The nine-year-old Edward Tudor had learned of his father King Henry VIII's death on (or just before) January 31st, and in the days since, his newly-formed Regency Council (made up of sixteen noblemen, as well as twelve advisors) had been hard at work preparing for their new king's coronation. During these weeks, Edward was moved to the Tower of London, his councilors swore loyalty to him, Edward Seymour was made Lord Protector and gave himself the title Duke of Somerset, and Henry VIII was buried at Windsor Castle. It had been a busy several days!
​On 19 February, Edward progressed from the Tower to the Palace of Westminster - through throngs of supporters who held pageants and cheered on their new king. He even took the time to admire and laugh at a Spanish tightrope-walker outside of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

At nine o'clock in the morning on 20 February 1547, Edward traveled by barge with council members ​to Whitehall, and was conducted to the Court of Augmentations, where he was dressed for the occasion. He donned a crimson velvet robe trimmed in ermine and flowing into a long train. On his head, he wore a cap of black velvet. He processed from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey, walking underneath a canopy carried by barons, and following the Duke of Somerset, carrying the crown, the Duke of Suffolk, who carried the cross and orb, and the Marquess of Dorset, who carried the sceptre. Trailing behind him and carrying his train included the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Bishop of Durham, John Dudley, William Parr, and Thomas Seymour. Next processed the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, various members of the nobility, pensioners, the Captain of the Guard, guard members, and lastly, court servants. 
A scaffold decorated in rich fabrics and cloth of gold had been erected in the abbey, where the coronation chair stood, awaiting Edward. Adorably, upon the coronation chair sat a black cushion to help raise the nine-year-old king when he sat upon it.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer officiated the ceremony, and in his sermon he likened the young King Edward to the biblical Josiah, urging him to continue the work of the reformation in England. The standard twelve-hour coronation ceremony was cut to only seven hours, because of the 'tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's majesty, being yet of tender age.' (W.K. Jordan, Edward VI: The Young King. The Protectorship of the Duke of Somerset (London, 1968), pp. 65-6). 

​Edward was anointed with the holy oil and cream, and then crowned three separate times with different crowns, while trumpets punctuated each one: first, St. Edward's Crown, then the Imperial Crown, and lastly, a lighter crown custom-made for the child king's small head. A golden ring was placed on Edward's wedding finger, and a Te Deum was sung in celebration and thanksgiving. The new king was given golden bracelets and jewels, and then handed his sceptre, staff, spurs, orb, and cross. Finally, the Lord Protector, Archbishop, and noblemen each paid homage to the newly-crowned king by kissing his left cheek. A mass of thanksgiving followed the official ceremony, followed by the king's offering, before all processed back out of the abbey and back to Westminster Great Hall, where the celebrations began. A large banquet was held, and the opulent celebration included feasting and theatrical entertainment, music, dancing, and jousting over the course of the next two days. 
It was a grand and exciting day in Tudor England, although a boy king was never preferred as a monarch, and there was a history of government corruption when a child king sat upon the throne (think Edward V and Henry VI as quick examples). 
In any case, it was a big day, and details of the event were well-reported by chronicler Charles Wriothesley. Check them out in his writings, if you're able! 

Further reading: 

• Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth (Burt Franklin, 1857)

This day in 1516 was a big one for the Tudor period, as it would effect England throughout the next four decades. But at the time, it probably did not feel like a hugely momentous day for Henry VIII. This was the day that his first healthy daughter was born to Catherine of Aragon, his first wife and queen, after no less than three miscarriages (or stillbirths) and one short-lived son (aged 52 days). All four of these infant losses had taken place over six short years, as Catherine's first stillbirth had occurred in January 1510 - just seven months after she and Henry wed. 

