Henry VIII
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Henry VIII was a Tudor King of England. According to Liz Shaw, who noted that history was not her strong point, he "wasn’t known as the most good-natured of men", though he took an interest in "new learning", and proved to be more open to new ideas than his royal peers. (PROSE: Hiccup in Time)
Henry VIII was known for having six wives. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) The Doctor received six wedding invitations from Henry VIII. (COMIC: The Gift) The Second Doctor and Polly counted the wives of Henry VIII using the rhyme "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived". (PROSE: The Roundheads) Henry had two more wives: Amy Pond (TV: The Power of Three) and Marilyn Monroe. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)
At the time of the Reformation, Henry VIII declared himself as the head of the English church. (PROSE: Eye of the Gorgon)
All three of Henry's legitimised children succeeded him as the English monarch: Edward VI, Mary I (who deposed Jane Grey) and Elizabeth I, but he had no grandchildren. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)
Despite the Seventh Doctor claiming to have never met him, (PROSE: Tragedy Day) the Doctor had numerous encounters with Henry VIII starting as early as his first incarnation. (TV: The Sensorites)
Biography
In a cache of Tudor parchments, one document claimed that Henry VIII was actually the illegitimate grandson of an archer and thus had no right to the throne. However, other historical papers did not agree with this claim. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
In 1509, Henry ascended to the throne. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo) Also in this year he had his first marriage at the age of seventeen. Lover attempted to take Catherine of Aragon's place in history by swallowing and impersonating Catherine on the eve of the wedding. She planned on altering time by giving birth to a healthy son who would have many descendants and keep the throne within Henry VIII's family past 1752. Bow ordered Lover to abandon this plan, so she released Catherine and left 1509 with Bow. (PROSE: Nothing Lasts Forever)
Henry spent most of his father's money fighting wars against France.
Henry broke away from the Catholic Church because the Pope prevented him from divorcing Catherine, who he thought was unable to give him a male heir to the throne. This action also gave him more money and power. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo)
On 4 May 1536, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown visited the court of Henry VIII. (AUDIO: Recorded Time)
In 1538, the Eighth Doctor was certain that King Henry would vouch for him, due to previous encounters in his sixth incarnation. The Doctor claimed that he and Henry "go way back". (AUDIO: The Eighth Piece)
In 1539, the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw visited Henry VIII. The Doctor cured Henry VIII of his cataracts with his sonic screwdriver, and Liz and the Doctor finally relieved the King of his hiccups. On regaining his eyesight, King Henry expressed discontent at the appearance of his prospective new wife, the Lady Anne of Cleves, based on her miniature portrait, calling the woman "ugly as my privy!" No longer blind, the King was also rejuvenated by his newfound sight, and invited the Doctor and Liz to Hampton Court, though they declined. (PROSE: Hiccup in Time)
In December 1539, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa visited Henry VIII. (PROSE: God Send Me Well to Keep)
In 1541, Henry VIII visited York. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
In July 1543, (PROSE: "Taken to the Tower") the First Doctor argued with Henry VIII, so Henry threw a parson's nose at him. The Doctor threw it back. This argument was actually intentional of the Doctor, so that he might be sentenced to the Tower of London, where the TARDIS was located. (TV: "Strangers in Space")
In 1544, Henry VIII employed a 22nd century time travelling thief named Lord Volta to steal riches from the future for him, not realising futuristic money would be useless in his own time. He met Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax when they followed Volta through a time portal and landed in his court. He was entranced with Vastra's scales and proposed to her, but when she declined and Strax offered himself in exchange, Henry VIII became enraged and ordered Strax beheaded. (PROSE: The Tudor Engagement)
Whilst Henry was married to Catherine Parr, the Monk, having escaped the Time War, hid in an abbey in England where he tried to raise Gallifrey's attention by meddling with time. He posed as Henry VIII by utilising his TARDIS's chameleon circuit, keeping the real king hidden in his Zero Room. His meddling caught the attention of Missy, who was looking for a time traveller in order to plunder their technology. Missy exposed the Monk as an impostor to the locals. They were prepared to behead him until Missy hypnotised the executioner and they escaped. (AUDIO: Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated)
Henry's reign ended in 1547. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo)
After his resurrection in the City of the Saved, Henry VIII married Marilyn Monroe. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)
Undated encounters with the Doctor
The Seventh Doctor claimed to have helped the Tudors with their problems with aphids. He maintained that Henry might have written "Greenfly" instead of "Greensleeves" if it hadn't been for him. (PROSE: Tragedy Day)
The Eighth Doctor claimed that Henry VIII had mistaken him for a jester. (AUDIO: Terror Firma)
The Tenth Doctor mentioned having had dinner with him. (PROSE: Revenge of the Judoon)
Rory Williams accidentally dropped a mobile phone charger in one of Henry's en suites. (TV: A Town Called Mercy) While on a side-trip in the TARDIS on her wedding anniversary to Rory Williams, Amy Pond accidentally married Henry. (TV: The Power of Three)
Legacy
In 2004, Dr C.J. Sansom researched Henry VIII's visit to York in 1541, when they found, in an archive, a cache of Tudor parchments included a document that claimed that Henry was the illegitimate grandson of an archer. However, just as he began excitedly reading the document, the Ninth Doctor ran up and grabbed it off Sansom, mentioning that he had to return it otherwise Rose would be put on a rack. Sansom attempted to find other papers that may relate to the claim, but they had no luck. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
References
The Doctor recalled the time he encountered Henry VIII on 4 May 1536 several times. (AUDIO: Question Marks, The Eighth Piece)
He was one of the individuals who Professor Whitaker wanted to meet using the time scoop. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion)
One of Morlock's students described Morlock as "a cross between Henry VIII and Isaac Newton". (PROSE: The Book of the War)
Uncovering Missy's plan to befriend several Tudor women, among them all six of Henry VIII's wives, in an effort to prevent the reign of James I, the Twelfth Doctor suggested, amongst other methods, that she intended for Henry to be "bumped off" by one of his wives. (PROSE: Girl Power!)
A portrait of Henry VIII was present in the office where Harriet Jones appeared in an emergency broadcast on 25 December 2006. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
Other realities
In a timeline where River Song caused time to collapse when she refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, (TV: The Wedding of River Song) Henry was the subject of a reality TV series. (PROSE: Just a Minute...)
Behind the scenes
- Since the Tenth Doctor married Queen Elizabeth I, Henry VIII later became his father-in-law. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) This would make Amy, who was already his mother-in-law, his mother-in-law for a second time. (TV: The Power of Three)
- He was played by Keith Barron in God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale, Rusty Goffe in U.F.O. and Brian Blessed in The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything.
- According to volume 71 of The Complete History, though not made clear in the episode, the scene in Henry VIII's bedroom in The Power of Three was intended to show the TARDIS trio returning to get Rory's mobile phone charger after Rory had left it behind before A Town Called Mercy.
External links
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