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The Tudors · A Viewer's Companion

Six wives, three Catherines, and a court full of Thomases — here's the marriage-go-round, in order.

The problem with Henry VIII's court isn't the family tree — it's the turnover. Queens arrive numbered and leave beheaded, ministers rise and fall like tides, and half the men are named Thomas. This chart keeps it straight: crimson borders are Tudor blood, gold borders are the six queens — each with a numbered badge and her fate — and steel borders are the men of the court who ran the country until it killed them.

Tudor blood the six wives the court marriage parent → child mistress / illegitimate 1 which marriage (m.1–m.6) † dead before the series ends
brother and sister m. his three children — the family wager m.1 m.2 m.3 m.4 m.5 m.6 his mistress — never a wife their son — acknowledged, made Duke of Richmond the King’s chief ministers — Wolsey, then More, then Cromwell. None survived the job. Charles Brandon † Duke of Suffolk · best friend Henry Cavill † in the series finale Margaret Tudor † Henry’s sister · a composite Gabrielle Anwar smothers her first husband Thomas Boleyn patriarch · Earl of Wiltshire Nick Dunning wagered his daughters ♛ Henry VIII King of England Jonathan Rhys Meyers married six times Bessie Blount lady-in-waiting · mistress Ruta Gedmintas mother of Fitzroy George Boleyn † Anne’s brother Pádraic Delaney beheaded with Anne Mary Boleyn Anne’s sister Perdita Weeks the king’s mistress first 1 Catherine of Aragon † m.1 · Spanish princess Maria Doyle Kennedy divorced — then died 2 Anne Boleyn † m.2 · the Boleyn queen Natalie Dormer beheaded 3 Jane Seymour † m.3 · gave him his son A. Briem · A. Wallis died after childbirth 4 Anne of Cleves m.4 · the German match Joss Stone divorced — survived 5 Catherine Howard † m.5 · a teenage queen Tamzin Merchant beheaded 6 Catherine Parr m.6 · the last queen Joely Richardson survived Mary Tudor by Catherine of Aragon Sarah Bolger the future Mary I Elizabeth Tudor by Anne Boleyn Laoise Murray the future Elizabeth I Edward Tudor by Jane Seymour Eoin Murtagh heir — the future Edward VI Henry Fitzroy † the king’s bastard son Zac Jenciragic dies a child in S1 Cardinal Wolsey † Lord Chancellor nº1 Sam Neill † by his own hand, S1 Thomas More † Lord Chancellor nº2 Jeremy Northam beheaded for silence, S2 Thomas Cromwell † the king’s fixer James Frain the Cleves match kills him
Hover over any portrait to enlarge it. How to read it: gold lines are marriages — Henry's six hang from one gold rail in order, m.1 through m.6, matching the numbered badge on each queen's card. Grey lines run from parent to child: each of Henry's three legitimate children sits directly beneath his or her mother. The dashed crimson line is the king's early affair with Bessie Blount, which produced Henry Fitzroy — acknowledged, ennobled, and dead in childhood. The three ministers at the bottom aren't family; they just ran England, one after another, until each fell. Covers all four seasons.

Why the chart matters: the whole reign is a search for one healthy son

Every divorce, execution, and religious earthquake in this show traces back to the marriage rail above.

The rhyme

Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived

The old schoolroom rhyme is the show's actual plot, in order. m.1 Catherine of Aragon — divorced (and soon dead). m.2 Anne Boleyn — beheaded. m.3 Jane Seymour — died. m.4 Anne of Cleves — divorced. m.5 Catherine Howard — beheaded. m.6 Catherine Parr — survived. The numbered badges on the chart follow the rhyme exactly.

The break with Rome

One divorce, one new Church

Catherine of Aragon gave Henry a daughter but no living son, and the Pope refused to annul the marriage. So Henry made himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and annulled it himself. That single decision powers seasons 1–3: it destroys Wolsey (who couldn't deliver the annulment), kills Thomas More (who wouldn't endorse it), and hands Cromwell the country to remake.

The children

One heir per mother — and all three will rule

Each child sits under a different queen: Mary under Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth under Anne Boleyn, Edward under Jane Seymour. The succession order is the reverse of their ages: Edward first (the boy), then Mary, then Elizabeth. The series ends with Henry still on the throne — but history has all three of these children wear the crown in exactly that order.

