Don't Lose Ur Head

The Tudors: Fun Facts

1. Henry's sister secretly married his best friend. 

The story that they portray on the show is actually shockingly close to what really happened. In reality, Charles Brandon secretly married Henry's sister, Mary Tudor (not Margaret), after she was widowed by her husband, King Louis XII of France (not the King of Portugal). The couple married in secret without the permission of Henry, which initially enraged Henry but, eventually, he forgave the pair (because he really did have a lot of affection for both of them).

2. Henry had two sisters not one. 

Although King Henry VIII did have a sister named Margaret Tudor, he had another sister named Mary as well. It's unclear why the writers of The Tudors decided to omit Mary completely from the series, however many of Margaret's storylines in the show are actually reflective of the real history of Mary Tudor. It seems likely (and understandable) that the writers may have wanted to combine both sisters into one person and use the most interesting parts of their lives to form the story of the character of Margaret Tudor, but considering how important both sisters were to Henry as well as how many minor historical figures they included in the show it's still surprising that only one of Henry's sisters made the cut.

3. Henry Fitzroy, not but not as young as portrayed in the show. 

One unfortunate truth of King Henry's history is that one of his sons, Henry Fitzroy, did die of an illness (the specific illness is unknown, but many historians have speculated it may have been tuberculosis), however, his death didn't come nearly as early as The Tudors portrayed it. 

In the show, the younger Henry dies when he was still a small child, but the real Henry Fitzroy died at the age of seventeen, already a married man and considered an adult at the time. 

Sadly his father did outlive him by many years though, and Henry VIII's small glimmer of hope for a male heir was snuffed out too early. Until of course he had Edward VI but even that didn't pan out well for him. 

4. Henry really was a womanizer. 

Once some time has passed and people get some perspective on history that history can show historical figures in an unfavorable light, and the way we now look back on Henry VIII is definitely pretty unfavorably. 

And if you were to ask most people today to describe Henry VIII, it's pretty much guaranteed that "smokin' hot" is not the way they would describe him. But in his early life Henry was considered to be quite a looker, and he was actually just as womanizing as he is portrayed to be on The Tudors. 

We all know that he burned through wives faster than most people would think possible, but he had no problem finding an endless supply of willing lovers as well. (Lucky for them STDs weren't even a thought back then how no one caught anything is beyond me)

5. Mary and Elizabeth weren't Princesses. 

King Henry refers to both of his daughters as "Princess" multiple times throughout the run of The Tudors, but in reality, both Mary and Elizabeth were not legally Princesses. 

Henry VIII was absolutely obsessed with the idea of siring a male heir, and unfortunately for Mary and Elizabeth that meant that their father chose to de-legitimize them for the sake of his imaginary future heir. Both Mary and Elizabeth would go on to become Queens, and as we all know now Elizabeth went on to become one of the most beloved Queens who ever lived, but neither held them the title of "Princess".

6. Henry much older when he married Catherine Howard. 

One of the more dramatic storylines in The Tudors, as well as one of the more dramatic events in the history of Henry VIII, is Henry's marriage with, and subsequent execution of, Catherine Howard. 

It's true that Catherine was just a teenager when she married Henry, and it's true that she committed treason by having an affair with Thomas Culpeper, but when Catherine married Henry he was already much older and heavier than he is portrayed as in The Tudors. 

Unsurprisingly, many historians speculate that Catherine's unhappiness in her marriage and her willingness to risk her life to be with another man may have been influenced by the fact that she was married to someone that would be very unappealing to the average teenage girl.

7. Catherine Parr was much younger when she married King Henry VIII.

In The Tudors Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, is portrayed as a nearly middle-aged woman when she marries Henry, and their marriage is portrayed as somewhat brief. 

In reality, Catherine's marriage to Henry lasted about four years, and she wasn't even 30 when she married the 52-year-old King. And although the real Catherine was a bit younger, her marriage to Henry was surprisingly calm and uneventful, the pair seemed to get along fine throughout their relationship, a marriage that lasted until Henry's death. That is presumably why their marriage takes up so little of the screen time of The Tudors, because it simply wasn't very dramatic.