Katherine of Aragon

 

Today's blog was all about an intelligent queen, the first wife of King Henry VIII. I studied about the Tudor family in the last semester where they taught about King Henry VIII and his descendants on the throne. It was quite interesting but then I felt bad for Katherine from the beginning as Henry has been cheating on her. I knew it was common for the kings to marry more than one woman but then Katherine felt different to me I don't know why, although she was already married to Arthur and then she got married to Henry after Arthur's death to continue the alliances between Spain and England. Katherine was an intelligent and stubborn princess of Spain but her character changed after marrying Henry if we look closely into the incidents which include Katherine and Henry. She has been quiet even after knowing that King Henry has been in an affair with Anne Boleyn. Katherine has been a quiet wife and queen to Henry until he wants to divorce her to get married to Anne. From the beginning, I feel like Henry and Katherine aren't much interested in their marriage and there Henry wants a male heir to take over his kingdom. All the six wives Henry were pressured to get a male heir, as Henry thinks only through a prince the kingdom could be saved under Tudors. Katherine for the first time stood up for herself when Henry went to the Pope to get a divorce from Katherine which the Pope denied after several protests, he made a new leader in the church who let him divorce Katherine and didn't let her meet her daughter who was 1st born for henry, Mary who later became the queen after her father's death. Mary's mental state stumbled while she was a child as she witnessed the suffering that her mother went through. Katherine died due to cancer which also rumoured that she was poisoned. Henry didn't have a good relationship with any of his wives or children except Edward which was also a foundation to the downfall of the Tudor dynasty.