Birth: 16 December 1485Catalina de Aragón was the first wife of Henry VIII and the daughter of the infamous ruling duo, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella’s marriage unified Spain and together, they drove the Moors out of the Kingdom of Granada. Catherine, like the rest of her siblings, was married off into powerful families in order to secure alliances with Spain. She was betrothed to Arthur, the son of Henry VII before her fourth birthday.
With a hefty dowry, Catherine came to England in 1501; she was no more than 16 years old. Arthur and Catherine were married on November 14, 1501 in Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Unfortunately, less than 6 months later, Arthur died of the mysterious ‘sweating sickness.’ But Henry VII was already negotiating with Catherine’s parents about another marriage, since he was interested in keeping her dowry. Within 14 months of Arthur’s death, Catherine was betrothed to Henry VII’s younger son, the future Henry VIII– even though he was too young to be married at the time. He was about 6 years younger than Catherine, but he was healthy, intelligent and full of energy. However, to be betrothed to his brother’s widow needed approval from the church, and so Catherine claimed that her and Arthur never consummated the marriage and a dispensation was granted.
When Henry was finally old enough to get married in 1505, his father had second thoughts about a Spanish alliance. Catherine was basically left in limbo in England for the next few years. It was only when Henry VII died in 1509 that the new King, Henry VIII, was able to marry Catherine as promised. On June 24, 1509, she was finally crowned Queen in a coronation ceremony with her husband.
It is said that Henry was happily married to his wife until her lack of bearing sons became a concern. Catherine conceived at least six times in the first nine years of their marriage; however, she miscarried twice, gave birth to a stillborn daughter, and had two sons that died within the first two months of their births. The only child that survived was a daughter, Mary, born in 1516. The last pregnancy that was recorded was in 1518, when Catherine was 33 years old.
At that time, no woman had ever ruled as Queen, so a daughter for Henry did not provide a suitable heir for the throne. As time went on and Catherine grew older, it was soon clear that she would not be able to bear any more children. Meanwhile, one of Henry’s mistresses, Elizabeth Blount, gave birth to a son. To Henry, this showed that he was capable of producing sons; it was Catherine that was the impotent one. Not only that, Henry had become infatuated with one of the ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.
Grown frustrated with the lack of a legitimate heir, Henry tried to find any reason to get out of the marriage. He studied the text in Leviticus and found a passage that said, “’If a man shall take his brother’s wife it is an unclean thing, they shall be childless.”(Leviticus, XX, 21). Henry took these words to heart and decided that his incestuous marriage had grounds for annulment.
However, the current Pope, Clement VII, was under the control of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, who was also Catherine’s nephew. Charles, of course, was not going to let his aunt be disregarded, and therefore, the Pope was unable to grant an annulment.
The battle and debate went on for six years, while Henry and his team of advisors sought a way out of the marriage. Catherine remained firm in her position as the rightful Queen, while encouraging Mary to maintain her title as the Princess. Anne Boleyn grew impatient as years went by, and so did the King, as Anne refused to be his mistress.
Finally, in 1533, rumors spread that Anne Boleyn submitted to the King and became pregnant. Henry needed to provide some sort of solution quickly; so he rejected the authority of the Pope and declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, issued the annulment and Catherine was no longer the Queen of England, but the Princess Dowager of Wales. Mary was declared illegitimate and was separated from her mother. Catherine was exiled from court and spent the final years of her life in cold and unpleasant castles with very few Spanish servants.
Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle on January 7, 1536 and was buried at Peterborough Abbey with a ceremony fit for a Princess of Wales, not a Queen of England. Still, in her last letter to Henry, she signed it “Catherine the Queen.”