Historian Presents View of Henry VIII From Wives’ Perspective

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
— Traditional English rhyme describing the fates of the six wives of Henry VIII.

As English historian David Starkey tells it, even if reality television had existed in the 16th Century, it wasn’t necessary.
Henry VIII’s tumultuous career in matrimony effectively entranced a nation without it.

“Survivor,” “Fear Factor,” “The Bachelor,” “Meet the Parents” — they all were very real components of their real-life precursor described in “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.” Starkey provides the passionate narration of the two-part, four-hour PBS series, broadcast locally by KVIE-TV (Channel 6) at 10 p.m. July 16 and 9 p.m. July 23, with three repeat broadcasts scheduled for each installment.

“The difference is, reality TV is pure voyeurism. It doesn’t matter, it gives us brutal voyeuristic entertainment,” Starkey, 58, said by telephone. “The private lives of Henry VIII and his wives, however, had enormous public consequences. In that respect, it’s very near the Clinton affair.

“With Henry’s various marriages, nearly all end in divorce, often on grounds of criminal adultery,” he added, noting the detailed documents of the era he could access. “You get all the legal process, and the result of that is there are all of these extraordinary records.”

As in many of the current reality programs, there was a high degree of direct competition between the wives at various intervals. But unlike the losers on a show like “Survivor” who are simply voted off an island or sent off to the talk show circuit, this was literally a vicious game of cut-throat.

During Henry VIII’s reign from 1509 to 1547, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded, Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleaves were divorced, Jane Seymour died from complications in childbirth and Catherine Parr became the monarch’s widow.

“Henry almost always gets rid of one wife only when he’s fallen in love with another one. Our modern notion to know of the higher level of propriety of earlier ages is not true,” Starkey explains. “Anne Boleyn [wife No. 2] is consciously conspiring against Catherine of Aragon [wife No. 1]. She’s pressing to have her executed, have her daughter marry. Jane Seymour [wife No. 3] deliberately conspires against Anne Boleyn and is delighted when she’s executed. These are not nice people!

“A modern parallel might be corporate politics, and the brutality of that.”

Starkey theorized that Henry VIII was one of history’s first public relations-conscious leaders and would have adapted well to the tabloid-type scrutiny of modern times.

“Henry, in many ways, has the profile of a modern celebrity. So much of his behavior, right down the marriages, is the behavior of a modern celebrity. And Anne Boleyn is an authentic modern celebrity, she loved fame,” Starkey explained. “Henry would be delighted that people still remember him. He is an unusual king in that he has this incredible self-consciousness about fame, reputation and being remembered. He might be a little worried about some of the more personal details — like discussing his impotence with his doctor in that pre-Viagra age — but he was very shameless in that sense. He was prepared to put details of his private life in the public domain if he thought it suited him.”

Along with the actual dialogue from historical documents, the documentary series, produced by Channel Four Television in Great Britain in association with WNET-TV in New York, utilizes imagery of authentic Tudor locations, some untouched for 450 years. Starkey, who is the Bye Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and an award-winning author, said he is the first historian to tell the story of Henry VIII through the wives’ perspective.

“There was a very good docudrama way back in the 1960s which was very influential on my own career. It, too, was called, ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII,’ but the women made no impact at all. I was determined not to do that,” Starkey said. “Even when I tell the main story of the politics, I tell it through the women — their experience of it. In some ways, this series is refreshingly different, and a product of feminism. These women are amazingly characterized, politically active, each one a unique and vibrant personality.”

Starkey cited the “wonderful characters and stories” as the primary attractions for him to pursue researching the Tudor era of English history.

“It seems to me that the Tudors are the Greek myth of the English-speaking world — Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Bloody Mary and so on. They leap out as characters and the extraordinary tempestuous tragic nature of their private lives gives us the same interest,” Starkey explained. “And, it’s the ‘Goldilocks period’ of history. You know an enormous amount about it which can be put into both the book and into the television series.

“On the other hand, you don’t know too much. The problem with more modern periods of history is you’re overwhelmed with material,” he continued. “Whereas, the hands of time have eliminated an awful lot of 16th century stuff. You still have vast amounts of information, but you’re not overwhelmed by it. It’s this middle ground that I find so attractive.”

At the same time, Starkey was thrilled to have such detailed records to work with when compiling his accompanying book, “Six Wives” (2003, Harper-Collins) and the PBS specials. The entire project took Starkey three years to complete.

“It is wonderful. One of the things I’ve tried to do is incorporate these new discoveries into the television program. Though a lot of it is a dramatization, I am actually using the real words. That, for me, is extraordinarily satisfying,” Starkey said. “And, it’s the thrill of the chase, when you come up with new stuff. One of my great moments was with the fifth wife — Catherine Howard — realizing that I am the first person to have read some of the documents about her as they were written.”

As Starkey got to know all of the characters through his research, he admits he doesn’t necessarily like Henry as a person, but does find him “fascinating.”

“It’s important to know that Henry changes over time. He is somebody who suffers from his divorces, particularly the first divorce when everybody takes the side of his wife, including his closest friends. He began to develop a kind of persecution complex as a lot of men do in such circumstances.

“The awful change is from Henry the young king who is handsome, generous and trusting to this strange, maniacal and paranoid character. It turns him into a very different person.”

While Henry VIII was, according to Starkey, “brilliant, charming, and attractive to women,” he wasn’t the best ruler in a political sense.

“Henry wasn’t a good administrator, he wasn’t interested in detail. His father, Henry VII, was brilliantly good at that,” Starkey said. “Henry was good at setting big goals, finding good people to administrate, and he had a very high level of persistence when there was something he was passionate about.”

Not coincidentally, it’s the same passionate approach that David Starkey brings to “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.” Above all, Starkey hopes the viewing audience derives pleasure from his meticulously researched series.

“The whole purpose of something like this is to entertain,” he concluded. “And that awareness of past lives 500 years ago still being something we can care about. The job of the historian is to act as an impresario to the past, bring it to the present, and make people care. If I’ve done that, and given them pleasure, I’ll be very happy.”