 On 8 January 1536 news reached the king and the queen that Catherine of Aragon had died . Henry called for public displays of joy regarding Catherine 's death . The queen was pregnant again , and she was aware of the consequences if she failed to give birth to a son . Later that month , the King was unhorsed in a tournament and was badly injured and it seemed for a time that the king 's life was in danger . When news of this accident reached the queen , she was sent into shock and miscarried a male child that was about 15 weeks old , on the day of Catherine 's funeral , 29 January 1536 . For most observers , this personal loss was the beginning of the end of the royal marriage . Given the king 's desperate desire for a son , the sequence of Anne 's pregnancies has attracted much interest . Author Mike Ashley speculated that Anne had two stillborn children after Elizabeth 's birth and before the birth of the male child she miscarried in 1536 . Most sources attest only to the birth of Elizabeth in September 1533 , a possible miscarriage in the summer of 1534 , and the miscarriage of a male child , of almost four months gestation , in January 1536 . 
