The True Wife

King Henry VIII famously had six wives but it was his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, who captured his heart and devoted her life to his cause

- Amy Licence

In November 1501, Catherine of Aragon married the heir to the Tudor throne. She was just 15 years old; short, red-haired and regal in bearing, having been raised in the anticipation of this moment. A daughter of the most important marriage in late medieval Europe, her parents, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, had negotiated the match when she was a mere three years old. After she had secured her prince, Catherine intended to replicate that successful partnership, to become a loving, fruitful and ambitious wife, to rule England at her husband’s side and lead the country in the 16th century. Her wedding at Old St Paul’s Cathedral was accompanied by a fantasia of pageantry, spectacle and ceremony. Six weeks later, the young couple departed London to establish their own life as Prince and Princess of Wales at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, England, preparing for the day when the crown would pass to them. But the teenaged boy Catherine had married was not the future King Henry VIII, the husband for whom she is remembered today. It was Arthur Tudor, Henry’s elder brother, first-born child of the Tudor dynasty. Four-and-a-half months later, Arthur was dead.

It may seem strange to refer to Catherine of Aragon as the “true” wife of Henry VIII, given her previous marriage to his brother. After years of uncertainty, the pair was married on 11 June 1509, just weeks after Henry inherited the throne at the age of 17. He stated at the time that he was not only following the final wishes of his father, but also the dictates of his own heart.