Catherine of Aragon Dies: England's Defiant Queen

Catherine of Aragon died at Kimbolton Castle on January 7, 1536, still insisting she was Henry VIII's rightful wife and queen. She had been queen consort of England for 24 years, longer than any of the five wives who followed her. Born on December 16, 1485, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, she was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs who funded Columbus. She was first married to Henry's older brother Arthur, who died five months after the wedding. The question of whether that marriage was consummated would tear England apart decades later. Henry married her in 1509 and they were, by most accounts, genuinely happy for nearly two decades. She bore him six children, but only one survived infancy: Mary, the future Mary I. Henry's obsession with producing a male heir led him to seek an annulment from Pope Clement VII. The Pope refused. Henry broke with Rome entirely, declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, annulled the marriage himself, and married Anne Boleyn in 1533. Catherine was stripped of her title, separated from her daughter, and exiled to a series of damp, cold castles. She refused every offer that would have improved her conditions if it required her to acknowledge Anne Boleyn as queen or her daughter as illegitimate. Her last letter to Henry still addressed him as "mine own dear lord, king, and husband." Henry was at a jousting tournament when news of her death arrived. He wore yellow the next day. Whether this was mourning or celebration remains debated by historians. The Spanish ambassador reported that Henry expressed relief.