Expert: Mark Smith - 3/4/2005

Question
Which of his wifes did he divorce?

Answer
Hello Stew.
There's a little poem to remember what happened to Henry VIII's wives - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. So the simple answer is two; his first wife Katherine of Aragon in 1533 and his fourth wife Anne of Cleves in 1540.
But in reality it's more complicated. Henry didn't actually divorce Katherine of Aragon, he repudiated her. That is to say he announced that their 24 year marriage had never been legal and therefore he simply exiled Katherine from Court and married Anne Boleyn in January 1533. Four months later, to confirm the King's decision, Parliament decreed that the marriage had been illegal all along and that no actual divorce was necessary. If he had agreed to a divorce it would indicate that the marriage was lawful but Henry had no intention of allowing that. As a result of this "unlawful" marriage his daughter Mary by Katherine was declared illegitimate.
His "second" divorce was more straightforward. He married Anne of Cleves in January 1540, but took an immediate dislike to her. Just six months later in July they were amicably divorced with Anne receiving a generous settlement in return for her swift co-operation in bringing the marriage to an end.
Mark