As Wolf Hall explores Henry VIII's quest for an heir, how many children did he have?

Wolf Hall charts part of Henry VIII’s reign during the life of his advisor Thomas Cromwell, depicting several of his marriages and his quest to have a male heir.

The BBC series sees Damian Lewis portray the tyrannical monarch during his marriages to Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. In real life the monarch had two more wives, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, and throughout all his marriages Henry VIII was keen to secure his line of succession.

But how many children did the monarch have, and why was it so difficult for him to have a male heir? Here’s what history tells us.

How many children did Henry VIII have?

Famously, Henry VIII had three legitimate children: Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI, whom he shared with his first three wives. All three took the throne at one time after Henry VIII’s death in 1547, with Edward VI succeeding over his older sisters as the first male child.

The boy king took the throne in 1547 aged nine, and his uncle Edward Seymour assumed the title of protector which allowed him to have supreme power as regent – rather than the throne being advised by a council of regency until Edward came of age. At 14 Edward was entitled to rule as monarch, though he remained largely a puppet for the government which John Dudley, the duke of Northumberland ruled.

Edward VI died in 1553 from tuberculosis, and had agreed with Northumberland to exclude his sisters as his successors and instead appointed Lady Jane Grey and her male heirs instead. Grey became the Nine Days Queen and was overthrown by Mary I, who ruled until her death in 1558 as the first Queen of England at which point Elizabeth I took the throne.

While he had three legitimate children, Henry VIII is believed to have sired several illegitimate children as well including Henry Fitzroy (a surname which literally translates to son of the king). Fitzroy was made the Duke of Richmond by Henry VIII and was well provided for, and it is said that he enjoyed a "prince's life" up until his death aged 17.

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Historians also believe that the king fathered Henry and Catherine Carey, the children of Mary Boleyn who was sister to Anne and was Henry VIII's mistress at one time. While the king never acknowledged the children, and Mary's husband William Carey was recognised as their father, it is believed they were the king's children because his affair with Mary took place around the time of their births.

Why was having a son so important for Henry VIII?

Prior to the ascension of Mary I it was largely believed that a woman couldn't succeed a throne, which is why Henry VIII was so determined to ensure his line of succession by having a son.

His quest for a son led to issues within his respective marriages, and was part of the reason why he was so keen to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon. During their marriage Catherine experienced multiple miscarriages and stillborn births, their first son also Henry died suddenly just over a month after his brith.

His pursuit for a male heir led to him breaking with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, which allowed him to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn instead.

Did Henry VIII have an illness that led to his reproduction issues?

Some historians believe that there was a reason that Henry VIII struggled to sire a male heir, with a study in The Historical Journal arguing that he was part of a blood group that would have made him a poor reproductive match with his wives.

Per research from bioarchaeologist Catrina Banks Whitley and anthropologist Kyra Kramer, Henry VIII had a rare Kell antigen, which would lead to an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or early death the more times a couple with a Kell-positive man and Kell-negative woman tried to conceive. Catherine of Aragon had six pregnancies, of which only Mary I survived, Anne Boleyn also suffered several miscarriages after the birth of Elizabeth I.

Edward VI was the first child of Henry VI and Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth, so it is unknown if she would have experienced the same thing had she survived. While Henry Fitzroy was also the firstborn son of Henry VIII and his mistress Bessie Blount.

Whitley and Kramer argue that Henry VIII being Kell-positive could be traced back to his maternal great-grandmother Jacquetta of Luxembourg. They said: “The pattern of reproductive failure among Jacquetta’s male descendants, while the females were generally reproductively successful, suggests the genetic presence of the Kell phenotype within the family."

Wolf Hall airs every Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.