The Mistresses of Henry VIII allegedly included many notable women between 1509 and 1536. They have been the subject of biographies, novels and films.
Confirmed mistresses
Elizabeth or Bessie Blount, mother of his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, to whom Henry VIII gave the dukedoms of Somerset and Richmond. Fitzroy, which means son of the king was acknowledged by Henry and there was talk in the 1530s that the King, who then had no male heir, would legitimise Fitzroy.
Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn Is thought to have given birth of two of Henry's children a daughter and a son, both of them he gave financial support, property, titles and saw to their education.
Margaret Shelton, first cousin of Anne Boleyn. According to Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, the King had an affair with 'Mistress Shelton' from February 1535 for around six months.
In addition, Henry VIII was involved in a romantic relationship with three of his future wives before he married them. It is unclear if these relationships became sexual before marriage. He was involved with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, from around 1526, around the time he ended his relationship with her sister, Mary; Anne was also, at the time, maid-of-honour to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Anne was referred to by some as "the king's whore" or a "naughty paike ". Henry and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth I, was born almost eight months on from their marriage. From the beginning of 1536, while still married to Anne Boleyn, he was openly courting his wife's second cousin and maid-of-honour, Jane Seymour. In 1540, he began courting Catherine Howard, the maid-of-honour of his fourth spouse, Anne of Cleves. Catherine was a first cousin of Anne and Mary Boleyn. It appears that his lust for mistresses did not abate as he reached middle age. During his marriage to Catherine Parr, his sixth wife, it was speculated that he would divorce her and look for a seventh wife.
Alleged mistresses
Jane Popincourt, a Frenchwoman, who was a tutor to his sisters.
Kelly Hart's study The Mistresses of Henry VIII was published in 2009. In 2010, Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress by Josephine Wilkinson was published, and in 2012, Alison Weir published Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore. In 2013, this was followed by Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII by Elizabeth Norton.
Fictional portrayals
On Mary Boleyn
The Other Boleyn Girl, book by Philippa Gregory, and film based on the book
