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Quotes About Henry VIII

We have far too many Tudors. Henry VIII is far too over-rated. He's become the ultimate brand name, like the Marks & Spencers of a high street of British history. I'm more interested in King Herod.
~ Simon Sebag Montefiore
Until the early middle years of the sixteenth century, when King Henry VIII began to quarrel with Rome about the dialectics of divorce and decapitation, a short and swift route to torture and death was the attempt to print the Bible in English. It's
~ Christopher Hitchens
However, not everyone who was entitled to an elaborate funeral received one. When Jane Seymour died in 1537, a fortnight after the birth of Edward VI, Henry VIII made strenuous attempts to restrict extravagant mourning.
~ Catharine Arnold
Obviously I've had this fascination with aristocracy my whole life. Like, the kings and queens of 500 years ago... they're like rock stars. If there was a 'TMZ' 500 years ago, it would be about, like, Henry VIII and Marie Antoinette and all those people.
~ Lorde
Constitutionally, a revising chamber is useful and important. The first occasion I know of in history when the Lords fulfilled this role was in 1539 when Henry VIII's act of proclamations was neutered by their lordships so effectively that the Act was repealed in 1547.
~ Jacob Rees-Mogg
By the middle of Henry VIII's reign, the white meats — that is, dairy products — were considered common fare and people from all classes would eat meat whenever they could get it.
~ Clarissa Dickson Wright
Wolsey and Henry VIII, it has to be said, were not exceptional in their love of the table. The English of Tudor times had a reputation throughout Europe for gluttony. Indeed, overeating was regarded as the English vice in the same way that lust was the French one and drunkenness that of the Germans (although looking at the amount of alcohol consumed in England, I expect the English probably ran a close second to the Germans).
~ Clarissa Dickson Wright
When you look at the history of the monarchy, there's one period that stands out where it is held in universally, awe-inspired reverence and esteem. It's not Henry VIII, its certainly not Victoria; it's the first 70 years of the 20th century.
~ David Starkey
dearest sister," subject to a judicial examination of Henry VIII's will.
~ John Guy
after Henry VIII's break with Rome and burning more than three hundred Protestants at the stake
~ John Guy
The wars within the British Isles resumed under Henry VIII, who acceded to the English throne in 1509.
~ John Guy
less from Henry VIII's aggression than from James V's decision to launch a counterattack
~ John Guy
the ballad written hundreds of years ago in England told of heartbreak experienced then, and now, in Sophie's own heart. It was universal, being cast away; it surpassed time and space. It was said that Henry VIII composed the song for Anne Boleyn. Another discarded wife.
~ Nancy Thayer