Along with six wives came innumerable mistresses. His first wife, Katherine of Aragon, bore him five stillborn children and one surviving daughter, Mary I. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, miscarried two sons and birthed one living daughter, Elizabeth I.

Edward VI (1537-1553) was king of England and Ireland from 1547 to 1553. His short reign witnessed the introduction of the English Prayer Book and the Forty-two Articles, and thus this period was important in the development of English Protestantism.

Fact 7: Edward was engaged to marry Elizabeth of Valois, the eldest daughter of King Henry II of France. Edward was young, but had already made one of the most important decisions a monarch could make; whom to marry.

Catherine Howard

Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the British Royal Family are not Catholic. Yes, despite popular belief they do not practice Catholicism. According to The Sun, the royals are christened into the Church of England, which is a Protestant strain of Christianity.

All members of the Church had to take the oath of supremacy under the Act of Supremacy if they were to keep their posts. 8,000 priests and less important clergy did so. There were 10,000 parishes in England at this time so this shows that the religious settlement was largely successful.

It tried to take elements from both Protestantism and Catholicism, but since many Protestants had become MPs, the Settlement was perhaps more Protestant than Elizabeth would have liked. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement was contained in two acts – the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity.

The settlement continued the English Reformation which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) whereby the Protestant Church of England split from the Catholic Church led by the Pope in Rome.

The religious settlement was established in 1559 and came in three parts: • The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth supreme governor of the Church of England – all clergy and royal officials had to swear an oath of allegiance to her as the head of the Church.

1559

The Church had to help enforce the religious settlement of 1559. Bishops carried out visitations to make sure that priests took the oath of Supremacy and that they were following the Act of Uniformity. As a result of the visitations, 400 members of the clergy were dismissed from their position.

In most Protestant churches, communion is seen as a memorial of Christ’s death. The bread and wine do not change at all because they are symbols. Communion means ‘sharing’ and at a communion service Christians share together to remember the suffering and death of Christ.

Protestants don’t ever actually receive Communion. They don’t have valid orders and most don’t use legitimate prayers of consecration so it would be impossible for them to do so. On to Catholics, very few of us receive Communion daily.