Henry VIII’s bastard son a real life Jon Snow
Bastard Henry FitzRoy was ultimately denied the throne despite enjoying the favour of his father
Today the phrase “illegitimate child” is all but meaningless, because the stigma once attached to children born “out of wedlock” has largely passed.
But in past eras children branded with the word “bastard”, had little chance of rising through the ranks, no matter their talents.
The concept of illegitimacy played a huge part in the hit television series Game Of Thrones, inspired by the books of George R.R. Martin. The character Jon Snow, played by Kit Harrington, was known as the “bastard” son of Ned Stark and as a bastard suffered discrimination and ostracism.
Deemed a minor player in the great dynastic struggles taking place, (spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen season seven or eight) the discovery of his true parentage changed that. Although other characters had assumed he had no claim to the throne they saw him in a new light when the truth was revealed. With each season Snow seemed to move closer to wearing the crown, even being declared “King in the North”.
Ultimately he was denied the throne, but he got close, at least as close as a true life “bastard” whose history has some interesting parallels with Snow. His name was Henry FitzRoy and he was born 500 years ago today, on June 15, 1519, the son of King Henry VIII. He was the only one of Henry VIII’s illegitimate children he openly acknowledged.
When Henry took the throne in April 1509 he wasted little time in marrying his brother’s widow Catherine of Aragon, exchanging vows with her on June 11, 1509. By all accounts Henry was in love with Catherine, but she had a specific function, which was to produce an heir.
Things seemed to be going well when Catherine fell pregnant just months after the wedding, but she miscarried a baby girl in January 1510. Several months later she was pregnant again and on January 1, 1511, she gave birth to a son, who was named Henry. But the baby died suddenly on February 22. Another baby born prematurely, this time a boy, died in 1513, and another was stillborn in 1515.
A healthy daughter, Mary, was finally born in 1516, but by then Henry was beginning to despair of ever producing a male heir and his eye was beginning to wander. In 1514, at a masque celebrating the betrothal of Henry’s sister Princess Mary to the Dauphin of France, Henry spotted a beautiful young redhead named Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting.
Some sources say Blount was as young as 14, others say she may have been 16. She was the daughter of one of Henry’s trusted servants Sir John Blount. While it was considered acceptable for the king to sleep with other women during his wife’s pregnancy, he was normally very discreet about it, but he was seen dancing publicly with Bessie.
In late 1518 Blount fell pregnant and Henry arranged for her to be sent a suitable distance away from court to keep her condition secret. On June 15, 1519 a son was born.
When the king learned that it was a boy he was overjoyed. To him it was proof of his virility and Catherine’s failure. While the birth was still kept relatively quiet, Henry acknowledged the child as his and named the boy Henry FitzRoy (the surname meaning literally “son of the king”).
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While Henry’s love for Bessie soon waned and in 1522 she was sent away to be married to Baron Gilbert Tailboys, the king doted on his son. FitzRoy was raised “like a prince’s child” according to one account. He spent time in the royal nursery and later was given a first-rate education by some of the best tutors. However, he proved to be a somewhat distracted student, who preferred sport to study.
In 1525, after Henry had an accident that almost claimed his life, he realised that as things stood his nine-year-old daughter would have inherited the throne, necessitating a regency. He made moves to make FitzRoy worthy of the crown, appointing him as a Knight of the Garter in April 1525.
The idea was proposed to make FitzRoy king of Ireland, but it was decided that having another king so close to England was not a good move politically, a lesson learnt from the problems the English kings had with the Scottish monarchy. Instead he was later made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In June FitzRoy was also raised to the peerage by being
named Earl of Nottingham and later Duke of Richmond (Henry VII had been Earl of Richmond) as well as Duke of Somerset.
Henry even sent an envoy to Rome to see what he could do about having FitzRoy legitimised in the eyes of the Church and in July 1525 FitzRoy was named Lord Admiral of England, Lord President of the Council of the North, and Warden of the Marches towards Scotland.
Although they were largely ceremonial titles for such a young boy, they gave him control of the north of Britain.
By then Henry was also seeking an annulment of his marriage to Catherine and conducting an affair with Anne Boleyn. With his annulment rejected by the Vatican he looked more seriously at making FitzRoy his actual heir.
FitzRoy had been sent to Yorkshire in the north of England where he had hundreds of courtiers and presided over his own court from his own throne, draped in cloth of gold. He was a virtual king in the north to whom people came to pay homage. With some persistence the great Cambridge scholar John Palsgrave was finally able to inspire FitzRoy to be a better student and in about 1530 went to Cambridge to study under Richard Croke.
Henry took FitzRoy with him to Calais in 1532, on his quest to meet with French monarch King Francis I to gain support for his relationship with Boleyn and his divorce from Catherine. Henry returned to England and FitzRoy stayed behind as surety for a treaty Henry had signed with Francis. His companion was Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, son of FitzRoy’s protector the Duke of Norfolk, who had become a close friend.
In 1533 Henry married Boleyn, effectively sidelining Mary as his heir. In September of that year a daughter, Elizabeth, was born and FitzRoy returned from France. Later that year FitzRoy was married to Mary Howard, sister of the Earl of Surrey and daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. This made Norfolk and the Howard family influential at court.
It was all for nothing though, From 1534 FitzRoy’s health began to fail him and in 1536 he died of consumption.
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