Henry VIII , Tudor king of England ( 1509-1547 ), and founder of the Church of England . The son of Henry VII , he profoundly influenced the character of the English monarchy . Henry was born in London on June 28 , 1491 , and on the death of his father in 1509 succeeded to the throne ( his elder brother Arthur having died in 1502 ) . He then married his brother’s widow , Catherine of Aragon , having been betrother to her through a papal dispensation secured in 1503 .

This was the first of Henry’s six marriages , all of which were affected by the political and religious conditions of the time and by the monarch’s increasingly despotic behaviour . At the beginning of his reign Henry’s good looks and hearty personality his fondness for sport and the hunt , and his military prowess endeared him to his subjects . A monarch of the Renaissance , he entertained numerous scholars and artists , including the German painter Hans Holbein the Younger who painted several portraits of the king and members of his court.