Henry made several attempts to remarry – and to remarry well, having several prestigious foreign princesses in view. But complications in international diplomacy prevented his second marriage – indeed, his whole foreign policy in his later years seems to have misfired.

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But then, Henry had never been very ambitious in foreign affairs. He had no wish to be a glorious conqueror or an international arbiter. He had sought merely to have his dynasty recognized by foreign rulers and to show his people that he could hold his own among European sovereigns: without any formalized policy, he yet managed to seize his chances so adeptly that he succeeded in his limited aims.

Henry VII, died on 21st April 1509. And perhaps in his very death his greatest achievement is revealed, for his son, Henry VIII, succeeded him peacefully, with no immediate rival to challenge for the crown. Less that a quarter of a century after Henry Tudor had risked all on Bosworth Field, his throne was indisputably secure in his dynasty. As Francis Bacon wrote, little more than a century after Henry VII’s death, What he minded, he compassed.

This article was written by Dulcie M. Ashdown and originally appeared in the June/July 2002 issue of British Heritage.

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