When people talk about the Tudors, they usually start with the guy who had six wives. It’s always Henry VIII this and "Divorced, Beheaded, Died" that. But honestly? The story of Henry VII of England children is actually way more interesting if you’re into high-stakes political gambling and family drama that literally reshaped the map of Europe. We aren't just talking about names on a family tree. We are talking about kids who were used as human poker chips before they could even read.
Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, had a complicated house. History books often give you different numbers for how many kids they actually had. Some say seven, some say eight. The reality is that the infant mortality rate in the late 15th century was absolutely brutal, even if you lived in a palace. You’ve got the big names everyone knows, like Arthur and Henry, but then there are the daughters like Margaret and Mary who ended up being the secret architects of modern Britain and France.
Who were the children of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York?
Let’s get the roster straight first. Arthur was the firstborn, the "Prince of Wales" who was supposed to be the next Great King. Then came Margaret, then the famous Henry (who became Henry VIII), and then Mary. Those are the four who actually grew up and did stuff. But the couple also had Elizabeth, Edmund, and Catherine—children who died so young that they are often just footnotes in the massive tomb of Westminster Abbey.
Henry VII wasn’t just a cold, tax-collecting machine, despite what your history teacher might have said. When his son Arthur died, he and Elizabeth actually comforted each other in a way that was pretty rare for royals back then. They were a real couple. They felt the weight of losing their kids, not just as "heirs," but as parents. It’s kinda heartbreaking when you look at the records of the funeral costs for the infants.
Arthur Tudor: The King Who Never Was
Arthur was the hope of the family. He was named after the legendary King Arthur because Henry VII was obsessed with proving his Welsh lineage and legitimacy. If Arthur had lived, we wouldn’t have had the Reformation the way we did. No six wives. No break from Rome. Basically, the entire world would look different.
He was married off to Catherine of Aragon in 1501. It was a massive deal. The Spanish alliance was the crown jewel of Henry VII's foreign policy. But Arthur was always described as a bit thin, maybe a little frail. Just five months after the wedding, he died at Ludlow Castle. Most historians, like David Starkey, point to the "sweating sickness," a mysterious illness that just doesn't exist anymore. Others think it was tuberculosis. Whatever it was, it left a massive power vacuum.
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Margaret Tudor: The Grandmother of Two Nations
Margaret is someone people really need to talk about more. She was sent off to Scotland at age 13 to marry James IV. Imagine that. You’re a young girl, leaving London for the "wilds" of the north to marry a man much older than you just to stop two countries from killing each other. It was called the Treaty of Perpetual Peace. Spoiler: It didn't last.
But Margaret was tough. She became the Queen of Scots and, eventually, the grandmother of both Mary, Queen of Scots, and her husband Lord Darnley. This is huge because it's her bloodline that eventually led to the Union of the Crowns. When Elizabeth I died childless, it was Margaret’s great-grandson, James, who took the English throne. In the long run, Margaret won the dynastic game.
The Second Son Who Changed Everything
Then there’s Henry. The spare.
Because Arthur was the golden boy, Henry was originally kept in the background. Some rumors suggest he was being groomed for a career in the church, which is ironic given what he ended up doing to the Catholic Church later on. When Arthur died, Henry became the sole male hope for the Tudor line.
You can see the shift in how Henry VII treated him. He became overprotective. He wouldn't let young Henry do anything "dangerous" like jousting or traveling too far. This weird, stifling upbringing probably contributed to the massive, ego-driven explosion of personality we saw once he finally became Henry VIII and broke free of his father’s shadow.
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Mary Tudor: The French Queen and the Rebel
Mary was widely considered the most beautiful of the Henry VII of England children. She was the "Rose" of the family. Like her sister, she was used for a political marriage, sent to marry the King of France, Louis XII. He was 52 and she was 18. He died only three months after the wedding.
The cool part? Mary didn't want to be a pawn anymore. She secretly married Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, without her brother Henry VIII's permission. That was a big "no-no" that could have ended in an execution. She’s the grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen." Mary had a streak of independence that really defines the Tudor spirit.
Why the younger siblings are often forgotten
It’s easy to focus on the survivors, but the loss of the younger children—Elizabeth, Edmund, and Catherine—actually tells us a lot about the Tudor court.
- Elizabeth Tudor died at age three. Her death hit the king hard; he spent a fortune on her lead coffin.
- Edmund Tudor lived to be about fifteen months. He was the Duke of Somerset.
- Katherine Tudor was the final child. Her birth in 1503 actually led to the death of her mother, Elizabeth of York, from puerperal fever.
When Elizabeth of York died, the heart went out of the Tudor dynasty. Henry VII became a recluse. He stopped the grand celebrations. The family of Henry VII of England children was suddenly fractured.
The DNA of the British Monarchy
If you look at the current British Royal Family, they don't descend from Henry VIII. His line died out with Elizabeth I. They actually descend from Margaret Tudor.
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That’s the "actionable" takeaway here. History often looks at the loudest person in the room—Henry VIII—but the real staying power of the Henry VII of England children came from the daughters. Their marriages, though forced and often miserable, created the genealogical bridges that allowed the United Kingdom to exist today.
What to do with this history?
If you're looking to dive deeper into the lives of these specific royals, you should check out the primary source documents digitized by the British Library. Specifically, look for the "Northumberland Manuscript" or the "Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York." These records show exactly what the kids were wearing, what toys they had (like a "rocking horse" for Arthur), and how much was spent on their education.
To truly understand the Tudors, stop looking at the wives and start looking at the siblings. That's where the real power moves were made.
- Visit Westminster Abbey: Most of these children are buried there. Seeing the scale of their monuments vs. the smallness of the infant tombs is a reality check.
- Read "The Sisters of Henry VIII" by Maria Perry: It’s a fantastic deep dive into Margaret and Mary’s lives.
- Research the "Sweating Sickness": It’s a fascinating medical mystery that took Arthur's life and changed English history forever.
The Tudor dynasty wasn't just a series of beheadings; it was a fragile family trying to survive a very dangerous century. Knowing the stories of all the Henry VII of England children gives you the full picture of how they managed to pull it off.