After signing with A&M as a solo artist, Wakeman decided on the album's concept during a tour of the United States with the progressive rock band Yes.

His previous group, the Strawbs, were signed to A&M Records and their deal granted each member the option to release an album as a solo artist.

While touring the US with Yes to promote Fragile (1971), manager Brian Lane informed Wakeman that A&M co-founder and executive Jerry Moss wished to meet him.

[2] A&M offered Wakeman a present for signing on with them; he remembered a 1957 Cadillac limousine in the parking lot and had A&M ship one that was previously owned by actor Clark Gable to England.

[7][8] As he read about Anne Boleyn being imprisoned at the Tower of London on the subsequent flight to Chicago, a theme he had put down ran through his mind, which he wrote down on some hand drawn ledger lines and played at a following soundcheck.

Wakeman found himself becoming unsatisfied in what he had put down at previous sessions and re-recorded sections often, an approach which he later said helped keep the material fresh.

[11] The tracks were not arranged chronologically, but one to make the album sound "musically interesting" and to have the personalities of the wives in "some kind of meaningful order.

[4] The head of A&M felt the album would be too difficult to sell, and another member of staff estimated that 50,000 copies had to be sold in order to make a profit.

After a subsequent meeting with two A&R men, who expressed their fondness for its "off the wall" quality, the label gave the green-light and agreed to an initial pressing of 12,500 copies.

[20][21] The cover was to be produced in black and white as A&M had refused to pay for a version in full colour, but Michael Doud managed to get the final design printed in a sepia tone, which Wakeman said was a vast improvement.

[4][20] "Catherine of Aragon" is a track that Wakeman had wanted to put on Fragile, but contractual issues at the time prevented him from recording one of his own compositions.

"[23] On the morning of recording it Wakeman realised that the middle keyboard solo would only work as an improvisation, and told the musicians to play as if they were on stage.

[17] "Catherine Howard" features Strawbs bassist Chas Cronk, who recalled the "total confusion" when he recorded his parts as he "couldn't make head or tail of what [we] were doing.

[24][17] Wakeman later considered the church organ was the wrong instrument to portray Seymour's feeling towards Henry, and said it changed the overall mood of the track to what he originally intended.

[5] He wanted to avoid portraying strong religious connotations with the organ alone, so he added drums, a Thomas Goff model harpsichord, and Moog synthesizer.

[25] At one point during the recording of "Anne Boleyn", Tregurtha produced a tape with a rough mix to which Wakeman listened to on his drive home and felt the ending needed further work.

[28] Wakeman wanted "Catherine Parr" to have "a really strong feel on drums, nothing subtle at all", and thought Yes drummer Alan White was best for the track.

[5] To promote the album, Wakeman played excerpts from it on the BBC 2 television music show The Old Grey Whistle Test on 16 January 1973.

[3] An audience of around 10 million planned to watch David Bailey's controversial documentary about American pop figure Andy Warhol on ITV, but critics Mary Whitehouse and Ross McWhirter condemned it for its pornographic imagery and bad language, causing the government to ban it at short notice.

[20] Wakeman recalled: "It seems most of them, rather than watch repeats, switched over to Whistle Test and saw my preview of 'Henry'...and suddenly it seemed as if the whole country had discovered my music...it was a tremendous break".

[7] Burdfield also produced advertorials in several music magazines, featuring excerpts from an interview about the album that Wakeman had with radio DJ Johnnie Walker.

Penny Valentine wrote a positive review in Sounds magazine, saying it was "a very attractive album" with "a mix of the emotional flash, the calm and gentle, the grand and the simple.

[37] Rolling Stone reviewer Steve Apple noted Wakeman had "made his bid for Keith Emerson's place as the master of keyboard electronics" but thought his playing suffered a little in technique.

Apple noticed "a brilliant feel for tasteful impressionistic composition", having made "an exceptionally interesting instrumental album with superb production".

He loosely compared the music to that of progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and mentioned Wakeman's "lyrical" and "deep, vast sound".

A recording of his solo was included on the band's first live album Yessongs (1973), titled "Excerpts from 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII'", as well as their same-titled concert film (1975).

[23] The setlist included "Defender of the Faith", the track Wakeman wrote about Henry that was omitted from the album due to unavailable space on the vinyl, plus additional material written specifically for the concerts.