A rift that took 500 years to repair: King Charles prays with the pope

Joint prayer in Sistine Chapel is symbolic act of rapprochement between Catholic church and Church of England after centuries of division

Almost every British schoolchild is taught that Henry VIII, the swaggering Tudor king driven by lust and his quest for an heir, broke away from the Roman Catholic church in 1534 after the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Henry created the Church of England, appointed himself its supreme governor, divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn (who lasted just three years before she was beheaded for treason).