Which King Henry of England Are You?

As the most famous King Henry, you were also the most popular, especially with the ladies. Tall and handsome in your youth, you were able to score all sorts of attention at court. Your flamboyant lifestyle caught the attention of the church, and your behavior inspired revolution, including the Reformation and the creation of the Church of England. Your distrust of nearly everyone, including the women you slept with, escalated when you failed to have a male heir. Tragedy struck when your horse fell on you during a tournament, mangling your leg. You died in 1547 alone, fat, and ugly, leaving your surviving daughters to fight over the throne.

You're the first Henry, and the king who loved animals. Once crowned, you founded a zoo in Oxfordshire so you could continue to study animals. You had a good run as king, too. You established the first jury system for the royal courts and created pretty fair laws, even if the punishments for some were quite severe. Unfortunately, both of your sons drowned at sea in 1120, leaving you with no male heirs. When you died of food poisoning in 1135, they gave the throne to one of your nephews.

You may have managed to rule over most of France during your reign, a big deal for an English king, but you were kind of petty. You raised taxes for your military and liked to get into dramatic quarrels with your peers and family. You're mostly remembered for your beef with your best friend Thomas A. Becket, whom you later had killed at Canterbury Cathedral. Your military successes were plagued by constant drama, and on-going arguments caused all of your sons to turn against you in 1170.

After inheriting the throne from Richard III, you married Elizabeth of York and ruled amicably with your queen. Your love of gold and fine, royal luxuries worked out for England, since you increased the wealth of the entire nation during your reign, more or less. You did pocket most of the wealth for yourself, but you also invented playing cards during your reign, an act that goes along with your playful and peaceful nature. Your wife Elizabeth remains the face of the queen cards to this day.

You're the Henry everyone underestimated. You were exiled to France but triumphantly returned to your throne only to be greeted by coup plots, assassination attempts, and rebellions. You spent your 13-year reign defending yourself against the non-believers, including Parliament and the clergy. You probably would have been a decent ruler had the Prince of Wales stopped undermining your claim to the throne. You died of leprosy at 45, exhausted and unaccomplished.

You are the heroic Henry. You were knighted at the young age of 12 and went on to defeat France in the epic Battle of Agincourt. You even scored Princess Catherine of France, marrying her in 1420 and becoming king of both England and France. Unfortunately, you died of dysentery in 1422. You were only king for 9 years. Bummer.