Person    | Female  Born 16/12/1485  Died 7/1/1536

Catherine of Aragon

Categories: Royalty, Seriously Famous

Countries: Spain

First wife of Henry VIII and married to him for longer (1509 - 1533) than the other five put together. Unlike them she was a powerful royal in her own right. Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, born near Madrid, she came to England as a Spanish princess to marry Henry's elder brother, Arthur, but he was dead within 5 months of the wedding. The two 15-year-olds had not managed to conceive (a queen's main function) so what to do with her, that did not involve losing the valuable connection with Spain, nor returning her dowry?

Her miserable 7 years as Arthur's widow, with an uncertain future and little money, brought on anorexia, which may partially explain many failed pregnancies that followed. There was a suggestion that she could marry her father-in-law, Henry VII, but marriage to her brother-in-law was chosen. For the Pope to allow this Catherine had to declare that her marriage to Arthur had never been consummated and was thus null and void. All well and good, but when Henry wanted rid of Catherine to make way for Anne Boleyn, his grounds for divorce rested on his assertion that she had lied then and so his marriage to Catherine should be annulled. The site of the preliminary meetings where this divorce was discussed with the papal delegation seems to be in dispute: Black Friars and/or Bridewell Palace. Henry got his way and Catherine ended up with the title "Dowager, Princess of Wales", i.e. Arthur's widow. Died Kimbolton Castle.

She produced one daughter, who later become Queen Mary I.


In 1507 she was the Spanish Ambassador to England, the first female ambassador in European history. In 1513 while Henry was off fighting the French she was Governor of the Realm and Captain General of the King's Force, with which titles she waged war on Scotland, addressing the army and wearing full armour.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Catherine of Aragon

Commemorated ati

49 Bankside

Here lived Sir Christopher Wren during the building of St Pauls Cathedral. He...

Read More

Black Friar pub

The plaque is a perfectly nice pub plaque but the pub is adorned with many lo...

Read More

Our Lady of Hal

{Next to an image of the Virgin Mary:} Shrine of Our Lady of Hal The catholic...

Read More

Wall of the Ancestors - rightmost

According to the plaque these are, clockwise from top left: Debra Lee, Phinea...

Read More

Other Subjects

Maria Anna of Spain

Maria Anna of Spain

Infanta of Spain, daughter of King Phillip III. She was considered as a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales, (The future King Charles I) which became known as the 'Spanish Match'. In 1623 Ch...

Person, Royalty, Spain

1 memorial
Sophia Duleep Singh

Sophia Duleep Singh

Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh was a prominent suffragette in the UK. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who had been taken from his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj, and was ...

Person, Gender Issues, Royalty, India

1 memorial
King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway

King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway

Harald: Born Norway, son of King Olav V. King of Norway since 1991. Sonia: Born in Oslo as Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937, a commoner. They married in 1968.

Group, Royalty, Norway

1 memorial
Victoria, Duchess of Kent

Victoria, Duchess of Kent

Born Coberg. Mother of Queen Victoria. Her first marriage to Prince of Leiningen produced two children. Widowed, she married again in 1818 to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent at Coburg, (and again at Ke...

Person, Royalty

1 memorial
King Edmund II, Ironside

King Edmund II, Ironside

King of England, also known as Edmund Ironside. Born c.990. Became king after the deaths of his two elder brothers, although at the same time, the Danish Canute was chosen as king by opposition fac...

Person, Armed Forces, Royalty

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Friends of Vauxhall Park

Friends of Vauxhall Park

Established in 1999, the Friends of Vauxhall Park is a voluntary group whose aim is to protect and enhance Vauxhall Park as a place of freedom, recreation and enjoyment for all sections of the loca...

Group, Community / Clubs, Gardens / Agriculture

2 memorials
Oscar Romero

Oscar Romero

Roman Catholic archbishop in El Salvador, assassinated.

Person, Religion, Tragedy, El Salvador

1 memorial
Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras

Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras

St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of r...

Group, Politics & Administration

6 memorials
W. Batley

W. Batley

On the committee of the Stratford Co-operative and Industrial Society in 1919.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Desna Allan

Desna Allan

Former chairperson of the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Person, Art

1 memorial