In a previous blog I talked about the children of Henry VIII and the relationships between them [Read that blog here] I talked about Edward (VI), Mary (I) and Elizabeth (I). However, there was a fourth child.
His name was Henry Fitzroy, the openly acknowledged illegitimate son of Henry VIII. The boy's mother was Henry VIII's mistress, Elizabeth Blount.
Henry Fitzroy was born in 1519, conceived around the time of one of Katherine of Aragon's many confinements. Henry VIII threw caution to the wind and openly acknowledged the boy as his son. His name 'Fitzroy' being a Norman term meaning 'son of the king' and Henry, obviously, after himself. Perhaps it was the fact that after 10 years of marriage to Katherine they had only one daughter, this latest confinement resulting in yet another miscarriage. Any slight on the king's virility and capability to produce sons must surely be at least partly addressed through the knowledge that he had a thriving son, Henry must have thought, even if it wasn't by his wife!
Was this purely down to ego? There's no doubt that as egos go, Henry's was pretty large but then it wasn't above him to play long term politics as well.This was at a stage where there was no alternative to his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. Was he hedging his bets on making Henry heir to the throne? Was Fitzroy his only option for providing more than one heir to his throne?