A quiz question · hard
Which Henry VIII wife was the only one beheaded by sword rather than axe?
Anne Boleyn was beheaded by an imported French swordsman at Tower Green on 19 May 1536 — a single sword stroke rather than the standard English axe. Catherine Howard was beheaded with an axe in 1542.
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The English King Whose Six Marriages Between 1509 and 1547 Produced Three Surviving Children, Two Beheaded Wives, and the English Reformation Henry VIII married six times between 1509 and 1547. Two of his wives — Anne Boleyn (1536) and Catherine Howard (1542) — were beheaded at the Tower of London. Two were set aside by annulment (Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves). One died of childbirth complications (Jane Seymour). One outlived him (Catherine Parr). The pursuit of his desired succession produced the foundational break with the papacy that became the English Reformation.
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