These losses - and especially the loss of their not-quite-two-month-old son, Prince Henry, had already put a strain on the royal marriage by this day in 1516, though pregnancy loss and infant death were certainly not uncommon in the Tudor period. Henry was impatient to provide sons (and maybe a couple of daughters) for the dynasty, and Catherine would have surely felt the weight of her queenly duty pressing upon her as she discovered that she was once again pregnant around May 1515. The excitement and anticipation was no doubt clouded by nervousness and anxiety that this child might succumb to the same fate as the others. But those fears - if indeed she harbored them - were proven to be unfounded, when Catherine successfully carried the baby to term and gave birth at the Palace of Placentia (also known as Greenwich) on 18 February 1516. 
Such care had been taken to protect both the queen and her unborn baby, that news that Catherine's father, Ferdinand of Aragon, had died on 23 January, was kept from her as a precaution against the risk of premature delivery or stillbirth. His death occurred while she was already resting and preparing for birth during her formal confinement in her palace apartments, and when labor began on 17 February, Catherine's ladies and attendants would have known that, at the very least, the baby would be delivered at the correct time - thankfully, not prematurely. 
Catherine called upon the expert medical care of a Dr. Vittoria to perform her child's delivery - which was somewhat unusual, as men were typically strictly forbidden from the birthing chamber, and the delivery of babies was left to the care of experienced midwives. It is unclear exactly what role Dr. Vittoria played in this birth - was he actively assisting Catherine at her bedside, or instructing from a distance so as not to breach protocol? We can't know for sure.

In any case, around 4:00 am, Princess Mary entered the world - likely eliciting an uncomfortable mixture of emotions: joy and relief that the baby appeared healthy and fully-formed; and disappointment that, after five pregnancies and six years of trying, she was still only a girl. Henry still desperately needed and wanted a son, but he managed to mask whatever dismay he may have felt at meeting his baby daughter. According to the Venetian ambassador Sebastian Giustinian, Henry proclaimed to Catherine, 'We are both young; if it was a daughter this time, by the grace of God the sons will follow.'
At least, Catherine's successful pregnancy and birth provided proof that she could go on to have more healthy children - and the next time, it would surely result in a son. 
Mary would be christened a few days later at the Church of the Observant Friars, while Catherine recovered from the birth. The infant princess was soon placed in the care of a wet nurse, Katherine Pole, who nursed Mary for the first two years of her life. Also in her household were at least four cradle-rockers and a laundress. This intimate 'court' surrounding the baby princess would have proven to be closer and more family-like than even her relationship with her own parents as she moved out of babyhood and into her toddler years. 
While Mary's every need was seen to, Catherine and Henry would continue to attempt to grow their royal family, with fervent hopes of their long-awaited son. However, this would never come to pass. We know of only one further pregnancy for certain, resulting in a premature daughter on 10 November 1518, who died within a few hours. A son was not to be for Henry and Catherine, but he would find his first glimmer of hope that he ​could​, in fact, successfully father a son - when his mistress Bessie Blount gave birth to a boy in 1519. This lack of male issue would be the primary factor in Catherine's dismissal from Henry's life - resulting in his second marriage to Anne Boleyn - in the early 1530s. Mary, as we know, would exceed her father's expectations and inherit the English throne in 1553, becoming the first Tudor queen.

This day in 1542 was a particularly frightening one for Henry VIII's fifth queen - the 18-or-19-year old Catherine Howard. It was on this day, after not even two years of marriage to the king, that she was escorted to the Tower of London after two months of imprisonment for adultery and treason. She would be beheaded three days later. Let's take a brief look back at what led to this event...

Young Catherine Howard had married King Henry VIII on 28 July 1540, having caught his eye quickly after becoming a lady's maid to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Just weeks after the annulment of that marriage, Catherine wedded the 49-year-old king and adopted the motto 'No other will but his'.
Catherine, a jovial, fun-loving, beautiful girl, had a past. She had grown up largely in the care of her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk - where supervision of noble wards was notoriously lax. The Dowager Duchess spent much of her time away, which meant that the young teenagers in her care were afforded more fun and freedoms than they otherwise might have been. She, along with other girls, spent a good amount of time with young men - even entertaining them in their bedchambers late into the evening. They would play music, dance, eat and drink, and generally have the same kind of fun that teenagers of today might have, when allowed to run a little wild.
Around 1536, Catherine began music lessons with a man named Henry Mannox, and historians have debated the exact nature of their relationship in the few years to come - but they definitely shared a sexual relationship of some kind. Both of them would, however, later deny that they ever engaged in actual intercourse. Much later, during Catherine's adultery inquisitions, she would confess, 'At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox, being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body, which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require.' These words would indicate that the sexual encounters were not entirely consensual - but given the nature of this confession, one might question whether or not Catherine played the victim to preserve some innocence, as she was being questioned about her sexual misconduct., and her royal marriage was, at this point, in jeopardy.

