Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Earl of Nottingham (15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536) was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.

Childhood

Henry FitzRoy was born at the Priory of St Lawrence at Blackmore, Essex. The name FitzRoy means "son of the King" and was given to illegitimate children of English royalty. FitzRoy's godfather was Thomas Wolsey, the King's chief minister.^[1] His mother's affair with the King appears not to have continued after his birth, but she was well-married shortly afterwards, and she and her husband Gilbert Talboys received grants and marks of favour from the King.^[1]

Details of the child's initial upbringing are unclear. He was known as Lord Henry FitzRoy until 18 June 1525, at age six, when his father created him Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset.^[2] In that same year, Richmond, as he came to be known, was granted several other appointments, including Lord High Admiral of England, Lord President of the Council of the North, and Warden of the Marches towards Scotland, the effect of which was to place the government of the north of England in his hands.^[3] The young Duke was raised like a Prince at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire. His father had a particular fondness for him and took great interest in his upbringing. In February 1527, Thomas Magnus told the young Duke that James V of Scotland had asked for hunting dogs. Fitzroy sent the Scottish king 20 hunting hounds and a huntsman.^[4]

Kingdom of Ireland

Richmond was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and there was a plan to crown him King of that country, though the King's counsellors feared that making a separate Kingdom of Ireland whose ruler was not that of England would create another threat similar to the Kingdom of Scotland. After Richmond's death, the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 established a personal union between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was King of England was to be King of Ireland as well. King Henry VIII of England was proclaimed this first holder.^[5]

Marriage

When Henry VIII began the process of having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, it was suggested that FitzRoy marry his own half-sister Mary in order to prevent the annulment and strengthen FitzRoy's claim to the throne. Anxious to prevent the annulment and Henry's eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope was even prepared to grant a special dispensation for their marriage.^[6][7][8][9]

At age 14, on 28 November 1533 the Duke married Mary, the only daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He was on excellent terms with his brother-in-law, the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Although tradition has it that Anne Boleyn was hostile to the match, it is now thought that it was she who helped pair her young cousin Mary with the King's illegitimate son. It is said the marriage was never consummated.

Possible heir to the throne

At the time of Fitzroy's death an Act was going through Parliament which disinherited Henry's daughter Elizabeth as his heir and permitted the King to designate his successor, whether legitimate or not. There is no evidence that Henry intended to proclaim Richmond his heir, but in theory the Act would have permitted him to do so if he wished.^[10] The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V on 8 July 1536 that Henry VIII had made a statute allowing him to nominate a successor, but thought the Duke of Richmond would not succeed to throne by it, as he was consumptive and now diagnosed incurable.^[11]

Death

The Duke's promising career came to an abrupt end in July 1536. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Richmond became sickly some time before he died, although Richmond's biographer Beverley A. Murphy cites his documented public appearances and activities in April and May of that year, without exciting comment on his health, as evidence to the contrary.^[12] He was reported ill with "consumption" (usually identified as tuberculosis, but possibly another serious lung complaint) in early July, and died at St. James's Palace on 23 July 1536.

Norfolk gave orders that the body be wrapped in lead and taken in a closed cart for secret interment, but his servants put the body in a straw-filled wagon. The only mourners were two attendants who followed at a distance. The Duke's ornate tomb is in Framlingham Church, Suffolk. One of the houses at the local high school is named after him.

His father outlived him by just over a decade, and was succeeded by his legitimate son Edward, born shortly after Fitzroy's death. Most historians maintain that Edward, like Henry Fitzroy, died of tuberculosis. It is said that Henry Fitzroy might have been made king had Henry VIII died without a legitimate son:

Well was it for them^[13] that Henry Fitzroy his natural son ... was dead, otherwise (some suspect) had he survived King Edward the Sixth, we might presently have heard of a King Henry the Ninth, so great was his father's affection and so unlimited his power to prefer him.

—Thomas Fuller^[14]

Historian Julian Litten believes that the real mystery in Richmond's death is the disease that killed him. If not consumption or the historical English sweating sickness, it could have been a genetic condition which might also have caused the deaths of his uncle Arthur, Prince of Wales and his half brother Edward.

Ancestors

References

External links

• About Henry Fitzroy