Life with Henry

Abstract

Queen Elizabeth’s first two years of marriage—dominated by the birth of Arthur, the Lambert Simnel rebellion, and her coronation—repeated the pattern that had come to define her life: moments of glory interspersed with periods of peril. Now her wheel of fortune was about to embark on a long upward swing of gracious living and pleasurable pastimes before it once more plunged this queen into the depths of despair. While Queen Elizabeth and her family suffered the traumas commonplace to the era—the early deaths of three children, bouts with disease—her life with Henry was, on the whole, quite gratifying. Although another rebellion would add considerable uncertainty to Henry’s reign, Elizabeth of York looked forward to 14 years of happy marriage and a thriving family.