Once Catherine cut ties with Mannox in 1538, she became entangled with a man named Francis Dereham, one of the Dowager Duchess's secretaries. They, too, became lovers, and referred to each other as 'husband' and 'wife' until the following year, when the Dowager Duchess found out. They did fully consummate their romance, and it has been debated whether or not they actually exchanged vows during this relationship - thus becoming married in the eyes of the Church. In any case, it is suspected that they at least had a precontract to marry before they were separated, and Catherine was sent to court to serve the new Queen Anne of Cleves - perhaps in an attempt to straighten out her loose behavior.
Her rise to queenship was swift, and when she married Henry in 1540, she likely felt that she had all the world at her fingertips. Henry absolutely doted on her - no doubt delighted that he, an overweight, old (for the time) man, had attracted such a lovely young lady to be his bride. He indulged and spoiled her, and his devotion to her was a stark contrast to his complete disinterest in his former wife. Guaranteed, he hoped for another son from Catherine, as his male heir, Edward (by his third wife, Jane Seymour), was three years old,  and the future of the dynasty would only be strengthened by a spare.
But while Catherine was certainly subjected to performing her marital duty for the king, her affections were apparently stolen by the courtier, Thomas Culpeper - a young and handsome man, with whom she was probably having an affair by the spring of 1541. He referred to her as 'my little sweet fool' in love letters that were discovered during her downfall. One of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, Jane Rochford (sister-in-law to the former Queen Anne Boleyn), arranged secret rendezvous between Catherine and Culpeper, and perhaps no one suspected a thing for several months... until autumn, when word reached the Archbishop of Canterbury regarding Catherine's previous sexual behavior under the Dowager Duchess's household.

With this new information, investigations began. Jane Rochford was questioned, and she confessed (due to fear of being tortured) that she had guarded the back stairs to Catherine's rooms many times, so that Thomas Culpeper could pay the queen secret visits. Culpeper's rooms were immediately searched, and a love letter from Catherine was found there - in which she had written 'it makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company' (a rather incriminating line, making known her affections for a man who was not her husband). This love letter was discreetly passed to the king while he was praying in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court on 1 November 1541 - only a year-and-a-half after marrying Catherine. Six days later, Catherine was questioned at Winchester Palace, and Archbishop Cranmer reported that she was so frantic and panicked, that even he had to pity her for the place she now found herself in. As her cousin, Anne Boleyn, had known before her - it was not a good thing to cross the king.
During her adultery inquisition, Catherine claimed that her former lover, Francis Dereham, had raped her. She denied a precontract of marriage, but was nonetheless stripped of her 'Queen' title on 23 November. She was held at Syon Abbey while the king remained at Hampton Court, and within the next couple of weeks, both Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper were executed at Tyburn (Dereham was hanged, drawn, and quartered; while Culpeper was merely beheaded). As was custom, their heads were placed upon spikes on London Bridge, as warnings to London citizens that treason against King Henry VIII was no small thing.
Catherine was, no doubt, aware of these executions. She remained imprisoned throughout the winter and, on 7 February 1542, the Royal Assent by Commission Act 1541 was passed - making it treason and punishable by death for a queen consort not to disclose her sexual history to the king within the first twenty days of marriage, as well as to commit adultery against her royal husband. There was no need for a trial at this point - the evidence was stacked against her. Catherine Howard was sentenced to death.

Which leads us to this day in 1542. After over two months of imprisonment, Lords of the Council came to fetch Catherine from Syon Abbey on 10 February, and her reaction was (understandably) one of pure panic. Catherine knew what to expect at this point, as she was told she would be taken to the Tower of London. She allegedly screamed and fought them as they roughly carried her to the barge that conveyed her down the River Thames. In a cruel twist of fate, Catherine passed directly under London Bridge, where the rotting heads of her former lovers were displayed. Once she arrived at the Tower of London, she entered through Traitor's Gate and was led to her prison cell. The following morning, she would learn that her execution was scheduled for 7:00 am on 13 February. She had just three more days to live.