Photoplay Studies (1935-1937)

A Guide to Nine Days a Queen King Henry VIII on His Deathbed former lady-in-waiting to Anne and Catharine, much to his joy gave him a son, but she died soon afterwards. Naturally the Seymour family were honored and rose to positions of power. Although Henry later married Anne of Cleves (whom he speedily divorced), and shortly thereafter Catharine Howard (whom he caused to be executed), and finally Catharine Parr (who was destined to outlive him), there were no children by these marriages. The settlement of this problem of the succession to the throne, upon which the photoplay hinges, gave the king much anxiety, not only because of the religious division of England but because of the situation on the continent. As the reign closed these foreign relations became matters of prime importance. Henry VIII was naturally anxious that there should be no break in Tudor policy due to any uncertainty as to the succession. With his strong hand removed, chaos and anarchy threatened. In 1544, parliament had passed an Act of Succession, the final act of a series, conferring the crown upon Prince Edward and his heirs, and failing such issue, upon Princess Mary, and then upon the Princess Elizabeth. Beyond that point power was conferred upon Henry to regulate the succession by will. The king accordingly made a will (1546), in which he allowed these arrangements to stand, providing for the succession in the event that his own children died without heirs. He passed over the heirs of his sister Margaret (represented in 1547 in the person of Mary Queen of Scots), and ordered that in such a contingency, the crown should pass to the heirs of his sister Mary. She had first married King Louis XII of France and on his death Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. (See When Knighthood Was in Flower.) At Henry's death Lady Janp Grey's mother, the daughter of this marriage, was