Several types of theories circulate as to why Henry VIII had his second wife beheaded. It is known that the king, known for his cruelty and heartlessness, was cruel. He also had his best friends and allies killed if they were found guilty of defeating his power. However, his main enemies were his wives. He had six wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr (www.luminarium.org). Two of them were beheaded: Anne Boleyn and her cousin, Catherine Howard. However, Anne's execution was the most notorious during the reign of Henry VIII. His reasons for beheading his wife were: he had difficulty divorcing his previous wife and did not want a long trial, Anne could not give birth to a son who could have been her crown prince, he was no longer attracted to Anne. so that he had already had another lover called Jane Seymour and finally Anna was accused of adultery and treason, which was an unforgivable crime at the time. His previous wife was Catherine of Aragon who had been his brother's widow. However, her marriage to Henry VIII went awry when he realized that Catherine was unable to give birth to a healthy son. The only surviving child was Mary, a later Queen of England (www.luminarium.org). The monarch had several mistresses to have a child. One of them was Anne Boleyn's sister; Mary Boleyn who later became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy son (www.angelfire.com). However, the king met Anna and declared Mary's son a bastard. Anne represented a real challenge for him: “But Anne Boleyn was not a lover like the others. He kept Henry at arm's length for…half the paper…executed. Two days later Anne Boleyn also died in the Tower. A couple of days after his execution, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. He didn't even feel sorry for Anne. He watched her behead without any emotion as she was a stranger (Morgan 139.) The governor of the Tower said she did not seem at all afraid of death (www.luminarium.org). Anne Boleyn's destiny had been fulfilled. Perhaps if she had given birth to a healthy son of the monarch she would have survived her husband's cruelty. Her disability and ambition took her to the grave. If she had managed to preserve her charm, perhaps the king would have been faithful to her. Finally, if she had not wanted to be queen of England and wife of Henry VIII, she would not have had the same fate as her predecessor. However Catherine of Aragon died naturally and when she died she had her own dignitary.