THIS year is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s coronation. This man changed history and it all came about through blind chance.

Henry was never meant to be king and only became heir on the death of his brother, Arthur.

Henry married his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon, and despite 24 years of marriage they only had one child – Mary. Not unreasonably then, Henry asked the Pope for a divorce, to marry Anne Boleyn and secure his dynasty with a male heir. For political reasons, the Pope refused.

Henry, not a man to take no for an answer, left the European union of Christendom.

Thomas Cromwell, who despised Catholicism anyway, persuaded Henry to dissolve the monasteries and seize their vast wealth. This was used to bolster our coastal defences and build the Royal Navy.

The British East India company was founded during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1600 and for the next 350 years we ran the world. Eventually one quarter of its land and populace would fall under British control.

Were it not for the Tudors, there would have been no British Empire, no English-speaking North America and no British-driven industrial revolution.

Christopher Dixon, Stanhope, Co Durham.