Episode 3

Lucy Worsley revisits key events in the lives of Henry VIII's six wives, revealing how each attempted to exert influence on the king and the Tudor court; this episode follows Henry's marriage annulment to Anne of Cleves due to non-consummation. Middle-aged Henry then marries teenager Catherine Howard two weeks later, only for her to be convicted of treason and beheaded. Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr, is a good stepmother to his children, but her religious views differed greatly from the king's. Her book, Prayers or Meditations, was the first book to be written in English by a woman, but its popularity threatened Henry's advisors. Lucy observes as Katherine narrowly escapes being arrested for treason. Henry dies and his son Edward VI takes the throne, Katherine remarries and gets pregnant but tragically dies a week after the baby is born.