WI: Henry VIII born a girl

What happens if Henry VIII is born a girl? All of his parents other children are born and die the same prior to 1509.

Things to consider:

- Does Arthur's marriage to Catherine of Aragon get pushed up?
- Who does Margaret, given her potential as heiress, marry?
- In case of a disputed succession, which noble(s) are most likely to challenge a Tudor girl for the crown in 1509?
 
What happens if Henry VIII is born a girl? All of his parents other children are born and die the same prior to 1509.

Things to consider:

- Does Arthur's marriage to Catherine of Aragon get pushed up?
- Who does Margaret, given her potential as heiress, marry?
- In case of a disputed succession, which noble(s) are most likely to challenge a Tudor girl for the crown in 1509?

Very interesting POD here. If Henry VIII is born a girl, and Arthur dies on schedule, then Margaret would become Queen, with the Girl Henry-Henriette?-followed by little sister Mary.

The interesting thing is that Margaret was-at the time of Henry VII's death in 1509-already married for around six years to James IV of Scotland; so we might be looking at a personal union of the two kingdoms at a rather earlier date than in OTL.

As for Henriette...

Probably married off to some King or Prince, as was the case with Mary's first marriage...
 
Very interesting POD here. If Henry VIII is born a girl, and Arthur dies on schedule, then Margaret would become Queen, with the Girl Henry-Henriette?-followed by little sister Mary.

The interesting thing is that Margaret was-at the time of Henry VII's death in 1509-already married for around six years to James IV of Scotland; so we might be looking at a personal union of the two kingdoms at a rather earlier date than in OTL.

As for Henriette...

Probably married off to some King or Prince, as was the case with Mary's first marriage...
If Arthur dies on schedule Margaret s engagement to James could be broken. Perhaps a marriage with Portugal or Denmark, I'm not sure which princes were eligible. As for female henry we would probably marry Louis XII in place of his sister Mary Tudor, at least as a first marriage. As for Mary Tudor, a little known fact is that she was engaged to mary Emperor Charles originally, can't remember why it was broken so we might finally see a Habsburg with a claim to the english throne :D.
 
Margaret wont be married off to James ITTL, with only Arthur as heir she'll be kept in reserve I expect until he's married and with children himself - which doesn't happen.

Henry VII marries Catherine of Aragon himself ITTL after Arthur's death, and would try to blast out an heir before it's too late. If not then Margaret succeeds. I can't think of any obvious domestic Lancastrian hangers-on who she might be married to by Henry, so she's probably married to a Spanish/Habsburg prince.
 
Henry VIII

Could this mean that the Poles increase in importance and even claim the throne? Or factions form to support them?
 
With just one son I think we could see Henry VII be a lot more amenable over Catherine's dowry and have her brought over to England ASAP. His own marriage negotiations with Joanna of Naples would probably be sped up as well...probably bringing her over as early as 1504/5.

On the other hand, Henry's got three unmarried daughters:
- Margaret (born 1489)
- Elizabeth (born 1491) [OTL Henry VIII]
- Mary (born 1496)

He didn't let Margaret marry King James until 1503, after Arthur and Catherine had married and Henry was entering his early teens.

Potential native husbands for his daughters would be:

- Edward Plantagenet (1475-), Earl of Warwick. He was said to be a bit slow, but would have been of an age to start producing children immediately.
- Henry Courtenay (1496-) heir to the Earldom of Devonshire and grandson of Edward IV .
- Thomas Howard (c. 1496 - 1508), son of the Duke of Norfolk and grandson of Edward IV.
- Thomas Grey, Lord Ferrers of Groby, heir to the Marquess of Dorset and nephew of Queen Elizabeth of York, second richest heir in England.

I can envision him marrying Margaret to one of the above and only then letting "Elizabeth" (Henry VIII) marry James of Scots. Or maybe he marries Margaret to a dispossessed European prince - someone like Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, perhaps.
 
Maybe, Maybe not. In OTL how bloodthirsty was Margaret? I mean as Queen of England Is she likely to launch an invasion of France? Remember all England controlled on the continent was Calais.

I don't remember her being particularly bloodthirsty, but romantically as much of a mess as her brother. She married Archibald Douglas and then Henry Stewart, only to want seek out divorces shortly afterward (Henry VIII didn't let her the second time around).
 
Henry VII marries Catherine of Aragon himself ITTL after Arthur's death, and would try to blast out an heir before it's too late. If not then Margaret succeeds. I can't think of any obvious domestic Lancastrian hangers-on who she might be married to by Henry, so she's probably married to a Spanish/Habsburg prince.

OTL Henry VII sounded out the Spanish regarding the possibility of his own marriage to Catherine, and Ferdinand and Isabella were not here for it at all. Ferdinand offered him Joanna of Naples (his niece) instead.
 
If Arthur still dies I would imagine the Tudor establishment supporting Henry's eldest daughter and her husband should be enough to defeat the almost inevitable challenge by a Yorkist challenger (probably a de la Pole). The wildcard would be someone like Buckingham who could gain support from other nobles and mount a serious bid of his own.
 
She is named Henrietta. Assuming Arthur still dies she becomes queen and, if married her husband becomes king. Of greater actual importance the split with Rome is likely avoided and Englandis likely to stay Catholic at least for the time being. As with the rest of Northern Europe Protestantism will still grow and this might well lead to political/religious conflict. Something like the English Civil War might well still happen but its causes will be somewhat different.
 
With just one son I think we could see Henry VII be a lot more amenable over Catherine's dowry and have her brought over to England ASAP. His own marriage negotiations with Joanna of Naples would probably be sped up as well...probably bringing her over as early as 1504/5.

On the other hand, Henry's got three unmarried daughters:
- Margaret (born 1489)
- Elizabeth (born 1491) [OTL Henry VIII]
- Mary (born 1496)

He didn't let Margaret marry King James until 1503, after Arthur and Catherine had married and Henry was entering his early teens.

Potential native husbands for his daughters would be:

- Edward Plantagenet (1475-), Earl of Warwick. He was said to be a bit slow, but would have been of an age to start producing children immediately.
- Henry Courtenay (1496-) heir to the Earldom of Devonshire and grandson of Edward IV .
- Thomas Howard (c. 1496 - 1508), son of the Duke of Norfolk and grandson of Edward IV.
- Thomas Grey, Lord Ferrers of Groby, heir to the Marquess of Dorset and nephew of Queen Elizabeth of York, second richest heir in England.

I can envision him marrying Margaret to one of the above and only then letting "Elizabeth" (Henry VIII) marry James of Scots. Or maybe he marries Margaret to a dispossessed European prince - someone like Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, perhaps.

I can't imagine Henry VII would marry all of his daughters to native nobles. It would give them to good of claims to the throne so soon after the war of the roses. I think all of his daughters marriages depend on whether Henry's marriage to Joanna of Naples produced a son. If Joan has a son, I'd think his daughters would marry foreignly, and if not domestically. As for the nobles mentioned, Edward was executed in 1499 and I don't think Henry being born a girl would butterfly this. I also doubt the Ferdinand, Duke of Calabira was a choice. He was esentially being held hostage by Ferdinand II of Aragon's father because of his claim to Naples, a kingdom that Ferdinand had conquered. The best bet for a native match for Margaret would be either Thomas Howard or Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. Henry was the younger brother of the Duke of Buckingham and was depended from John, Duke of Lancaster, so could strengthen the Lancastrian blood of the Tudors.
 
She'd be named Henrietta or something like that? She'd probably one get the crown if no male heirs were available.
 
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