Catherine of Aragon (16 December 1485-7 January 1536) was Queen Consort of England with King Henry VIII of England from 11 June 1509 to 23 May 1533. The wife of his deceased brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, Catherine and Henry defied the rule of 18 Leviticus and married, but Henry annulled the marriage after she failed to bear him a son.
Biography[]
Catherine in 1518
Catherine of Aragon was born on 16 December 1485 in Alcala de Henares, Castile (now in Spain), the daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. She was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales from the age of three, and Arthur died in 1501, just a few months after they married. In 1507, as the ambassador to England, she was the first female ambassador in European history. In 1509, she married the late Arthur's brother, King Henry VIII of England, and she ruled as regent while Henry was in France, leading England at the time of the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Catherine would bear him Mary I of England, a future ruler of the kingdom. By 1525, however, Henry was cheating on Catherine with her lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn, as he was angry that Catherine had born him no male heirs. In 1533, the marriage was annulled, and Catherine retired to Kimbolton Castle, England. She died in 1536 at the age of 50.
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