As the country prepares to celebrate Guy Fawkes night it’s worth noting that the Roman Catholic wasn’t the only gambler around England at the time.

Fawkes involvement in the Gunpowder plot shows how daring the Yorkshire man was in his aims to wipe out King James I, his family and most of the aristocracy at the time.

However approximately 50 years before the audacious plot one of England’s most notorious Kings was known as a key gambler at the time.

It’s claimed that King Henry VIII took the art of gambling extremely seriously. On one occasion he is reported to have lost a gigantic and very valuable church bell in a wager.

While King Henry (famous for having six wives) could hardly be described as an athlete he was deeply involved in leisure sport. However he preferred to watch and bet rather than actually play!

The monarch particularly laid wagers on sports involving animals such as bear baiting and cock fighting.

To be fair to King Henry VIII his gambling habit was not unusual at the time. The Tudors were well known for their love of placing a wager and the wealthier the man the bigger the bet.

At one time Henry VIII is said to have had a bill for £3,242 for 3 years gambling debts when the weekly wage equated to approximately 5p.

It’s unlikely that the monarch ever lost too much sleep over not paying his gambling debts however such was his fierce and uncompromising reputation.

He had over 78,000 people executed while he was King. That worked out as 5 people killed every day for 38 years, a statistic which sent shudders across the land.

Monarchs are still well known for their love of gambling of course and the late Queen Mother who died in March 2002 had a special place in her heart for horse racing.