The Tragic Story of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife D
as Catherine of Aragon’s body was prepared for burial it was noted that her corpse appeared to be healthy except for one disturbing detail almost no one could see stick around for the full story Catherine was raised to be a ruler but nothing could have prepared her for the heartache and betrayal she would eventually suffer at the hands of her husband Henry VII but her life did not start out as a tragedy Catherine’s childhood can only be described as Charmed her mother and father Were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain a royal power couple Catherine was among the most well-educated princesses of Europe the Spanish princess mastered multiple languages from Spanish and Latin to French and Greek in addition Catherine was schooled in arithmetic law classical literature genealogy history philosophy and theology little Catherine also
received lessons in cunning cing and statecraft and she’d need all of them to survive her future as the Queen of England Katherine’s path to Henry VII was almost as dramatic as her actual marriage at the tender age of three Katherine’s parents arranged her engagement to Henry’s older brother Prince Arthur the heir to the throne of England from a very young age it was clear that Catherine was going to be a looker she had long auburn hair bright blue eyes and an Angelic face people actually called her the most beautiful creature in the world when Prince Arthur turned 15 a perfectly reasonable age to get married apparently Catherine was carded off to London to meet her groom when Catherine arrived in London for her marriage she did it in legendary and revolutionary style among her retinue were a group of African attendants
considered at the time luxury servants a seriously gross term they were nonetheless the first recorded Africans to ever enter London Prince Arthur and his Spanish princess officially married on November 14th 1501 in a stately lavish ceremony that fit their ranks as Royals oddly enough Katherine and Arthur’s wedding night was the only public Royal bedding of the English royalty in the 16th century with corders following them into the chamber before leaving them alone to do the deed an eyewitness also said Arthur boasted the next morning about having been in the midst of Spain though this may have been teenage bravado when it comes to their consummation we will probably never know the truth the royal couple had no idea that tragedy was just around the corner Catherine of Aragon and Arthur began their marriage near Wales the Fatal
sweating sickness was sweeping through the area they both felt desperately ill bedridden and Delirious Catherine spent the next days fighting for her life she survived only to find out her new Young husband had not at 16 years old Catherine was a widow her position was now incredibly precarious her father-in-law King Henry II was anxious to keep her dowy and sending her back to Spain meant giving a full fund what he suggested next was utterly disturbing the 45-year-old Monarch wanted to marry Catherine himself Katherine’s parents protested so much about their teen daughter marrying a middle-aged man that the king finally relented her new Suitor was the young and handsome Prince Harry the Future
King Henry VII a much better option right their marriage was delayed for now partly because Katherine was 5 years older than the growing Henry but mostly because her stingy father was super slow and handing over the rest of her dowy during this time in limbo relations between England and Spain deteriorated and many started betting the marriage wouldn’t go through at all then in 1505 the literal minute he turned 14 and had a say in the matter Henry refused to marry the Spanish Princess Catherine had to think very fast to stay in the race for the crown her father suggested that instead of a royal bride Katherine become the Spanish ambassador to England making her Europe’s first female Ambassador in the process it worked and Catherine got to stay in England for now where she could win Henry back after seven long years on June 11th
1509 Henry finally agreed to marry Catherine of Aragon Henry was now King of England and Queen Catherine had her own lavish coronation just a handful of days later Henry was only 17 years old Catherine was 23 Katherine’s marriage to Henry was actually unimaginably scandalous because she had been married to Henry’s brother they had to get special dispensation from the pope for the union the Royals got a reluctant goahead but only after Katherine’s assurances that she and Arthur had never consummated their Union this made may very well have been true but that first marriage would come back to haunt Catherine eventually by this time Henry was a strapping auburn-haired athlete who loved hunting as much as he loved his humanist education just months after her wedding and crowning Catherine was overjoyed to find herself pregnant 5
months later she went into premature labor and gave birth to a stillborn girl soon Catherine was pregnant again and this time things were different she gave birth to a healthy baby boy Christen Henry after his father at the sight of a living baby and a boy at that the young Royals breathed a sigh of relief but not long after the long- awaited prince passed after a mere 52 days despite their problems King Henry VII gave Catherine almost unprecedented political power making her his Regent while he went to France on campaign while Henry was in France Scotland saw an opening and started invading England assuming Catherine of Aragon was a weak woman and ruler did Catherine back down absolutely not she became a warrior Queen she helped raise armies made banners and marshaled allies then
