The most beloved Wife?
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| On the 25th of June 1503, Katherine was formally betrothed to the Henry VII's second son, Henry, now prince of Wales. In the Autumn of 1506 the widowed Katherine of Aragon had joined King Henry VII's Court for the summer, it was during this summer that she and the similarly aged Prince Henry began to spend a lot of time together, they found they enjoyed eachother's company and it was then that it is thought they began to fall in love. By late Autumn of that year The King had become alarmed when he discovered how close his son Henry had become to Katherine. He sent Katherine and her household to live at Fulham Palace, saying that the country air would be more beneficial for her health, though the real reason is thought to be that we wanted an Austrian alliance by securing the marriage of his son and Princess Eleanor and thought it prudent that he not let his son get any closer to Katherine than he already was. However, the match didn't take place for a number of years and Henry VII died before it could come about. Now King, Henry VIII discarded plans for a marriage to Princess Eleanor and decided to take Katherine as his wife. The wedding taking place on the 11th of June and the coronation on the 24th. Katherine now enjoyed a few years of married happiness.Henry showed himself an affectionate husband.During Henry's invasion of France in 1513 she was made regent. She showed great zeal and ardour in the preparations for the Scottish expedition, and was riding towards the north to put herself at the head of the troops when the victory of Flodden field ended the campaign. The following year an affectionate meeting took place between the king and queen at Richmond.These early years of happiness and of useful influence and activity had, however, been gradually giving way to gloom and disappointment. Between January 1510 and November 1518 Katherine gave birth to six children (including two princes), who were all stillborn or died in infancy except Mary, born in 1516, and rumour did not fail to ascribe this series of disasters to the curse pronounced in Deuteronomy on incestuous unions. In 1526 the condition of Catherine's health made it highly improbable that she would have more children. No woman had ever reigned in England, alone and in her own right, and to avoid a fresh dispute concerning the succession, and the revival of the civil war, a male heir to the throne was a pressing necessity. The act of marriage, which depended for its validity on the decision of the ecclesiastical courts, had, on account of the numerous dissolutions and dispensations granted, not then attained the security since assured to it by the secular law. On the 22nd of June, Henry informed Katherine that they had been living in mortal sin and must separate. On the 14th of July Henry left his wife at Windsor, removing himself to Woodstock, and never saw her again. In August, she was ordered to reside at the Moor in Hertfordshire, and at the same time separated from the princess Mary, who was taken to Richmond. In 1532, she sent the king a gold cup as a new year's gift, which the latter returned, and she was forbidden to hold any communication with him.Before her death she dictated a last letter to Henry, according to Polydore Vergil, expressing her forgiveness, begging his good offices for Mary, and concluding with the astounding assurance - "I vow that mine eyes desire you above all things." The king himself affected no sorrow at her death in public, and thanked God there was now no fear of war. However it has been reported he cried on reading the heartfelt letter Katherine wrote to him just before her death. Anne made her début at the Chateau Vert (Green Castle) pageant in honour of the imperial ambassadors on 4 March 1522, playing "Perseverance.In 1526, King Henry became enamoured with her and began his pursuit.Anne resisted the King's attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress, often leaving court for the seclusion of Hever Castle. Within a year, he proposed marriage to her, and she accepted. Both assumed an annulment could be obtained within a matter of months. There is no evidence to suggest that they engaged in a sexual relationship until very shortly before their marriage; in fact, Henry's love letters to Anne seem to prove that their love affair remained unconsummated for much of their seven year courtship.Anne and Henry attended a meeting with the French king at Calais in winter 1532, in which Henry hoped to enlist the support of Francis I for his intended marriage. Henry endowed his future wife with an appropriate rank. On 1 September 1532, she was created Marquess of Pembroke.Anne was consequently crowned queen consort on 1 June 1533 in a magnificent ceremony at Westminster Abbey with a sumptuous banquet afterwards.The king and his new queen enjoyed a reasonably happy accord, with periods of calm and affection. Anne Boleyn's sharp intelligence, political acumen and forward manners, although desirable in a mistress, were unacceptable in a wife..After a stillbirth/miscarriage in 1534, as early as Christmas that year, Henry was discussing with Cranmer and Cromwell the possibility of leaving Anne without having to return to Catherine.Nothing came of the issue as the royal couple reconciled and spent summer 1535 on progress. By October, she was again pregnant.On 8 January 1536, news of Catherine of Aragon's death reached the King and Anne. Hearing of her death, they were overjoyed. The following day, Henry wore yellow from head to toe, and celebrated Catherine's death with festivities.On 2 May 1523, Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London.She was accused of adultery, incest, and treason.On the morning of Friday 19 May, Anne Boleyn was executed, not upon Tower Green, but rather, a scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower. Henry was enjoying the company of his future wife,Jane by that time.He never showed any remorse for Anne.                King Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour on 20 May 1536, the day after Anne Boleyn's execution, and married her ten days later. She was publicly proclaimed as Queen Consort on 4 June. She was never crowned, due to a plague in London where the coronation was to take place. Henry was also reluctant to crown Jane before she had fulfilled her duty as a Queen Consort by bearing him a son and a male heir. In early 1537, Jane Seymour became pregnant. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail, which Henry ordered for her from Calais and Flanders. She went into confinement in September 1537 and in October she gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward on 12 October 1537 at Hampton court palace.After Queen Jane participated in the Prince's christening on 15 October 1537, it became clear that she was seriously ill.Queen Jane died on 24 October 1537 at Hampton court. She was buried in St. George Chapel at Windsor castle after a funeral in which her stepdaughter, Lady Mary (later Queen Mary I), acted as chief mourner. Jane Seymour was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a Queen's funeral.After her death, Henry wore black for the next three months and did not remarry for three years, although marriage negotiations were tentatively started soon after her death. She was Henry's favourite wife because, historians have speculated, she gave birth to a male heir. When he died in 1547, Henry was buried beside her.                Henry was impatient to see his future bride. He rode to meet her at Rochester on her way to London and was promptly disappointed. He felt he had been misled, as everyone had praised Anne's attractions: "She is nothing so fair as she hath been reported," he complained.Henry urged Cromwell to find a legal way to avoid the marriage but, by this point, doing so was impossible without endangering the vital alliance with the Germans.Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married on 6 January 1540 at the royal Palace in Placentia in Greenwich by Archibishop Thomas Cranmer. The phrase "God send me well to keep" was engraved around Anne’s wedding ring. Immediately after arriving in England, Anne conformed to the Catholic form of worship, which Henry expected. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy one. Henry confided to Cromwell that he had not consummated the marriage, saying, "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse" Anne was commanded to leave the Court on 24 June, and on 6 July she was informed of her husband's decision to reconsider the marriage. Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment to which she agreed. The marriage was annulled on 9 July 1540, on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine.      Katherine's uncle found her a place at Henry's court. As a young and attractive lady in waiting to Henry's new wife, Queen Anne of Cleves, Katherine quickly caught the eye of the King.Within months of her arrival at Court, Henry bestowed gifts of land and expensive cloth upon Katherine.When Henry had his marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled on July 9, 1540, rumours swirled that Katherine was pregnant with his child. Their quick marriage just a few weeks after the divorce from Anne, in July 1540, reflected Henry's lifelong urgency to secure the Tudor succession by begetting healthy, legitimate sons, since he had only one, Edward . Henry, nearing 50 and expanding in girth, showered his young bride with wealth, jewels, and fantastically expensive gifts.The presence of a young and seemingly virtuous wife in his life brought him great happiness. Her motto, "Non autre volonte que la sienne" or "No other wish (will) but his", supposedly reflected her desire to keep Henry, an ailing man 30 years her senior, content.Despite her newly acquired wealth and power, however, Katherine found her marital relations unappealing. She was not pregnant upon marriage and was repulsed by her husband's obesity.Early in 1541, she embarked upon a light-hearted romance with Henry's favourite male courtier, Thomas Culpepper, whom she had initially desired on her arrival at court two years earlier. Henry and Catherine toured England together in the summer of 1541, and preparations for any signs of pregnancy (which would have led to a coronation) were in place, indicating that the married couple were sexually active with each other.Catherine was charged with treason, but she never, even to her confessor just hours before her death, admitted to infidelity. She did, however, admit that her behaviour prior to her marriage had been unbecoming of a lady of her rank, let alone a Queen of England.According to legend, after being ordered to keep to her rooms, Katherine briefly escaped her guard's clutches to run to the chapel where Henry was hearing Mass. She banged on the doors and screamed Henry's name. Eventually, she was arrested by the guards and taken to her rooms in Hampton court.On February 11, Henry signed the bill of attainder into law, and Katherine's execution was scheduled for 7 a.m. on February 13.She was beheaded with one stroke, and her body was buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby chapel of St Peter Vincula where the body of her cousin, Anne Boleyn, also lay. Henry did not attend.      |
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