Results tagged “henry viii”

On June 11, 1509, the Franciscan Church at Greenwich witnessed a wedding that would have seismic implications for the future course of the country.

The wedding was between King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon who became Queen a few days after the ceremony.

Henry VIII gave the forerunner of the Corporation of Trinity House a royal charter in 1514 and it received a coat of arms in 1573 along with the authority to create beacons and signs "for the better navigation of the coasts of England".

Since then it has pioneered the techniques of lighthouses and signage often worked at its Thames side workshop at Trinity Buoy Wharf established in 1803.

The last performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII at The Globe Theatre brought down the house. Literally.

For the last time the play was staged at the Globe in 1613, a cannon fired as part of the performance caused the thatched roof to catch fire and the theatre was destroyed.

The controversy of the Royal Park's adaptation to an Olympic venue centres on the historic role the green space has played in the heritage of regal Britain.

At 183 acres, the park is the oldest enclosed royal park and has been the favourite of monarchs throughout the ages.

Although the Mary Rose is now synonymous with Henry VIII's naval ambitions, she had an even larger contemporary - Henry Grace a Dieu (Henry Grace of God, known as Great Harry).

Made in the Woolwich Dockyard between 1512 and 1514, she was one of the first vessels to feature gunports (which would prove so devastating in the Mary Rose) and carried 20 heavy bronze cannon.