Catherine pulled off her most spectacular feat yet most people don’t know the best part Catherine was actually 7 months pregnant in September 1513 Catherine famously rode North in complete armor and regalia and gave an inspirational speech to her men showing them what a queen she really was and her next move was truly inspired Catherine sent her husband Henry the bloody torn coat of King James IV of Scotland and she also suggested Henry use it as a banner in his own battles on the continent tragic i al perhaps fueled by all the stresses she was under Catherine went into premature labor again on September 17th 1513 just days after rallying her men it was another boy and another still birth then the next year the same unbearable tragedy happened
again this made her fourth failed pregnancy in 5 years and the queen was becoming desperate in 1516 Catherine finally got a break sort of that winter she gave birth to her one child who would survive into adulthood the future Queen Mary the first of England after half a decade of trying for a healthy child you’d think King Henry VII would be happy but he was less than pleased instead of celebrating the birth of his daughter Henry started seeing his new mistress Bessie Blount though Catherine seemed to permit most of his Dianes this one would drive her mad Henry Carri on the affair for three long years and worst of all Blount gave birth to a healthy boy Henry’s illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy why did so many of Catherine’s pregnancies fail the possible reason is utterly tragic in recent years some have
argued that Catherine suffered from anorexia during her young widowhood after Arthur’s death uncertainty and poverty made Catherine frequently ill and depressed this physical trauma may have led to her future fertility problem Catherine had an immense amount of fertility issues but it might be even worse than we imagined debate rages about how many pregnancies and miscarriages Catherine had but the highest estimations say she could have had up to nine pregnancies with only one leading to an adult child Queen Mary in 1519 Henry caused an international Scandal thanks to his love for Catherine and and a beard growing pack gone wrong at the time Henry and the King of France agreed not to shave until they finally met in person however Katherine did not dig her husband’s scruffy look and told him to shave it off Henry obeyed to his great regret
this act became a scandal to the French since it appeared that Henry symbolically snubbed them fortunately the drama cooled and the king of France’s mother publicly assured the two monarchs saying love is not in their beards but in their hearts if only the drama between Catherine and Henry had ended in such a diplomatic way with no male air in sight Henry and Catherine’s relationship was disintegrating and then Catherine made a fatal error in 1522 the queen hired and Bolin as one of her ladies in Waiting Bolin was a double threat threat to Catherine’s Crown first the bewitchingly beautiful Anne refused to sleep with Henry without a ring which greatly increased his desire for her but there was something else Henry wanted Above All Else Catherine was now past
her childbearing years whereas an was 11 years younger than Henry and she could give him the male Heir he needed to secure his line Henry started thinking of every excuse in the book to drop Catherine he considered their Union cosmically cursed claiming they had broken God’s law when he married his brother’s widow Catherine was heartbroken at Henry’s attempt to deny their entire marriage she knew she was the rightful Queen of England she’d ridden pregnant into Scotland for her country she also swore to her dying day that she’d never consummated that First Union with Arthur Henry VII knew it was going to be a political and religious just mess to disentangle himself from Catherine so initially he tried to convince his wife to go obediently into a Convent where she could spend the rest of her days as a celibate nun Catherine’s response was
legendary she reportedly snapped God never called me to a nunnery I am the king’s true and legitimate wife and so the dissolution of Henry and Katherine’s marriage became the king’s great matter which dragged on for years this great matter would start a revolution with Henry taking over as head of the Church of England annulling his own marriage and starting the English Reformation but few know the cruel personal toll it took on Catherine in July 1531 Henry left Catherine on a hunting trip and never came back practically overnight he made the decision to move the court with him while leaving Queen Catherine and Princess Mary behind in a letter Catherine wrote that he didn’t even wake her to say goodbye Catherine never saw Henry again after that moment but the king didn’t waste any time he banished Catherine
from his court and then installed Bolin in her old rooms Catherine later said of the trials it is enough to shorten 10 lives throughout the great matter Katherine’s popularity with women was Skyhigh reportedly an angry mob of 7 to 8,000 women even tried to seize anolin in Catherine’s name though probably exaggerated or untrue the tales popularity testifies to Catherine’s appeal as the suffering wife against an’s other woman the women of England were clearly not team Anne for the next four years Catherine moved from Castle to Castle on the outskirts of English society and her habits grew more and more disturbing by the time she was at kimbleton cast CLE she imprisoned herself in one room of the house leaving it only to attend mass and denying herself almost all sustenance and there was one more chilling detail besides forced starvation and
