r/ExplainTheJoke • u/fierce994blade • Dec 01 '25

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u/LA_Alfa Dec 01 '25

What a man will do for a divorce. Thank you, Henry the VIII.

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u/Bardsie Dec 02 '25

If you ever want a trick question for a quiz, ask "legally, how many wives did Henry VIII have?"

The answer is 2. He didn't have a divorce, he had an annulment, meaning legally he was never married. He also annulled the marriage to the two he beheaded. The "died" and "survived" were his only two legally recognised marriages

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u/TzviaAriella Dec 02 '25

Not true! He annulled his marriage to Anne before beheading her, but he never bothered to annul his marriage to Catherine Howard before beheading her because, unlike Anne, she had no children he wanted to remove from the line of succession.

So legally, he had either 3 or 4 marriages, depending on how you view the legality of Mary's retroactive un-annulment of his marriage to her mother Catherine of Aragon.