered by Jane Seymour's pregnancy.

A living, lawful male child would have put FitzRoy firmly out of contention for the throne.

A big possibility was, that FitzRoy was murdered to stop the uprising in Lincolnshire...

Personally, i dont think either Anne, or Henry's men would have murdered FitzRoy.

It was probably down to Pulmonary Tuberculosis, but what another delicious mystery, The Tudors have left us with

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SOURCES~

BEVERLEY A MURPHY, ELIZABETH BLOUNT :

Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Philippa Jones, The Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses and Bastards

Kelly Hart, The Mistresses of Henry VIII.

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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Portrait miniature by Lucas Horenbout, between 1533 and 1534