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I don't think that Henry lost interest in his wives after they had babies. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon didn't falter until quite a while after the birth of Princess Mary. This birth confirmed that Catherine was capable of bearing a healthy, living infant. In many cultures this is celebrated as "a girl paving the way for a boy".

It was her failure to carry a healthy boy to term PLUS Henry's roving eye alighting on young Anne Boleyn, that in my opinion, doomed the marriage. Add to this, the fact that Catherine's looks faded and she seemed unable to compete with Anne on many levels, relying on religion, Canon Law, and the position of her nephew, the Holy Roman muck-a-muck, to preserve her marriage.

Certainly, Henry never got over plain, sweet Jane Seymour, who succeeded in bearing the healthy prince and paid for it with her death by "childbed fever". Note the last 2 bulleted items above. Also, she was the wife he chose to be buried alongside as his "true" wife (which I've always considered a tremendous slap in the face to Catherine Parr, who nursed him faithfully and diligently through his most frail but irrascible years!).

Regarding mistresses, yes, I think the argument of childbirth is stronger here, although it's believed that BOTH Mary Boleyn' s first 2 children were Henry's: if this is so, and there seems to be no other substantive contender for the daddy honors, obvioiusly the relationship continued after the birth of their daughter.

A different irony: Henry's love and involvement with his son by Bessy Blount, but apparent limited or lack of interest in Mary's children. Was this a manifestation of infatuation with BB, or with becoming a father for the first time, or a combination thereof?? Thoughts?

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While putting together the loves of Henry's life page, it suddenly struck me that while Henry so wanted to have children, he became disinterested in the woman in his life after she had a baby or became pregnant. It happened with poor Katherine who lost so many babies....then Bessie Blount, Mary & Anne Boleyn. In each case, it seemed that the pregnancy was a turning point in his feelings. Perhaps it would have happened with Jane too if she had survived. Starkey says in his Six Wives "babies, Henry seems to have felt, were for wives and not for mistresses, who should inhabit a more ethereal realm of chivalric fantasy'....but that could apply to wives too. He lost "the feeling" for them too after they gave birth or lost babies. Most of his romantic feelings lasted between 4 - 7 years. I start to think that perhaps Katherine Howard must have hurt him the most since he didnt fall out of love with her.....he felt betrayed by her unlike any of the others.

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