Throughout history there have been fewer Kings and Queen’s who’s notorious legacy is
as brutal as Henry VIIIs.
The 6 wifed King was known for executing 2 of his own wives, and some of his closest
friends and he could turn on someone very quickly.
He was a man of short temper, and in his kingdom 70,000 people were executed during his 4 decades
on the throne, but despite this when he died he was greatly loved by his people.
However after his death the King was interred in an unremarkable vault inside the quire
of Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel, but his reputation in the history books for
being a brutal monarch persisted.
But one way in which the Tudor King was commemorated was with a display in the longest running
exhibition which can still be seen in the Tower of London.
The Line of the King’s display’s the King’s huge armour, however in the past a wooden
effigy of the Tudor Monarch was displayed, but today only the head survives.
The Line of the King’s was first put together between 1688 and 1692, and the Board of Ordnance
decided to create an exhibition that promoted the Stuart monarchy.
But over time the display became a huge celebration of the Kings that had gone before, and there
were many life sized wooden horses which featured effigies of the Kings, and these effigies
were made to seem lifelike, and almost as if the King was alive sitting on horseback
in their armour.
They used the best woodcarvers across the nation to do this, and the featured good kings,
and those who were well liked such as Edward III and Henry VIII, but King’s who were
seen as bad rulers such as John and Richard III were excluded.
It was a point of honour for a monarch to be honoured on the Line of Kings, and over
the following centuries there were additions made to the lineup.
However Henry VIII was immediately placed on the exhibition, and the carvers who made
his effigy would have been given instructions to make the Tudor monarch look powerful and
mighty on horseback.
But they were also asked to make the effigy head of Henry VIII, and would have done this
using paintings to help them.
The plan was for Henry VIII’s armour to be exhibited on this effigy.
Within a few years of Henry VIII being crowned Henry VIII had a silver and engraved set of
armour made for him by a Flemish or Italian armorer inside the new royal armour workshop
at Greenwich.
Inside the Line of Kings today, there are a couple of suits of armour that are exhibited
that belonged to Henry VIII.
One of these was a huge and lavish suit which features some incredible symbols of the King’s
royal family and heritage, including Tudor roses and also there are the initials K and
H intertwined, those being the King and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
But there is also another suit of armour on display that belonged to the King in his final
years, and it shows the physical deterioration of Henry VIII.
The first suit of armour was made when he was young and considered a strong and handsome
monarch, but the second suit is much larger and would have been worn by Henry when he
was an obese and bigger man.
It shows how he changed in his last few years, however the Line of King’s today shows both
these suits of armour belonging to Henry VIII, but there is also another artefact which is
captivating that belongs to Henry VIII.
The effigy head of the King which was exhibited along with his armour can also be seen, and
this shows the King looking rather life like, with his facial features being similar to
the many portraits of the Tudor Monarch.
The effigy head of Henry would have had a helmet placed on top, and it would have been
secured to the effigy’s body, which was then covered in the armour and placed on top
of the horses.
However today only the head of Henry VIII’s effigy is on display, meaning that somewhere
the body of the effigy had gone missing.
Of course it could be in storage inside of the Royal Armouries collection, however there
is a possibility that along with other effigy’s bodies it has been lost to time.
This is the case with the effigy body of Henry VIII’s daughter Elizabeth, who was accepted
to be inside the line of Kings.
We know that the body was on display, and was sat on top of a horse but during the Second
World War it’s believed that a number of the effigy’s and also the wooden horses
were moved out of the Tower of London to Whitehall and underneath Whitehall for their safety
away from the threat of bombs dropped from German Aircraft.
During one attack, there were a number of artefacts linked to the Line of Kings which
had been moved but were affected when a bomb landed nearby and showered them in rubble
damaging a number of the horses beyond repair.
But today the effigy head of King Henry VIII is a haunting reminder of the Tudor King’s
reign as a monarch who oversaw the executions of two of his wives, and some of the most
prominent and skilled courtiers inside of his court.
Staring into the face of Henry inside the Tower of London is rather intimidating, as
his eyes are piercing and his countenance is serious as if he is about to order another
execution.
But the effigy would have been incredibly grand when in the Line of Kings on horseback
wearing the armour which was made for him over 500 years ago.
The armour today is incredible but the body which it once sat on in effigy form is missing,
but the King’s real body is buried the middle of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
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