Where was Henry VIII born and where did he die?
Get the latest email updates for Surrey with our FREE daily newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe here Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice  Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. We know the fates of Henry VIIIs wives, if we were taught the rhyme above in school. Britains most notoriously picky husband also fathered Queen Elizabeth I, perhaps the country's most famous queen, and created both the Church of England and the Royal Navy. But Henry VIIIs birth and death are generally of less interest to GCSE examiners, and are thus less well known. Read on for a primer on this controversial kings beginning and end. READ MORE: The Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty could soon be expanded  The son of a usurper  Henry VIII would never have ruled, had his father been less successful in battle. Henry Tudor seized the English throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. The battle ended the Wars of the Roses, a civil war between the houses of Lancaster (whose symbol was the red rose) and York (the white rose) which raged throughout the late 15th century. It replaced the Plantagenet dynasty with the Tudor dynasty, with Henry VII its first king and Elizabeth of York  Henrys third cousin, whom he married  its first queen. They had seven children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. Eldest daughter Margaret became Queen of Scotland, while Mary became Queen of France. Eldest son Arthur was his fathers heir apparent, but he died of an unknown illness aged just 15, shortly after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Fortunately, second son Henry was already waiting in the wings. He was born on 28 June 1491, at a royal residence known both as the Palace of Placentia and Greenwich Palace. The lost palace  Built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in 1443, Greenwich Palace was extensively renovated by Henry VII in 1500 and remained a royal residence for the next two centuries. This was also where Henry VIII married Catherine (and later his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves) and where his daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born. It fell into disrepair during the English Civil War, when it was used as both a biscuit factory and a prisoner of war camp. It was demolished in 1660 by Charles II, who drew up plans for a new palace on the site. But money was tight and only one wing was built  the King Charles Wing. In 1694 King William III donated the site in accordance with the wishes of his late wife, Queen Mary II, who wanted the King Charles Wing to become a hospital for sailors. Greenwich Hospital later became the Greenwich Royal Naval College, and is now occupied by the University of Greenwich and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Construction work identified previously unknown Tudor remains in 2005, prompting a full archaeological excavation in 2006. This found a Tudor chapel and vestry from the palace, which can be viewed at the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College  also known as "Britains Sistine Chapel". An unpleasant death  One other thing for which Henry VIII is famous is his girth, which reached 54in (140cm) by 1547, when he was 55. Moving around with the aid of mechanical devices, Henry was suffering from gout and covered in painful, pus-filled boils. Having spent his youth taking part in riding, jousting and hunting, he was severely injured at a tourney in 1536. Unseated from his horse, the beast  which was also wearing armour  fell on top of him and knocked him unconscious. Legend has it that he awoke significantly more aggressive than before, leading to his reputation as a bullying tyrant and hinting at a possible brain injury. Some historians believe that this brain injury may have affected his pituitary gland, making him more likely to put on weight. Either way, he never jousted again and his waistline grew, with obesity complicating his health in later life. His leg injury also became ulcerated, and he died on 28 January 1547 in the Palace of Whitehall. From royal residence to military ministry  This was Henrys home from 1530, when fire destroyed his previous home at the Palace of Westminster  now the home of Parliament. Whitehall was Europes biggest palace with 1,500 rooms, only to be overtaken much later by the expanding Palace of Versailles and its 2,400 rooms. At its largest, the site covered 23 acres (9.3 hectares) of London and included a bowling green, tennis court, cockfighting pit and tiltyard for jousting (now Horse Guards Parade), all commissioned by Henry VIII during his residence there. He married Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour at Whitehall, which would host the first known performance of Shakespeares The Tempest in 1611. In 1698, a servant hung wet linen around a lit charcoal brazier in order to dry the cloth. The linen caught fire and a blaze quickly spread throughout parts of the palace complex, burning for 15 hours. Wind whipped up the embers the following day, causing another fire which consumed most of what remained, despite the destruction of 20 buildings as a firebreak. The Banqueting House, considered the palaces architectural jewel, was saved only when builders bricked up the windows to stop flames from entering. Works of art by Michelangelo, Hans Holbein and Gian Lorenzo Bernini were lost, including a famous portrait of Henry VIII himself. Besides the Banqueting House, only a few buildings of the palace survived. The Cabinet Office, at 70 Whitehall, includes parts of one original structure, while other parts survive as MOD Main Building, which houses the Ministry of Defence. And the palaces wine cellar was moved several metres west and down in 1938, to make space for the development of Horse Guards Parade. Henry VIIIs life and homes were beset by tragedy, including severe injury and devastating fires  enough to inspire sympathy, were it not for his murderous marriages. But love him or hate him, the extreme ends of the kings life make for a fascinating story  just dont expect the details to appear on a history test any time soon.