Known as Catherine of Aragon to English-speakers, Catalina de Aragón was the Spanish born first wife of King Henry VIII. Catalina was a Princess of Spain when she came to England in 1501 to marry into the royal family (as such were predestined political alliances of the day). As Henry VIII’s first wife, Catalina de Aragón was unable to produce a male heir beyond infancy, and so the King quickly tired of her. In the meantime, old Henry knocked-up his mistress Anne Boleyn. Certain that the pregnant Anne was carrying his male heir and the future King of England, Henry VIII went to the Pope and requested his marriage to Catalina be annulled so he could swap “I Dos†with Miss Boleyn. But the devoutly Catholic Catalina de Aragón was having none of that. Fortunately, she had her own “friends in high places†(her nephew was the Holy Roman Emperor after all), so the Church refused the annulment in her favor. When the King divorced Catalina and married Anne Boleyn anyway, he was promptly excommunicated. Furious, King Henry VIII broke ties with Rome and took control of the Church of England – setting in motion the English Reformation (an event which would have far-reaching impacts on European history). All because little Catalina refused him a divorce (oh, those Sagitarrian ladies are so stubborn in their ways!). Catalina de Aragón and her one surviving daughter, Mary I of England, were banished from the English court yet remained steadfast loyal to Roman Catholicism.
