The notoriously much-betrothed King Henry VIII of England had three wives by the name of Catherine – his first, fifth and last. The first wife, Catherine of Aragon, 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, Catherine of Aragon 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 Catherine be annulled so he could swap “I Dos†with Miss Boleyn. But devoutly Catholic Catherine of Aragon 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. Furious, King Henry VIII broke ties with Rome and created the Church of England instead! Catherine of Aragon and her one surviving daughter, Mary I of England, were banished from court yet remained steadfast loyal to Catholicism. The next Catherine, commoner Catherine Howard, met an even more unsavory fate. Accused of treason by reason of infidelity, Henry VIII ordered the beheading of his fifth wife when she was around 20 years old. The sixth and final wife of Henry, Catherine Parr, was ironically named after Catherine of Aragon (Parr’s mother had been a lady-in-waiting to the then-Queen of England). So Catherine Parr became the sixth wife of Henry, and he became her third husband at the ripe old age of 31. The King died during their marriage, and she went onto marry for a fourth time. After Henry’s death, Catherine Parr became the guardian of the future Queen of England, Elizabeth I (daughter to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn).
