| 31 May 1527 | England [political events] | After secret discussions with his Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey on 17 May, King Henry VIII of England informs his wife, Catherine of Aragon, that he is seeking a divorce on the grounds that she was his brother's widow; Henry has no surviving legitimate son and Catherine is now 41 years old. |
| 31 May 1740 | Prussia [political events] | Following the death of Frederick William I of Prussia, he is succeeded by his son Frederick II (the Great). |
| 31 May 1809 | Austria [births and deaths] | Franz Josef Haydn, Austrian classical composer, dies in Vienna, Austria (77). |
| 31 May 1819 | USA [births and deaths] | Walt Whitman, US journalist, essayist, and poet, born in West Hills, New York (–1892). |
| 31 May 1889 | UK [legislation] | The Naval Defence Act in Britain inaugurates an extensive naval building programme, the prime minister Lord Salisbury undertaking that Britain will maintain a navy equal to the combined strengths of the next two largest fleets according to his ‘two-power standard’. |
| 31 May 1902 | South Africa, United Kingdom [Anglo–Boer Wars (1899–1902)] | The Peace of Vereeniging ends the South African Boer War, in which 5,774 British troops were killed as a result of the conflict and 16,000 through disease, while 4,000 Boers were killed. The Boer people accept British sovereignty, but are promised self-government in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, and £3 million for restocking their farms. |
| 31 May 1903 | USA [natural disasters] | The flooding Kansas, Missouri, and Des Moines rivers kill more than 200 people and leave 8,000 others without homes. |
| 31 May–1 June 1916 | Germany, United Kingdom [World War I (1914–18)] | The British and German surface fleets clash in the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, their one major conflict of the war. The British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe loses a greater number of ships, but succeeds in reaffirming its naval dominance. The German fleet will remain in harbour for the rest of the war. |
| 31 May 1930 | [births and deaths] | Clint Eastwood, US actor, director, and producer, star of many westerns, born in San Francisco, California. |
| 31 May 1960 | USA [psychiatry] | The President's Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health in the USA reports that 25% of Americans suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives. |
| 31 May 1961 | South Africa [political events] | South Africa becomes an independent republic outside the Commonwealth, with Charles Swart as president. |
| 31 May 1974 | Syria, Israel, USA [diplomacy] | The US secretary of state Henry Kissinger secures an agreement between Syria and Israel to disengage forces on the Golan Heights. |
