what would you have done as king henry viii?

I would spend every day of my reign siring a son with the chambermaidens. Surely a bastard son is preferable to a legitimate but unwanted daughter!
 
I would spend every day of my reign siring a son with the chambermaidens. Surely a bastard son is preferable to a legitimate but unwanted daughter!

He had one bastard son and was trying to get him legitimized when the boy died of tuberculosis or something.

(That was part of the case against Anne Boleyn for witchcraft.)

If you have lots of bastard sons, that could lead to...problems.
 
I would use the threat of breaking with Rome to force through reforms in the English church, but I wouldn't break with Rome, at least not immediately.

And at the very least, I wouldn't dissolve the monasteries. There went charity and education (especially for girls) for several centuries.
 
And at the very least, I wouldn't dissolve the monasteries. There went charity and education (especially for girls) for several centuries.

Or at least keep all the seized land for the Crown and not frivolously hand it out to my favorites. The massive income that could be derived would be enough to keep me rich without having to bother with Parliament for a long time.
 
I would've done Jane Seymour

Oh, what Um, yeah, not destroyed the monastaries, and if I had to create my own church, actually established rules and principles. Dare I say have a degree of religious freedom (but thats p'raps the application of 21st century morals to a 16th century beard)
 
Knowing what people know now, I would a.) create joint stock companies to manage trade with the Baltic and exploration/colonization of the Americas, b.) invite the Jews to Return to England, and c.) sell off crown monopolies and use the proceeds from that (and all the church property I'd be seizing and selling) to build up the navy. Also, I'd manage my undiagnosed diabetes in an healthy and sensible way.

If we can only do things it would have occurred to Henry to do, then I would more definitively accept Lutheranism and not do all the flirtation with reconciliation that Henry did.
 
I would set up the first penal colony in the americas. with 72,000 people executed during his reign, that's the biggest colony on the mainland at the time.
 
Like jakewilson said use some of my foreknowledge to build up a robust economy and also carry out reforms of the government to strengthen it. As well as joint stock companies introducing the concept of a central bank and government bonds (consols/gilts) to help provide for cheap borrowing should be beneficial. Make a clean break with the Church of Rome and have the Church of England become a thoroughly Protestant church. Train up my son Edward VI to take over but also quietly make sure to see that Elizabeth is also given a good education and grounding in government whilst having Mary secretly poisoned just in case.

And then of course there's the old lets use our foreknowledge to kickstart their scientific R&D. Even if you can't give them the exact information/instructions at the very least you can point them in the right direction. What does the introduction of a rigerous scientific method help achieve? And even basic knowledge about medicine and health issues puts you light years ahead of everyone else.
 
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