Inside the body of Henry VIII

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat March 26th, 2011, 12:51 am

Posted by BrianPK
it was decided that a new wife was required,so a search was made in Europe. Eventually a suitable candidate was found but Henry's reputation had, however, preceded him and the lady declined saying that she would only marry Henry "if she had two heads".

That was Christina of Sweden, another of those astute, well-educated Renaissance princesses. She was only sixteen when she came up with the pithy remark" that if she had two heads, one should be at the disposal of the King of England."

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Sat March 26th, 2011, 1:40 am

Did you mean Christine, Duchess of Milan? She's the one who made the comment about the two heads.

Christina of Sweden lived 2 centuries later.

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Sat March 26th, 2011, 2:48 am

[quote=""princess garnet""]Did you mean Christine, Duchess of Milan? She's the one who made the comment about the two heads.

Christina of Sweden lived 2 centuries later.[/quote]

She was one of the daughters of Joanna of Castile and Philip the Fair -- she was known as Christina of Denmark -- the portrait by Holbein is showing her in her widow's weeds. She was evidently quite clever. So Henry VIII would have been her uncle by marriage, hmm.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat March 26th, 2011, 3:22 am

Christina was a prospect because of Milan-- the French still claimed it, since it was supposed to have been Catherine de Medici's dowry, and they had older claims than that; but Charles V considered it part of his empire. Henry was always looking for ways to stick it to Francis I.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat March 26th, 2011, 8:15 am

True, I meant to say Christina of Denmark, but that wasn't what I wrote

(Though she was a claimant to the thrones of Sweden and Norway as well as Denmark.)

I've got a novel about her stashed somewhere (in English translation)
Helle Stangerup, "In the Courts of Power", pub 1987