Do you think King Henry VIII is the father...?

Question

of Henry Carey? Henry's mother,Mary Boleyn, was mistress to King Henry VIII of England, beginning sometime in 1520.The exact dates of when the affair started and when it ended are unknown. Popular legend states that Henry was an illegimate child of Henry VIII. Some ten years after the child was born, John Hales, vicar of Isleworth, remarked that he had met a 'young Master Carey,' whom some monks believed to be the king's b*****d. The idea that Carey was Henry VIII's secret son has spawned several Tudor legends, even becoming a central part of modern fiction, such as the recent novel The Other Boleyn Girl (loosely based on the life of Mary Boleyn).

However, there is firm contemporary evidence that Henry Carey was not born until March 1526, by which time the affair is believed to have ended.

Answer 1

I think that if Henry VIII had a son by Mary Boleyn illegitimate or not Henry would have done his all to have this boy as his successor.  He needed sons to secure the thrones succession.

Answer 2

Even more interestingly, Henry VIII recognized his son by Lady Elizabeth Blount, Henry Fitzroy.  His brief affair with Blount was very close to the one with Mary Boleyn in the timeline.  If the King had reason to believe that Boleyn's child was his, it would be reasonable to assume that he would have recognized the child publicly, as he did with Fitzroy.

Those were different times, Henry VIII was not concerned about having his picture on the first page of every tabloid paper in the country then; and no one would dare to label him a philanderer publicly.  Unless they wouldn't mind ending up in the Tower and even on the scaffold.

Answer 3

no, Henry Carey is the son of Mary Boleyn and Sir William Carey.

Answer 4

yes i belive so too bad we cannot prove  it!

Answer 5

Yes!

Answer 6

I don't think so-the time lines don't match up well enough for me. I don't think Henry thought so either, or else he wouldn't have married Anne Boleyn. He was quite religious, and doubt he would have married his son's aunt.