King Arthur and not King Henry?

This year has seen the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession, but few people probably know he wasn't the original heir to the throne. His brother, Arthur was first in line and it was Arthur's wife who Henry married first (Catherine of Aragon).

Interesting article asking the question how would Tudor England turned out had Arthur been King and not Henry?

Comments are welcomed!

Queen Mary's Last Letter

The last letter written by Mary Queen of Scots is to go on display for the first time in 30 years. The 422-year-old manuscript – written six hours before her execution – will be unveiled at the National Library of Scotland later this month.

During Queen Mary's few remaining hours, she penned one last letter to King Henri III of France. One interesting tidbit of information from the letter is that she asks King Henri to pay the wages of her servant. To read the letter click here

Russian Court: To Be Seen and Learned...

In continuation with the Russian Monarchy theme, comes the news of the reopening of Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is now home to the exposition “At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century.”

The article mentions "The grand exhibition offers visitors an impression of the 19th century Russian Court and a varied display of more than 1,800 treasures, including court dresses, paintings, jewelry, chessboards, and royal shoes.

The treasures, all from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, display the elaborate social hierarchy and richly layered traditions of the Tsarist court.

The exhibit is divided into two sections. A left wing is devoted to the 19th century court—a period that spanned the reigns of tsars from the little-known Paul I, son of Catherine the Great, to the tragic Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. The other wing focuses on the parties and themed balls hosted by the tsars."

Russian Monarchy Rising Again?

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia was unceremoniously deposed of his crown on July 17, 1918 by the Bolsheviks. Since that time, there has not been a Russian Monarch, but recently there has been talk of re-establishing the Monarchy in hopes of unifying the country during these troubling times.

The idea is rather enticing and will need approval from the Russian parliament as well as the Russian people, but it would be rather interesting to see the Romanov's rise to power once again (albeit in a constitutional role).

Continuing with Henry VIII...

With so much news about Henry VIII, I thought I would continue the trend and pass along some interesting links.

The first link is an online exhibit of some items from Henry's reign. There is even an Interactive section which has you trying to pick out Henry's notes (side note: brush up on your Latin).

The second article details the reproduction of the document which the English peers sent to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry's marriage.

Stay tuned as I'm sure we'll be seeing more and more articles/blogs/fan pages devoted to Henry VIII this year.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/henryviii/index.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5614835/Vatican-sells-facsimiles-of-Henry-VIII-letter-that-led-to-schism-with-Rome.html

Henry VIII and One wife

This year, being the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII accession to the throne, there seems to be more and more interesting and thought provoking articles out there. Most recently, what if...

Henry VIII went through 6 wives and two religions, but what would have happened if he never divorced Catherine of Aragon and instead stayed with the Catholic church? Does he still go through the reform and break away from the Church or stay a loyal subject to the Pope? It's an interesting debate, one that was started in the link below.

What do you think would have happened? Mary would have been Queen and not Edward and we know where should stood on the Catholic religion...


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-big-question-what-would-have-happened-if-henry-viii-had-obtained-his-divorce-1717976.html