Royally Ironic

Royalty believe they are chosen by God to be the next ruler of their country. But whoever is the current ruler has the power to decide which family has the divine right. A lot of rulers have had to fight for their titles and the losers then lose their title to the throne. Whoever has the heir has the power to control the country by continuing his line.
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Katherine of Aragon became queen of England because she was engaged to Prince Arthur. After he died, she became engaged to his younger brother Henry and they became rulers of England. She denounced that her first marriage was never consummated in order that she fulfill her destiny of becoming queen that she had been raised to do. It's ironic that the only way she could become queen is if she married Henry because Arthur had not been declared king yet and a woman could not rule on her own in England at the time. When she married Henry VIII they had high hopes of having many sons. She had one son who died within less than two months of being born. Her only living child, Mary was thier only heir. All the power she had received by becomong Queen was decreased by not bearing a living male heir. After about twenty years of marriage to the King, her throne was taken by the younger Anne Boleyn. Out of Henry's six wives, only the first three had children. His third wife finally bore him a son, Edward, and died in childbirth. That son became King of England after Henry's death but died young. Katherine's daughter then became Queen and married Philip of Spain. But when she died and Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen she did not marry. Katherine worked so hard for her country and was faithful to her husband only to have her throne taken by a younger more manipulative women whose daughter later became Queen on her own. Queen Elizabeth did a lot for her country, just like Queen Katherine had worked for her counrty while married to Henry.
Katherine was older than Henry VIII. He married her because he was in love with him and she lead him to believe that until she really loved him too. She used his emotions to get what she wanted: Queen of England. Anne Boleyn also used Henry's passion against him. He desired her and she told him she loved him. King Henry had a lot of wives and he had power over them. By being king he could sentence them back to widowhood like Katherine, or behead them like he did to Anne Boleyn. But I think women used him for their own wants or their families' wants too.
Another thing I find ironic is that Henry was destined to be a priest in the church before Arthur died. When Henry tried to marry Anne Boleyn he started his own church, the (Anglican) church of England in order to divorce Katherine of Aragon.
I learned this information by originally reading The Other Boleyn Girl and I am fascinated with this era of English history.