Catherine of Aragon Part II

Catherine stated that her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated.  She and he were quite young and as she was a young woman of great integrity, it is likely that she was telling the truth.  This made the case for a dispensation easier, as it was easier to annul an unconsummated marriage.   Consummation was regarded as validating a marriage.  However because she and Arthur had lived as man and wife and been recognised as such, there was a need for a dispensation…

Henry was attracted to Catherine, who had been living a difficult and depressing life, from the time of her widowhood, and he probably regarded himself as a gallant, rescuing his lady from the problems of her poverty and being all but kept a prisoner by Henry VII.   When his father died in 1509, he wanted to marry her.  The Pope had given a dispensation covering the possibility that the marriage to Arthur had been consummated, and allowing a marriage to her former brother in law.

The young couple had a lot in common.  Henry VIII had been under his father’s thumb and had become King at the age of 18, and he was now free to do what he wanted and enjoy himself.  He shared Catherine’s interests in music and literature and theology… and they seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

The couple were married and crowned, and were very popular with the ordinary people.  Henry was a fine handsome young man who was flamboyant and free spending unlike his miserly father.  Catherine was still young and attractive and the English people felt sorry for her and loved her.   Within a year of her marriage she had her first child but it was a stillborn daughter.  Then she had another pregnancy, which ended in the birth of a son, but the boy died at the age of 6 weeks.  It was far from uncommon to lose children so the couple were not too discouraged.   She had 2 more stillborn children but then in 1516, gave birth to a daughter.  Henry was relieved to have a child who survived…but he hoped that a son would follow.   The baby was called Mary.  As the daughter of a reigning Queen, Catherine did not feel that women were incapable of ruling.  She wished to ensure that her daughter had a good education to prepare her for the possibility of becoming Queen.

She herself acted as Regent when Henry was away at war.  She was well liked by the people – However, the English people had only had one Queen regnant, Mathilda or Maud... who had been involved in a bitter civil war with a rival claimant… so that their memory of having a queen ruling them was not a happy one.

Catherine became more religious as she grew older, praying intensely, and doing penances.  This began to create some distance between her and Henry.  He was a devout man but he was almost 6 years Catherine’s junior.  He had never had much of a period of bachelor freedom and he wanted to enjoy life, so a wife who was increasingly serious, may have seemed difficult for him to understand.  Unlike many Princes and Kings; he was in love with his wife and was by and large faithful to her.  He had an affair with a lady in waiting, Elizabeth Blount, who became his mistress in 1516 and gave birth to a son, Henry Fitzroy in 1519.  He may have had a few other brief affairs but there are only 2 women of whom we can be certain that there was a relationship.  Catherine was frequently pregnant during their first years of marriage.  This meant that Henry might well look elsewhere for sex for a time... But there does not seem to have been a serious rift between him and his wife, nor do we have more than 2 named women. 

After Mary’s birth Catherine had 2 more pregnancies but she was growing older and her chance of producing a male heir were slipping away.  She had a miscarriage, and a daughter who died at birth.

Henry must have been disappointed.  His wife was aging and less attractive and she was more absorbed in religious duties. He had no male heir.. But he had proved that he could father a son with Elizabeth Blount.

He started an affair with Mary Boleyn, who had come from the French court and seems to have been the mistress of Francis I. In 1520 Mary was married to William Carey, a courtier, and this was probably a cover for her affair with Henry….She had 2 children but it seems likely that they were born after her affair with Henry, and when she and her husband started marital relations.

Although Henry was not a particularly promiscuous husband, the age difference and the lack of a male heir began to damage the fabric of his marriage to Catherine.