The family bet

The Boleyns gambled two daughters on one king

Thomas Boleyn steered first Mary (mistress), then Anne (queen) into Henry's orbit, and the family harvested titles for it. When Anne failed to produce a son, the fall was total: Anne and her brother George were executed in the same week of season 2 on charges cooked up by Cromwell, and Thomas slunk home to die in disgrace.

The constant

Brandon is the only friend who lasts all four seasons

Charles Brandon (Henry Cavill) is the king's jousting partner, fellow womanizer, and conscience-of-last-resort. The show marries him to Princess Margaret, Henry's sister — a composite character: the real Brandon married Henry's other sister, Mary Rose, and the writers merged the two women into one. Margaret dies in season 1; Brandon serves on until the series' final hour.

The name decoder

Tudor England had about five first names to go around. Keep these apart:

Three queens named Catherine

Catherine of Aragon = m.1, the Spanish first wife. Catherine Howard = m.5, the teenager who loses her head in season 4. Catherine Parr = m.6, the widow who outlives Henry. Three Catherines, three completely different fates.

Two queens named Anne

Anne Boleyn = m.2, beheaded in the season 2 finale. Anne of Cleves = m.4, the German bride Henry rejected on sight — she agreed to the divorce, kept her head, and stayed at court as "the King's Beloved Sister." The best exit anyone manages.

The Thomas minefield

Thomas More = the saintly chancellor (Jeremy Northam). Thomas Cromwell = the ruthless fixer (James Frain). Thomas Boleyn = Anne's scheming father. Thomas Cranmer = the archbishop. Thomas Culpepper = Catherine Howard's lover. Thomas Tallis = just a musician. Six Thomases; only Cranmer and Tallis die of natural causes.

Two Marys

Mary Tudor = Henry's daughter by Catherine of Aragon (Sarah Bolger), the future Mary I. Mary Boleyn = Anne's sister, Henry's mistress before Anne. One is a princess; the other is why the Anne courtship was scandalous even before Rome got involved.

Jane Seymour, played twice

Not a mix-up in the family — a recast: Anita Briem plays Jane at the end of season 2, Annabelle Wallis in season 3. Same queen, same fate: she delivers the longed-for son and dies days later. (And no relation to the actress Jane Seymour.)

Edward & Edward

Edward Tudor = the baby prince, heir to everything. Edward Seymour = Jane's ambitious brother, the prince's uncle, waiting in the wings to run the boy's regency.

Margaret, who was really two people

The show's Princess Margaret merges Henry's two real sisters (Margaret and Mary Rose). She's shipped off to marry the aged King of Portugal, smothers him with a pillow, and secretly weds Brandon on the way home. Historically the elderly king was French and died on his own — but the pillow makes better television.

Bessie vs. the wives

Bessie Blount never gets a number — mistresses don't. But her son Henry Fitzroy is the proof Henry clings to that he can father a boy, which is exactly why he blames each wife when no son comes.

Not family — but always in the room

Thomas Cranmer as seen in the show, played by Hans Matheson

Thomas Cranmer

Hans Matheson

Archbishop of Canterbury — annuls whatever marriage the king needs annulled, and quietly survives everyone who promoted him.

Ambassador Eustace Chapuys as seen in the show, played by Anthony Brophy

Eustace Chapuys

Anthony Brophy

The Emperor's ambassador — Catherine of Aragon and Mary's tireless advocate, and the court's sharpest pair of eyes for all four seasons.

Thomas Culpepper as seen in the show, played by Torrance Coombs

Thomas Culpepper †

Torrance Coombs

Groom of the king's privy chamber — and Catherine Howard's lover. The affair costs him his head, and hers, in season 4.

Edward Seymour as seen in the show, played by Max Brown

Edward Seymour

Max Brown

Jane's brother, Earl of Hertford — rises with his sister's marriage and positions himself to rule England through his nephew, the future boy king.

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk as seen in the show, played by Henry Czerny

Duke of Norfolk

Henry Czerny

Thomas Howard — uncle to both beheaded queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. A season 1 schemer the show quietly retires afterward.

Scope: all four seasons of the Showtime series (2007–2010) — which is to say, Henry's reign only. The show ends with the king still on his throne, before Edward, Mary, or Elizabeth ever rule; their reigns are history's epilogue, not the series'. Portraits are stills from the Tudors wiki, cropped and served from this site so nothing hotlinks an external host. A † marks characters dead before the final credits.