Opening The Coffin Of Henry VIII's Executed Wives 

Inside of the Tower of London during the 16th century, there were three Queens of England who were executed on the scaffold. Two of them lost their heads by axe, and one lost her head by sword which was said to have been more reliable than the axe. But two of these women were wives of King Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn was the Tudor King’s second wife, and Catherine Howard was the King’s fifth wife. The pair had both been condemned for treason, but had very different executions. Anne Boleyn found herself a victim of Henry VIII’s brutality and she was implicated in a web of lies and deceit spun by Thomas Cromwell so that the King could then marry his third wife. But Catherine Howard was executed for cheating on the King. The pair were both buried inside of the Tower of London’s chapel next to where they lost their heads, and there were even attempts to dissolve and get rid of Catherine Howard’s remains. But centuries after their executions, these two women were dug up and attempts were made to identify their bodies. But what was found was remarkable, and also what was not found was shocking. Today we look at the exhumation of two of Henry VIII’s wives, the executed ones.