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London Henry VIII Six Wives Walking Tour

London Henry VIII Six Wives Audio Walking Tour

A Henry VIII walk from Westminster Abbey past Whitehall, Blackfriars, St Paul's and Leadenhall to Tower Hill, telling the story of his six marriages.

5.5 km walk1 h 18 walking8 stopsFrom Westminster Abbey to Tower Hill20 min of storiesEnglish
$17.99
  • 8 stops and 20 minutes of stories, told as you reach each place
  • The intro and stop 1 are free in the app: try before you buy
  • Download before you go; the audio plays without signal (the street map needs a connection)
  • Walking with friends? Pick 1 to 10 seats; everyone hears each stop on their own phone, at the same moment
Hear stop 1
30 seconds of the real narration

Plays in the free Walk With Me app on iPhone and Android.

The story in order

  1. 14 November 1501St Paul's Cathedral
    In Old St Paul's, Catherine of Aragon marries Prince Arthur. Within five months he is dead.
  2. 24 June 1509Westminster Abbey
    Henry, four days short of eighteen, is crowned here beside Catherine, his brother's widow.
  3. 21 June 1529Blackfriars Priory
    Before the court at Blackfriars, Catherine kneels to Henry, asks for justice and walks out. Our account comes from Wolsey's usher, written years later.
  4. 31 May 1533Temple Bar
    Anne Boleyn's coronation procession rides from the Tower to Westminster, greeted at Temple Bar by singers; she is crowned the next day.
  5. 17 May 1536Tower Hill
    Five men accused with Anne, her brother among them, are beheaded on this hill. She dies inside the walls two days later; exactly where is disputed.
  6. 30 May 1536Banqueting House
    Eleven days after Anne's death, Henry marries Jane Seymour at Whitehall.
  7. 28 January 1547Banqueting House
    Henry dies at Whitehall. His sixth wife, Catherine Parr, outlives him.

What costs extra

3 stops have a ticket to go inside. The story plays outside, so going in is your choice.

StopInsideTicket from
1. Westminster AbbeyOptional£31
2. Banqueting HouseOptional£10
6. St Paul's CathedralOptional£27

About this tour

Henry's London was small enough to cross in an afternoon, and on foot you feel how close it all was: the coronation church, the cardinal's palace, the courtroom, the cathedral of the first wedding and the scaffold, linked by the roads the processions used. Walking Anne's route backwards, from her triumph to the Tower, makes the ending land hard. If you'd like company on your next stroll, open the Walk With Me live map to find other people out walking London.

The route

5.5 km in walking order from Westminster Abbey to Tower Hill. Stop 1 is free in the app.

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  1. 1Westminster AbbeyThe Abbey's north front beside little St Margaret's, where a teenage king was crowned with his brother's widow, and where one wife still lies.£31 to go in, optional
  2. 2Banqueting HouseInigo Jones's hall, all that is left of Whitehall Palace, once a cardinal's house, and how it changed hands as the first marriage failed.£10 to go in, optional
  3. 3Durham House StreetA lane off the Strand named for a vanished riverside palace, where a young widow waited, and the verse the case turned on.
  4. 4Temple BarThe dragon-topped memorial at the City's old western edge, a gate for royal processions, and the evening a new queen slipped away by barge.
  5. 5Blackfriars PrioryA small garden off Carter Lane, once part of a great friary church, where a queen spoke for herself before the court.
  6. 6St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's north side, by an old gate moved from Fleet Street, the wedding behind the quarrel, and golden promises to its rival.£27 to go in, optional
  7. 7LeadenhallLeadenhall Market's Victorian arcade on a medieval hall's site, a white falcon crowned by an angel, and how fast it all happened.
  8. 8Tower HillThe old scaffold site in Trinity Square Gardens, facing the Tower walls, where the procession set out and where Anne's story ends.

Before you go

  • The walking takes about an hour and twenty minutes.
  • With the stories, allow two and a half hours.
  • It is nearly flat, with a gentle climb up to St Paul's.
  • Start at Westminster station on the Jubilee, District and Circle lines, and finish at Tower Hill station, right beside the last stop.
  • The Abbey and the Tower both charge for entry, so check before you go if you want to see inside.

Toilets and water

13 toilets near the route, 3 free8 drinking fountains

Not quite this one?

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  • London Blitz and Churchill Walking Tour, 4.6 km, $16.99
  • London Harry Potter Film Locations Walk, 6 km, $17.99

By Yahya, founder of Walk With Me · Written · How we write