confinement she took to wearing a hair shirt a coarse and uncomfortable garment that was meant to torment the wearer irritate the skin promote repentance and bring the wearer closer to God repentance for what what when Henry banished Catherine from the castle he also banished her from seeing or even talking to their only daughter Mary a cruelty Catherine could hardly bear in fact she often risked treason charges and secretly sent out letters to her beloved daughter Henry frequently wrote nagging letters to Catherine demanding weedling or whining for her to recognize Anne Bolin as the true Queen of England sometimes he even tried a more immoral tactic Henry wasn’t above bribery in these letters and he sometimes offered both Catherine and his daughter Mary better living quarters and lives if they would just acquest to his demands Catherine staunchly refused something that certainly troubled the king and his
new bride was that the English people absolutely loved Catherine from the moment they set eyes on her even her own enemy Henry VII’s CER Thomas Cromwell had to Once admit if not for her sex she would have defied all the Heroes of History Catherine certainly was one tough broad despite the immense pressure against her she never stopped referring to herself as the true Queen of England she also demanded that her servants do the same addressing her with all the glory of her rightful rank Henry however came up with more disrespectful names for his ex after denying her the crown Henry sealed the deal by insisting on calling Catherine The Dowager Princess of Wales sure that sounds kind of respectful but it gets a whole lot more insulting once you realize that this title pointedly turned her into merely Prince Arthur’s Widow and makes no reference to her
previous position as Queen at all in 1533 Henry finally got the Archbishop of Canterbury to say his marriage to Katherine was null and void 5 days later he was officially married to an Bolin after they tied the knot in a secret ceremony Catherine was now a forgotten Queen by her 30s Catherine’s famous youthful Beauty had withered she had understandably gained weight and had visible markers of stress from the endless failed pregnancies by 1535 she felt herself growing weaker and weaker with a strange malady knowing the end was near she reportedly penned a last letter to her husband and its contents were heartbreaking Catherine’s final letter to Henry functioned as a last will and testament an accusation and an Absolution allinone in it she forced him to remember his wrongs toward her but
also wrote for my part I pardon you everything and I wish to devoutly pray God that he will pardon you also but it’s the last line of her letter that hits the hardest in her closing lines Catherine directs Henry to take care of their daughter Mary but ends with a tender show of her own affection for him last ly I make this vow that mine eyes desire you Above All Things in true fashion she signed the letter Catherine the Queen by 1535 Katherine was on her deathbed even though King Henry banned any of her supporters from seeing her at this time her best friend Maria de Selenas refused to let her go alone into the dark night even if it meant risking execution Selena’s traveled nearly 6 miles on Horseback to make it to her before it was too late then she came up with an ingenious plan to get in Maria lied and told the guards that she had
lost the paperwork that gave her permission to enter it worked and Maria saw her lifelong friend into the next life on January 7th 1536 Katherine passed at kimbolton Castle after a bizarre illness how did Henry VII react to the death of his ex-wife and the mother of his daughter he and Ann Bolin dressed up in celebratory yellow though some claimed this was a nod to the Spanish color of morning and was actually a deferential act either way Catherine rot one final Vengeance on the pair from Beyond the Grave fatza funny Twisted thing and Katherine’s rival an Bolin soon found that out on the day of Catherine’s funeral anolin suffered a miscarriage the baby was a boy Catherine’s demise was utterly mysterious in its time while preparing her body for burial her embalmer noticed
the corpse was in perfect health except for her heart which had turned black after witnessing her strange condition those loyal to Catherine and disloyal to King Henry VII and Queen Anne started whispering that the new royal couple had poisoned Catherine Leading The Dowager to die poetically of a broken heart modern hisor Ians however believe a very different story most experts today believe that rather than Foul Play Catherine died of cancer of the heart which can sometimes turn the heart black given Catherine’s circumstances and queenship dying of a broken heart would have made perfect poetic sense Catherine of Aragon’s ghost supposedly haunts Castle Lodge where the Young Bride stayed in her first brief marriage to Arthur Prince of Wales visitors report seeing an apparition of a teenage girl and tutor era clothing she floats through the halls and the nursery that she never got to fill
perhaps longing for more hopeful times Catherine was married to Henry for 23 years 11 months and 19 days making her the longest serving of Henry VII’s six Queens considering she died of natural causes in the privacy of her bed you could in fact call her one of the luckier ones thank you for watching this video I hope you enjoyed it please like And subscribe for more videos like this one
