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Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

 
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

 
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Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
 
 
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Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset (15 June 1519–23 July 1536) was the son of King Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount
Elizabeth Blount

Elizabeth Blount , who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England....
, the only illegitimate offspring that Henry acknowledged.

Henry FitzRoy was born at the Priory of St Lawrence at Blackmore
Blackmore

Blackmore is a village in Essex, England. It is located approximately 3 miles east of Chipping Ongar and is 4 miles north of Brentwood, Essex....
, Essex
Essex

Essex is a counties of England in the East of England England. The county town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, Essex, close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches ....
. His godfather
Godparent

A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. Judaism has this equivalent in the Brit Milah ceremony....
 was Thomas Wolsey, the king's chief minister. 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 received grants and marks of favour from the king.






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Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset (15 June 1519–23 July 1536) was the son of King Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount
Elizabeth Blount

Elizabeth Blount , who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England....
, the only illegitimate offspring that Henry acknowledged.

Henry FitzRoy was born at the Priory of St Lawrence at Blackmore
Blackmore

Blackmore is a village in Essex, England. It is located approximately 3 miles east of Chipping Ongar and is 4 miles north of Brentwood, Essex....
, Essex
Essex

Essex is a counties of England in the East of England England. The county town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, Essex, close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches ....
. His godfather
Godparent

A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. Judaism has this equivalent in the Brit Milah ceremony....
 was Thomas Wolsey, the king's chief minister. 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 received grants and marks of favour from the king. Details of the child's initial upbringing are unclear. He was known as Lord Henry Fitzroy until 18 June 1525, when his father created him Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset. In the same year he was granted several other appointments, including Lord High Admiral of England, Lord President of the Council of the North
Council of the North

The Council of the North was an administrative body originally set up in 1485 by king Richard III of England, the last House of York monarch to hold the Crown of England; its intention was to improve government control and economic prosperity, to benefit the entire area of Northern England....
, and Warden of the Marches towards Scotland, the effect of which was to place the government of the north of England in his hands.

Known most usually as Richmond, the young duke was raised like a prince at Sheriff Hutton Castle
Sheriff Hutton Castle

Sheriff Hutton Castle is a quadrangular castle in the village of Sheriff Hutton, North Yorkshire, England....
 in Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
. His father had a particular fondness for him and took great interest in his upbringing. At one point there was talk of making him the King's legitimate heir, the more so since Henry VIII had yet to have a legitimate son.

The Crown of Ireland Act 1542
Crown of Ireland Act 1542

The Crown of Ireland Act 1542 is an act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland , declaring that King Henry VIII of England and his successors would also be King of Ireland....
 established a personal union
Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states are governed by the same monarch, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct....
 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. This was after the plan to make the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, King of Ireland, fell through upon his death. Although FitzRoy was made Lord-Lieutenant, the King's counselors feared that making a separate Kingdom of Ireland whose ruler was not that of England would create another King of Scotland.

The Duke married Lady Mary Howard
Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset

Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset , formerly Lady Mary Howard, was an English people duchess of the Tudor period....
, only daughter of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk was a prominent Tudor dynasty politician. He was uncle to two of the wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, as well as the king's mistress Mary Boleyn, and played a major role in the machinations behind these relationships....
, on 28 November 1533. He was on excellent terms with his brother-in-law, the poet Lord Surrey
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey Order of the Garter was an England aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry....
. Although tradition has it that Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was List of English consorts as the Wives of Henry VIII of Henry VIII of England. She was also Earl of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the English Reformation....
 was hostile to the match, it now seems that it was she who organized pairing her young cousin Mary with the King's illegitimate son. Therefore, the Howard family could be even closer (in favour and family) to the King.

Fitzroy
The Duke's promising career came to an abrupt end in 1536. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley
Charles Wriothesley

Charles Wriothesley , was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the last member of a dynasty of heralds that started with his grandfather?Garter Principal King of Arms John Writhe....
, 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. He was reported ill with "consumption" (usually identified as tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
, but possibly another serious lung
Lung

The lung is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart....
 complaint) in early July, and died at St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace

St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated on Pall Mall, London in London, just north of St. James's Park....
 on 23 July 1536. At the time of his death an Act
Second Succession Act

The Second Succession Act of Henry VIII of England reign was passed by the Parliament of England in June 1536, removing both Mary I of England and Elizabeth I of England from the line of the succession....
 was going through Parliament
Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period. In a series of developments, it came increasingly to constrain the power of the King of England, and went on after the Act of Union 1707 to merge with the Parliament of Scotland and form the main basis of the Pa...
 which disinherited Henry's daughter Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
 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. 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
St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham

St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk, known affectionately as St Mike's, is a Church of England church dedicated to Michael ....
, Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
. One of the houses
House system

The house system is a traditional feature of United Kingdom schools, and schools in ex-British colonies, similar to the college system of a university....
 at the local High School, Thomas Mills, is named for him.

His father outlived him by just over a decade, and was succeeded by his legitimate son, Prince Edward
Edward VI of England

Edward VI became List of English monarchs and King of Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestantism ruler....
 (who became Edward VI), born shortly after Richmond's death. Most historians maintain that Edward VI, like Henry Fitzroy, died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
.

In fiction

Rather than living to the age of seventeen as in reality, the character called Henry Fitzroy in the 2007 TV series "The Tudors
The Tudors

The Tudors is a historical fiction television series created and entirely written by Michael Hirst . The series is based upon the early reign of English people monarch Henry VIII of England, and is named after his Tudor dynasty....
" dies at about the age of 3 from sweating sickness
Sweating sickness

Sweating sickness, also known as the "English sweate" , was a mysterious and highly virulent disease which struck England and later Europe in a series of epidemics, the first beginning in 1485 and the last in 1551, afterwards apparently vanishing....
.

In the TV Series Blood Ties
Blood Ties (TV series)

Blood Ties is a Canadian television series based on the List of Tanya Huff novels#Blood Books by Tanya Huff; the show was created by Peter Mohan....
, (based upon the novels by Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff

Tanya Sue Huff is a Canada fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science-fiction series....
) Henry Fitzroy, played by Kyle Schmid, did not die at 17, but rather was turned into a vampire and now lives in present day Toronto, Canada.

In Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes "Misty" Lackey is a prolific United States author of Fantasy literature. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Velgarth#Valdemar....
's series This Scepter'd Isle (This Scepter'd Isle, Ill Met by Moonlight, and Less Than Kind), a changeling died in Henry FitzRoy's place, and the real FitzRoy lived out his life in the Underhill domain of the Bright Court Elves.

Ancestors



External links