To this day, children in British schools learn a short rhyme to remember the fates of the six queens: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.” The six marriages followed in this order. This very rhyme is the central theme of the musical SIX, as the six women compete to determine which of them drew the hardest lot.
The six wives of Henry VIII were Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. In just 38 years, the English Tudor king married six times, and the fates of his wives ranged from divorce to execution to early death. One of them even outlived him. The musical SIX gives these six women their voices back and transforms 500 years of history into an 80-minute pop concert. Those who know the real story behind it will experience the show twice as intensely.
Catherine of Aragon was Henry’s first wife and a Spanish princess, daughter of the powerful Queen Isabella of Castile. The marriage lasted about 24 years, longer than all the subsequent ones combined. Because Catherine did not bear a surviving male heir to the throne, Henry wanted to have the marriage annulled. When the Pope refused, Henry broke with the Catholic Church without further ado, thereby triggering the English Reformation. Catherine never recognized the divorce until her death. In SIX, her character is modeled after self-assured pop divas like Beyoncé, and her song is a single defiant “No Way.”
Anne Boleyn is arguably the most famous of the six women. For her, Henry broke with Rome, and her daughter later became one of the most significant rulers in history: Queen Elizabeth I. But when Anne also failed to produce a son, the king turned away from her. She was accused of adultery and high treason and executed in 1536. In SIX, her character is sassy and irreverent, inspired by pop stars like Lily Allen or Miley Cyrus, and sings “Don’t Lose Ur Head” with a wink.
Jane Seymour was Henry’s third wife and finally bore him the long-awaited male heir, the future King Edward VI. Just a few days after the birth, she died of childbed fever. Henry is said to have regarded her as his true love and later had himself buried beside her. In SIX, she gets the show’s only quiet ballad, an Adele-esque power ballad about unconditional love.
Anne of Cleves came from the Duchy of Cleves on the Lower Rhine, in the region that is now North Rhine-Westphalia. Henry agreed to the marriage after seeing a portrait of her. The actual meeting was sobering, and the marriage was amicably dissolved after a short time. Anna made the best deal of all six women: she received castles, a generous allowance, and the honorary title “Beloved Sister of the King.” She outlived Henry and all the other queens. In SIX, her character is a self-assured winner in the style of Nicki Minaj or Rihanna.
Katherine Howard was very young when she married and a cousin of Anne Boleyn. Her story is the most tragic of the six, as she was exploited by older men throughout her life and eventually, like her cousin, accused of adultery and executed in 1542. In SIX, her song starts like a catchy Ariana Grande pop song and then shifts into a bitter reckoning with everyone who abused her.
Catherine Parr was Henry’s sixth and last wife and the only one to outlive him. She was educated, wrote books herself, and was committed to religious reform—which was extraordinary for a woman in her time. After Henry’s death, she married one last time, this time by her own choice. In SIX, she gets the most empowering song in the show, an anthem about not letting a man define her own story.
SIX takes these six life stories and turns them on their head. Instead of portraying them as the victims of a famous king, the women perform as a girl group and compete to see which of them was treated the worst. Each queen gets her own solo in the style of a modern pop icon, from R&B diva to pop princess. In the end, the show turns its own competition on its head and makes it clear that these six women are far more than just one man’s ex-wives. A history lesson thus becomes a rousing pop concert about self-determination and solidarity, honored with more than 35 international awards, including the Tony Award for Best Original Score.
SIX The Musical is going on tour in Germany in 2026, performed in the original English production. Anyone familiar with the story of the six queens will understand every song immediately, even without perfect English.
The 2026 dates:
Munich, Deutsches Theater, June 2–14
Frankfurt, Alte Oper, June 18–28
Düsseldorf, Capitol Theater, June 30–July 12 (particularly fitting, as Anna of Cleves, a queen from the region, takes the stage)
Berlin, Admiralspalast, July 14–26