Henry VIII marries his first wife. King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. The union with Catherine does not produce a male heir, and Henry divorces her against the will of the Catholic Church, thus accelerating the Protestant Reformation in England. Henry married five more wives, having two of them executed—Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard—for alleged adultery because he had grown tired of them. His only surviving heir, Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, ascended the throne upon the death of Edward VI in 1553.
