Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

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Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset bigraphy, stories - Royal bastard of Henry VIII

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset : biography

15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset (15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536), was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged. He was the younger half-brother of Mary I, future Queen of England (daughter of Catherine of Aragon), as well as the older half-brother of the future Elizabeth I (daughter of Anne Boleyn) and Edward VI (son of Jane Seymour). Through his mother he was the elder brother of Elizabeth Tailboys, 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme, George Tailboys, 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme and Robert Tailboys, 3rd Baron Tailboys of Kyme.

Possible heir to the throne

At the time of Fitzroy’s death an Act was going through Parliament which disinherited Henry’s daughter Elizabeth as his heir and permitted the King to designate his successor, whether legitimate or not. There is no evidence that Henry intended to proclaim Richmond his heir, but in theory the Act would have permitted him to do so if he wished.Murphy,172–174 The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V on 8 July 1536 that Henry VIII had made a statute allowing him to nominate a successor, but thought the Duke of Richmond would not succeed to the throne by it, as he was consumptive and now diagnosed incurable.

Marriage

When Henry VIII began the process of having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, it was suggested that FitzRoy marry his own half-sister Mary in order to prevent the annulment and strengthen FitzRoy’s claim to the throne. Anxious to prevent the annulment and Henry’s eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope was even prepared to grant a special dispensation for their marriage.

At age 14, on 28 November 1533 the Duke married Mary, the only daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He was on excellent terms with his brother-in-law, the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The marriage was never consummated but Fitzroy left two illegitimate daughters.Elton 1977, p. 255.

Death

The Duke’s promising career came to an abrupt end in July 1536. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Richmond became sickly some time before he died, although Richmond’s biographer Beverley A. Murphy cites his documented public appearances and activities in April and May of that year, without exciting comment on his health, as evidence to the contrary.Murphy, 174 He was reported ill with "consumption" (usually identified as tuberculosis, but possibly another serious lung complaint) in early July, and died at St. James’s Palace on 23 July 1536.

Norfolk gave orders that the body be wrapped in lead and taken in a closed cart for secret interment, but his servants put the body in a straw-filled wagon. The only mourners were two attendants who followed at a distance. The Duke’s ornate tomb is in Framlingham Church, Suffolk. One of the houses at the local high school is named after him.

His father outlived him by just over a decade, and was succeeded by his legitimate son Edward, born shortly after Fitzroy’s death. Most historians maintain that Edward, like Henry Fitzroy, died of tuberculosis. It is said that Henry Fitzroy might have been made king had Henry VIII died without a legitimate son:

Nursery

The boy’s upbringing until the moment when he entered Bridewell Palace in June 1525, six years following his birth remains shrouded in confusion. Although the boy was illegitimate, this did not mean that young Henry lived remotely from and had no contact with his father. On the contrary it has been suggested by his biographer Beverly Murphy that a letter from a royal nurse implies that FitzRoy had also been part of the royal nursery, and he was often at court after 1530.Lipscomb, Suzannah, 1536: The year that changed Henry VIII, pg. 91. The boy was born in the sixteenth century, and at that time households were in a state of constant movement and transition, so it is unlikely that FitzRoy grew up in any one house. He was most likely transferred to household to household around London like his royal siblings: Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. In 1519 the only surviving legitimate child of the King was the three-year-old Princess Mary. In that year her household was reorganised suggesting that Henry made some provisions for his only son. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury replaced Lady Margaret Bryan as lady Mistress of Mary’s household. At the same time at least two of Mary’s carers appear to have left her service. In a letter written after the fall of Anne Boleyn in 1536, Bryan seems to confirm that she was responsible for all of Henry’s children during their infancy: When my lady Mary was born it pleased the King’s grace [to make] me lady mistress, and made me a baroness,and so I have been a m [other to the] children his grace have had since. Unless her grammar is at fault this indicates another child between Mary and Elizabeth who was her charge in 1536. Since Edward was not yet born, that child must have been Henry FitzRoy.