As I put the shampoo on my hair, I realized I had already washed it and should have used conditioner. My mind was involved with the hours of TV we watched the night before, several back-to-back videos about Henry VIII. That was as good a way as any to spring our minds from the Downton Abbey series.

I went through the ditty for remembering Henry’s wives:

Divorced

Beheaded

Died

Divorced

Beheaded

Survived

The first two were easy for me to remember, probably because there are more references to them than the others.

Divorced – Catherine of Aragon, causing the split with the Catholic church

Beheaded – Anne Boleyn, courted by Henry for seven years and married about half that

Died – Jane Seymour, died in childbirth, giving Henry his only legitimate son

Divorced – Anne of Cleves who didn’t resemble the miniature portrait Henry saw

Beheaded – Kathryn Howard

Survived – Katherine Parr who might have been beheaded if Henry hadn’t died first

Henry had to remember only three names for his six wives, although the Katherines seemed to have spelled their names differently.

There! End of the history lesson!