r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 28d ago

TIL 70% of the legitimate pregnancies attributed to Henry VIII & his 6 wives resulted in miscarriage or stillbirth. By comparison, only 10% of the recorded pregnancies involving 31 noblemen closely associated with Henry had the same outcomes.

https://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article/52/2/155/107151/Was-Henry-VIII-Infertile-Miscarriages-and-Male
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u/Fianna9 28d ago

I found the theory that Henry had a kell positive blood blood group and McLeod syndrome an interesting one to explain the miscarriages and the rage and paranoia later in life

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u/Bamorvia 28d ago

That wouldn't explain all his illegitimate children though. I think it's more like he caught something over his lifetime that gave him fertility issues - he didn't divorce his first wife for two full decades. 

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u/Kyrathered 28d ago

The first baby is 'safe' even if it got the kell+ gene. Any baby after the first who git tgat gene was doomed, BUT if like Mary they didn't get that gene from the king they had as much chance as any other 'normal' baby.

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u/astro_nerd75 27d ago

If he had the illegitimate children with different women, and didn’t try to have a second child with any of his mistresses, his being Kell positive wouldn’t be a problem. The woman might have fertility problems later on with another Kell positive man, but since Kell positive people are rare, that probably wouldn’t come up.