During the Tudor period, there was a tradition with high status individuals such as Kings
and Queens following their deaths.
Many Tudor Kings and Queens were embalmed after their deaths, some against their own
will.
Elizabeth I for example was terrified about the process of embalming, and she informed
her ministers and advisors not to do this to her, and to just simply bury her and inter
her.
However they did not listen, and her remains were subjected to this against her wishes.
But one question remains about the most infamous and notorious King of England, the 6 wifed
Henry VIII.
Following his death, what happened to him?
After visiting a castle recently, I read how his heart was removed after his death, but
what is the story of the missing heart of Henry VIII?
Sir Thomas More, one of the Henry VIII’s closest advisors summed up the notorious King
in a quote.
He said, ‘“You often boast to me that you have the king’s ear and often have fun
with him, freely and according to your whims.
This is like having fun with tamed lions – often it is harmless, but just as often there is
fear of harm.
Often he roars in rage for no known reason, and suddenly the fun becomes fatal.”
He was a very unpredictable man, and this would result in the executions of two of his
wives, and even some of his closest friends.
The man who even uttered that quote was dragged out to Tower Hill and was beheaded by an axeman,
following Henry turning on him.
However on Friday 28th January 1547, the once handsome and virtuous king, and great hope
for the Tudor dynasty King Henry VIII died inside of Whitehall Palace at the age of 55.
He left behind him three children who would all becoming Kings and Queens, however in
his final days he had realised what a life he had led.
Days before his death, Henry saw his confessor and he received Holy Communion as death was
on the horizon.
The royal doctors were terrified to tell the King of his impending death, as they worried
that the King whilst on his deathbed would accuse them of treason.
Around midnight Thomas Cranmer was summoned to the King’s bedside, and his final moments
were described as, ‘“At the end there was no master and servant, no prince and churchman;
just a priest preparing a departing soul for eternity.
Cranmer begged Henry to give a sign that he trusted Christ for salvation and, in response,
he felt the grip on his hand tighten slightly.
It was an evangelical departure: no anointing; no reading of Latin prayers; just a simple
acknowledgment of the all-sufficient atoning work of Christ.
Cranmer would have been glad of that.”
2 hours later, Henry VIII died in his bed.
His exact cause of death is not known, however some historians have debated that he died
of a pulmonary embolism.
But then the question came to embalming the King.
For two days after his death, Henry’s body was left undisturbed inside of his bedroom,
and meals were still being brought to the room so that no one would get suspicious about
the King’s death.
It was on the 31st January that the death of the King was announced through Parliament,
and then Edward VI was taken to the Tower of London and proclaimed the King.
But for a few days, the King’s body was embalmed and prepared.
At the time, body preservation and embalming the dead was practiced across Europe, and
there were many techniques used that were influenced from different civilisations and
cultures.
However it was mostly reserved for royalty, as the embalming process was costly, and it
was the most important people who would be embalmed.
This process was usually performed on Kings, Queens and members of royalty, and it was
performed by barber surgeons, doctors, physicians and other specific healers.
It was meant to delay the process of decay with the body between the death and then the
burial, and it also allowed for dead bodies to be transported across large distances if
they were needed.
Embalming also allowed the remains to be placed on display and shown for some time in front
of their subjects before they were buried too.
The process during the Tudor period involved washing and eviscerating the body, and the
body would be cut a number of times.
It would then be sluiced out and cleaned with a number of disinfecting fluids, and then
the cavities were stuffed with aromatic herbs and spices, including thyme and lavender.
The body was then prepared following this, with the bowels and entrails being cut and
removed.
These were often buried in other places, sometimes where the person died.
But one aspect of the embalming process was sometimes the removal of the heart.
This means that when the entrails were cut from the body, and the cavities were stuffed
with herbs and other items, that the heart would also be removed from the body, and this
cavity where it was would be stuffed.
Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour had her heart removed following her death, and
this was then buried beneath the high altar of Hampton Court Palace, and it was there
where Jane died, but also where she gave birth to her son, the King’s heir Edward VI.
The symbolism of removing the heart and burying it away from the body was so that the person’s
heart would be close to the centre of their spiritual life, or their religion.
But in the centuries after, hearts were removed from bodies and were buried in places symbolic
and important to the deceased individual.
After Henry VIII’s death, his body was bathed, and washed with different oils by his servants
and also the royal physicians and doctors.
It was then cut open, and was embalmed with spices and various other items.
it was said Henry VIII’s body was prepared by, ‘spurging, cleansing, bowling, searing,
embalming, furnishing and dressing with spices.’
The Lord Steward of the household had ordered the royal apothecary to supply ‘unguents,’
including cloves, oil of balm, tow, myrrh and sweet smelling nigella and musk, either
powdered and divided into seven lots for the surgeons to use in embalming, and contained
in ten bags to be put into the coffin.’
These resources cost thousands to be used in Henry VIII’s embalming.
But at some point like his third wife Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s heart was then removed
from his body.
It was cut from his body, and it was then said to have been placed inside of a lead
box ready for burial.
It would have been strange if Henry’s wives heart was removed, but his was not.
At the time this was also tradition to happen to Kings and high status individuals.
But this begs the question as to where Henry VIII’s heart remains today.
We know that his body is interred inside of a vault with Jane Seymour’s body inside
of Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel.
The King’s remains lie under the Quire, close to where Elizabeth II’s remains were
recently interred.
But the question as to where the King’s heart has been buried is harder to answer.
There are some possibilities as to where would have been a good place to inter the heart
of Henry VIII.
The first suggestion would be to be buried near to Jane Seymour’s heart, so that even
in death their hearts would be close.
But another suggestion could be that his heart would have been buried in the spiritual home
of religion in England, as in Westminster Abbey.
But actually the only documented information that is readily available regarding where
Henry VIII’s heart is buried eludes to the lead casket containing the heart of England’s
most brutal King being buried elsewhere.
The only reference to Henry VIII’s heart and it’s burial location that is readily
available states, ‘Henry VIII’s entrails and bowels were buried in a lead box in the
chapel of the Palace of Westminster and his body in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.’
So at the heart of the Palace of Westminster, which today is the seat of government in the
United Kingdom, Henry VIII’s heart is allegedly buried somewhere.
It’s possible that this could be specifically St Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster,
as this was one part of Parliament which has stood for centuries, however it was damaged
by first in the 19th century.
There is much mystery about the remains of Henry VIII and also his heart, and whether
it is still able to be located today.
Henry VIII was a man who many believed had a black heart and a dark and evil side.
He was a man who would happily order executions, even of his closest friends.
But the story of his heart is one which requires deeper research, and a visit to the archives
to put this to bed once and for all.
Thanks for watching
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