Catherine of Aragon is best remembered in History for being the first wife of Henry
VIII, the first of 6. Her split from the King had a great toll on her and her daughter Mary,
and what happened to her its considered unfair. She was shunned by the King, and was left
to live out the last of her days being banished from court, whilst Henry was married to Anne
Boleyn. She died at Kimbolton Hall, and died a painful death but distastefully, the King
and his new Queen celebrated her passing. So join us today as we look at ‘The PAINFUL
Death of Catherine of Aragon - Henry VIII’s First Queen.’ Remember to support our channel,
please make sure to subscribe.
Catherine of Aragon first came to England to marry the eldest son of Henry VII. She
married Arthur Tudor at St Paul’s Cathedral on the 14th November 1501. Following the marriage,
she and the heir apparent Arthur went to Ludlow Castle to preside over the Council of Wales
and the Marches, but within a few months both became ill and Catherine recovered. Arthur
did not, which left the young Catherine a widow. To avoid returning the dowry payment,
Henry VII then decided to marry Catherine to his other son Henry, the future King Henry
VIII.
Catherine’s second wedding took place on the 11th June 1509 and her husband had just
come onto the throne. The pair were married in a private ceremony, but then together the
pair were anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey. As a Queen
she was involved in important matters, and whilst the King was away, she was even involved
in fighting against the Scots and commanding the English Army. Henry when he heard of her
victory at the Battle of Flooded Field was amazed and very happy, but as she got older,
Catherine became more firm in her religious devotions. She went with Henry to the Field
of the Cloth of Gold pageant in France, but in 1525 Henry VIII became besotted with a
lady in waiting to his wife.
Anne Boleyn captured the King’s attention, and he began to pursue her. Anne would not
become the Kings mistress like her sister had, and Catherine by this time was no longer
able to have children. Henry tried desperately to get an annulment and a divorce from Catherine
so he could persue a marriage to Anne Boleyn who would only take to the King’s bed if
she was married to Henry.
He requested that Catherine should retire to a nunnery, but she responded with ‘God
never called me to a nunnery, I am the King’s true and legitimate wife.’ Henry then tried
everything within his power to get what he wanted, the solution he wanted from the King’s
Great Matter. Cardinal Wolsey could not secure from the Pope and annulment and because of
this he lost favour, the Pope was never going to grant the divorce to the English King.
Henry ordered Wolsey’s arrest, and Thomas Cranmer convinced the King to consult with
scholars on the matter. The scholars ruled that the King should not have to answer to
anyone but himself in matters involving his own kingdom. Henry then decided to annul his
marriage, and then he married Anne Boleyn. It’s claimed at the time that Anne was already
pregnant, but Catherine had already been banished from court, and her old rooms had been given
to Anne. She wrote to the Holy Roman Emperor in 1531 saying, ‘My tribulations are so
great, my life so disturbed by the plans daily invented to further the King's wicked intention,
the surprises which the King gives me, with certain persons of his council, are so mortal,
and my treatment is what God knows, that it is enough to shorten ten lives, much more
mine.’
Catherine went to live at The More Castle in 1531, and following this she moved to a
number of different castles before she was finally sent to Kimbolton Castle. Whilst she
was here, she was confined to one room, and she only left the room to attend mass. She
wore a hair shirt and fasted a number of times, and was forbidden to see her daughter Mary.
She was only allowed occasional visitors, and was restricted with who she could write
to. Henry offered Catherine and Mary better living space if they acknowledged Anne Boleyn
as the rightful Queen, but because they refused this was not granted.
The 50 year old Catherine spent her final days alone, she did have a visit from her
friend Maria de Salinas who stayed with her mistresses side. Eustace Chapuys came to visit
her, and by this time in late 1535 she was very ill. Chapuy found Catherine of Aragon
sat up, and she hadn’t eaten much or slept a great deal and complained of having a terrible
pain in her stomach. The pair met, and Chapuys then visited her every afternoon for the next
four days, and he found Catherine’s health to be improving. She was now eating some food,
but on the 6th January 1536 things went very downhill.
Catherine’s condition deteriorated and she knew herself that the end was near for her.
Catherine then dictated one final letter to Henry VIII on her deathbed. It was said she
said, ‘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, 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.’
This letter has been debated, but by this time Catherine was very ill and on deaths
door. On the 7th January at around 2 o’clock, Catherine of Aragon passed away inside of
Kimbolton Castle. Henry’s court celebrated, and Henry was overjoyed by the news and Anne
Boleyn was now seen as the only Queen of England. It was said that, The next day, Sunday, the
king and queen appeared in joyful yellow from top to toe, and Elizabeth was triumphantly
paraded to church. After dinner Henry went down into the Great Hall, where the ladies
of the court were dancing, with his sixteen-month-old daughter in his arms, showing her off to one
and another. After several days of such paternal enthusiasm, he evidently decided that something
more masculine was called for, and the tiltyard was soon busy with his favourite form of self-exhibition.’
There were rumours floating around court that Catherine was poisoned. Accusation even pointed
towards the King and Queen, but during the embalming process, it was found that Catherine
had a black growth on her heart. This was linked to the poisoning plot, but modern day
science and medical knowledge would say that the discolouration of her heart was linked
to cancer. It was said that, ‘it is almost certain that she died of Cancer,’ and that
the embalmer found that ‘all the internal organs were as healthy and normal as possible,
with the exception of the heart which was quite black and hideous to look at.’ The
embalmer allegedly cut her heart in half and washed it in an attempt to cleanse the heart
of its black appearance. There was also an alleged ‘strange black body’ attached
to it, linked to a secondary cancer growth.
Catherine of Aragon was buried inside of Peterborough Cathedral, and the King did not attend the
funeral and banned Mary from attending. Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of 6 for Henry
VIII, but she died from a rather short illness. Her death was met very distastefully by the
King and his new wife, who actively celebrated her demise.
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