King Henry VIII

London ? Monarch. Tyrant. Reformer. Husband from hell.

King Henry VIII, who took the throne 500 years ago Tuesday, went on to transform Britain. He married six times and sent two of his queens to the executioner. His battle to divorce his first bride led him to break from the Roman Catholic church and establish the Church of England.

He still divides opinion.

“He was an awful person,” said Brett Dolman, a curator at Hampton Court Palace, Henry’s residence southwest of London. “Emotionally twisted, a bully.”

His colleague, Suzannah Lipscomb, is a bit more forgiving. “I wonder sometimes whether I am the first female sympathizer with this monstrous tyrant,” said Lipscomb, who is overseeing anniversary exhibitions at Hampton Court and has written a book about Henry. “I’m not sure I like him, but I think I have a lot more insight into why he did what he did.”

Lipscomb said Henry’s influence on Britain was huge. “He marked the transition from a medieval state to a modern state. He founded the Church of England. He swaggered out and claimed a place for England on the European stage that it has held ever since … .”

Henry is probably Britain’s most famous monarch. But knowledge of him tends to be limited to his six wives and his split from the Roman Catholic Church.

The British Library is showing off a large collection of Henry’s books — many annotated by him — in an attempt to get inside the mind of the monarch. The National Archive is exhibiting original documents from Henry’s reign, including a parchment roll recording his second wife Anne Boleyn’s trial for high treason, with its lurid allegations of adultery and incest.

There’s also a major television series hosted by British historian David Starkey, who calls Henry “our most important single ruler.” Showtime also has a popular TV series, “The Tudors.”

Well educated, Henry spoke several languages and was a patron of the arts. But he also had political rivals, former friends and two of his wives — Boleyn and Catherine Howard — arrested, locked in the Tower of London and beheaded.

His passion for Anne Boleyn led him to seek divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had failed to produce a male heir. The Vatican’s refusal to annul the marriage led Henry to reject the authority of the pope and install himself as head of the new Church of England.

The schism and Henry’s dissolution of the affluent monasteries shifted power in England from church to state. His wars ensured England was a major player in Europe, and the shipyards he founded helped produce a globe-girdling navy.

Although he was obsessed with siring a future king, his only legitimate son, Edward VI, died at 15. His daughter, Elizabeth I, went on to rule for 45 years and oversaw one of England’s greatest eras.