Katherine of Aragon: The First Wife of Henry VIII

The name of Katherine of Aragon will forever be linked with that of her husband, King Henry VIII of England. She was the first wife of the notorious monarch, and arguably the most important, for Henry’s desire to divorce Katherine was the impetus for the British Protestant Reformation and the creation of the Church of England. But there is so much more to Katherine of Aragon than the famous divorce. She was a gracious, devout, and valiant princess and queen who bore the difficulties of her life with great patience and followed her mother’s example of putting the souls of her people first.

Katherine was the youngest daughter of Queen Isabella and King Fernando. She was born in 1485, in the middle of the war of Granada. After the fall of the Moorish Empire in Spain, the royal family spent most of their time at the Alhambra, their regal palace in Granada. Katharine, like her brother and sisters, was educated in a manner befitting a future Catholic monarch. For Spain, an alliance with England was desirable, and for England, and alliance with such a powerful family would help in securing peace and stability. King Henry VII had only recently come to power following the tumultuous Wars of the Roses. Thus from an early age, Katherine was betrothed to King Henry VII’s eldest son, Prince Arthur. They wrote letters to each other, in Latin, until they were old enough for Katherine to travel to England and marry Arthur. As Katherine was the youngest and the last to leave her home, Isabella was reluctant to bid her daughter a final farewell, and delayed the actual marriage as long as possible without offending Henry VII.

Prince Arthur

Finally in 1501, when she was 16 and Arthur was 15, Katherine left her home, her parents, and her native land to travel to a foreign kingdom where she would later rule as queen. Their marriage took place only a few weeks after Katharine arrived. Katherine and Arthur’s royal wedding was an occasion of great joy. The young couple looked well together and their youth, regal bearing, and smiling faces brought the hope of stability for the troubled kingdom of England. Katherine and Arthur were happy to find in each other a kindred spirit, and looked forward to a marriage filled with love and understanding. Less than four months after the wedding, Arthur became gravely ill and died. Isabella and Fernando urged Katherine to come home to Spain, but the avaricious King Henry VII was reluctant to give up Katherine’s dowry, and more reluctant to pay her inheritance as a dowager princess, and so instead he proposed that Katherine take his younger son, Henry, as a husband once he came of age.

Young Henry VIII

Thus on the face of things Katherine had two alternatives, but to her, there was only one path. Katherine insisted that when Arthur died, their marriage had not yet been consummated, and as she never once wavered from this statement, we have no reason to doubt her. She recognized that it was her duty to create this bond between Spain and England, and thus remaining in England and marrying Prince Henry was her only option. The marriage was delayed until Henry came of age, but also until the pope granted a dispensation for Henry to marry his own brother’s widow, despite Katherine’s insistence to the contrary. The dispensation was granted, and Katherine spent seven years living at the English court in an awkward position. King Henry gave her hardly enough money to support herself and her servants, and yet she was also expected to keep up the appearances of wealth which her status demanded.

Seven years later, King Henry VII died, and Prince Henry, only 17 years old, became king and married Katherine soon after. Their marriage began as a happy one, much more affectionate and respectful than typical royal marriages. Katherine and Henry were both intelligent and devout, with a true desire to rule together and rule fairly. Four years into their marriage, while Henry was occupied with a military campaign in France, he appointed Katherine Regent of England, placing all royal authority in her capable hands. She proved her worth during this time by helping to defeat the invading Scottish. Katherine, like her mother before her, rode in full armor to the army’s camp and addressed the troops, inspiring them to victory. As Queen, she was also a generous patroness of the poor, and a great supporter of education, especially for girls and women.

Katherine’s main duty as queen was not the physical protection of the country, though; it was the bearing of male heirs to secure the Tudor dynasty. Henry was the last of his line, and his own claim to the throne was weak enough that the lack of an heir was a real threat to England’s peace. Katherine was pregnant seven times, and only had one daughter who survived past infancy. Her first daughter was miscarried in 1510. Then she gave birth to a son who died after less than two months. Her next two sons were both stillborn. Finally in 1516, Katherine gave birth to a healthy daughter named Mary. After Mary, Katherine had another miscarriage, and her last daughter, born in 1518, lived for only a few hours. All of these sorrows put a great strain on Katherine and Henry’s marriage.

Known to history as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants during her reign.

The next chapter of their lives together, that leading up to the divorce, is a complex one, with various interpretations. The difficulty arises in trying to decipher Henry’s true feelings and motives. But to start with, let us simply examine the facts. Henry and Katherine had received a papal dispensation allowing them to marry. This should have removed any doubt as to the validity of their marriage, regardless of whether or not Katherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage. Throughout their marriage, Henry did take mistresses (one of them bore him an illegitimate son) and one of the ladies who attracted his attention was Anne Boleyn, lady-in-waiting to the queen. It was around the same time that he became infatuated with Anne Boleyn (1525) that Henry began to question the validity of his marriage to Katherine. He thought that perhaps his lack of a male heir was God’s punishment for having broken the divine law in marrying his brother’s widow. Henry may have been sincere in this, but it may have been a convenient excuse to find a way to put away Katherine and marry again. After all, Anne Boleyn refused to be Henry’s mistress. She wanted to become his queen.

Anne Boleyn

Katherine was understandably distraught when she discovered that Henry was seeking a way to annul their marriage. She knew that she was his lawful wife and the rightful queen. After almost five years of discussions, sending ambassadors, and hearings, it became clear to Henry that no annulment would be granted by the Pope, so he took matters into his own hands. In 1531, Katherine was banished from court and her rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. In 1533, Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, and Archbishop Cranmer issued the decree of nullity, and Henry and Anne married soon after.

Katherine defending herself to Cranmer

The remainder of Katherine’s life was spent in virtual imprisonment. She was confined to a castle (though not a comfortable one) and was not allowed to see her daughter, Mary. They were also forbidden to write to one another. Katherine adopted the life of a nun. She was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and during this final stage of her life, when she had such little connection with the outside world, she was able to spend most of her days in prayer and acts of penance, wearing a hair shirt and continuously fasting. More distressing to her than her own circumstances was the knowledge that Henry’s break with the Church endangered not only his own soul, but the souls of her British subjects. Her greatest desire was for her husband to realize his error and return his country to the Catholic Church. But as we well know, this he never did.

Katherine died on January 7, 1536, at the age of fifty. Shortly before she died, she wrote this letter to her husband:


My most dear lord, king and husband,
The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions [dowries], which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.

Katharine the Quene.