Henry VIII spent his entire reign obsessed with controlling the succession.

He broke from Rome to marry again. He executed wives and advisors in pursuit of a son,

and he passed multiple parliamentary acts to secure the throne for the tutors.

Yet when he finally died in January 1547, the king who had done everything to dictate the future

left behind a will so problematic that its legacy has been questioned ever since.

Was it valid at all given that it was signed with a mechanical dry stamp rather than by

Henry's own hand?

Why did it deliberately cut out the Scottish line of

Margaret Tudor only for her great-grandson James the 6th to inherit anyway in 1603? So my friend,

grab your water or your coffee or iced coffee for me today and get cozy and settle in because in

this video we are going to

unravel what Henry actually intended, the very messy reality of how his will was executed,

and how the controversy around it shaped the succession for decades after his death.

Hey friend, welcome back to the YouTube channel for the Renaissance English History Podcast.

I am your host, Heather. I've been podcasting on Tudor England since 2009 with my show,

which makes it the original Tudor History podcast. As always, I am delighted that you

are here with me today. We are going to talk about Henry the 8th's will and the controversy surrounding

it. Let's get started. By the last years of Henry's life, his once athletic frame was ruined. After his serious

jousting accident in 1536, he suffered from chronic pain and his ulcerated leg wounds that

never healed. Unable to exercise, he gained weight rapidly, his mobility declined, and he

increasingly withdrew from the act of life that he had once

enjoyed. By late 1546, anyone who saw the 55-year-old king could see that he was very near death.

...