Catherine Parr, the faithful wife who survived the cruelty of Henry VIII

She is the one who knew how to resist the monster Henry VIII, this king of England with a terrible marital reputation, whose sixth and last wife he was. When Catherine was born in 1512 at Kendal Castle in Westmorland, no one would have dreamed for a moment that she would be queen. She is the daughter of the Comptroller of the Royal Household and a close friend of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of the same Henry VIII, then already on the throne. It is from this queen that he takes his name, notes this paper from Obs dedicated to the sovereign.

Before assuming her royal destiny, Catherine first married the future heir to the lordship at the age of 17. No child was born of this union, but her in-laws exerted a great influence on the young woman in favor of the Protestant Reformation (England was still Catholic in the 16th century, still an ally of Rome). Her husband died at the age of 25, and now a widow, Catherine served the king’s successive wives at court. She remarries a baron, who dies nine years later, leaving her no children, but still leaving her his fortune.

He then insisted on a love marriage, something exceptional for the time. She befriends the ambitious Thomas Seymour, a man of little nobility but good looks who knew how to fit in well at court. He is the brother of the king’s third wife, who died in childbirth, and therefore the uncle of the heir to the throne.

But Henry VIII has other plans for her. The King of England has his eye on her person, which puts her in a delicate position. The marital reputation of the sovereign is terrible, but it cannot upset this proud and cruel man, fearing that it will be fatal for him. Henry VIII reigned over the kingdom for thirty-four years. This fierce political strategist waged war against several countries, including France and Scotland. He is known to have initiated the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Protestantism. But above all, it is because of the fate reserved for his women that he terrifies his contemporaries. Three of the five women who preceded Catherine Parr met with tragic fates.

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His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, gave birth to a daughter Marie in 1516, but no male heir. The king orders the annulment of the marriage, but the Pope opposes it, which causes England to turn to Protestantism. Rejected, Catherine of Aragon withdraws into a mystical retreat and dies of melancholy, abandoned by all. Henry then falls in love with Anne Boleyn, who is expecting his first wife, a great beauty who also gives him a daughter, the future Elizabeth I. But the king, getting tired, imprisoned him in the Tower of London and accused him of witchcraft and high treason. They decapitate him with a sword. The king’s obsession then turned to Jeanne Seymour, another lady-in-waiting, to whom he proposed the day after his wife’s execution. Jeanne gives him the long-awaited son, the future Edward VI, but she dies shortly after giving birth. Henry then allied himself diplomatically with Anne of Cleves, the daughter of a Protestant German duke, who would serve him, in particular, to legitimize the schism. She accepts the marriage based on a less-than-true portrait and is greatly disappointed by her disfigurement when she meets him; the story even says that her smell revolts him. Her marriage was annulled on grounds of annulment. The sovereign then set his eyes on Catherine Howard, a very young lady in waiting for Anne of Cleves. Branded frivolous by his contemporaries, he entered into an adulterous relationship, but was convicted and charged with perversion and adultery, then beheaded with an axe.

Frustrated, taciturn Henri then vacillates between aggressiveness and depressive episodes. He is an old, repulsive-looking, very overweight man who suddenly falls in love with Catherine Parr, impressed by her quick wit and great piety. The latter, already in love with Seymour, tries very politely to make the king understand that he has other interests. But this refusal only strengthens the appetite of the crow, who will therefore remove Seymour from the court, placing him on a diplomatic mission in the Netherlands. The royal wedding took place at Hampton Court Palace in 1543. Devoted to her duties, Catherine cared for her husband as his health deteriorated, tended to his ulcers or encouraged him to wear glasses, according to the documents.

Catherine becomes the first queen to hold the title of Queen of Ireland, Henry having conquered this neighboring island. He, who has seen very little of his three children until now, reconciles with them through her. The two princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, who had been officially declared illegitimate, saw their legitimacy restored through the Third Act of Succession in 1543. According to her biographers, Catherine was a woman of strong character. He is attractive, ambitious and knowledgeable. This literate woman, who spoke several languages, wielded great influence during the three and a half years of her reign, where she exercised the kingship in 1544 when Henry invaded France.

Although raised Catholic, his religious views are complicated. She is a spiritual and religious woman, inclined to Lutheranism, but does not accept it. He intervenes against religious persecution and wants to inform the king’s entourage about the “new faith”. His beliefs had a great influence on his daughter-in-law, the future Elizabeth I.

As the king’s health declines, Catherine becomes the target of a fierce court rivalry for control of the young Prince Edward, who is destined to become the next king. With Protestant reformers and Catholic conservatives at odds, Catherine is investigated at the request of Bishop Etienne Gardiner, who urges Henry VIII to arrest her, making it clear that his wife is a danger. Historians believe that Henry would have set his romantic sights on a new wife, the Duchess of Suffolk, who was waiting for the Queen. When Catherine learns that an arrest warrant has been issued for her, she rushes to her husband’s bedside to beg for mercy, which the latter tenderly and indignantly, against all odds, grants her. Thus from this forgiveness he maintains his survival.

Henry VIII Tudor died in January 1547. He was buried with Jeanne Seymour, his third wife, in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The king’s will excluded Catherine from being regent to Edward VI, but she nevertheless remained one of the wealthiest women in the kingdom and left the court, eventually hoping for a love marriage with Thomas Seymour. But then he wants to form an alliance with a royal princess. First with Henry VIII’s eldest daughter Mary, then finally with his half-sister Elizabeth, then 13, which was considered very young even then. He proposes marriage to her, but the child opposes him.

Catherine, in love, ignores these negotiations when she becomes engaged to him. The marriage, almost in secret, took place on 4 April 1547 without the confirmation of authority normally required for a person of his rank. It was King Edward VI, still a child, who gave his consent to his uncle Thomas. She became pregnant for the first time at the age of 35, a few weeks after Henri’s death. Thomas continues to woo the young Elizabeth Tudor who has come to live with them, and by marrying him he has effectively become a stepfather. According to historians, he visits in the morning before the teenager gets out of bed, sometimes trying to kiss him.

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When Catherine hears about Thomas’ dishonest intentions, she takes her daughter-in-law out of the house. Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour, born on 30 August 1548, but she contracted puerperal fever, which killed her six days later, aged 36, at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire. In her delirium, her servants will hear her accuse her husband of poisoning her, claiming that he never loved her.

Thomas, now a widower, proposes to Elizabeth once again, but he is arrested, his servants denouncing his inappropriate behavior. Accused of treason and attempted conspiracy, he is sentenced to death. He was beheaded on March 20, 1549. Her daughter, Marie, was taken by a friend of Catherine’s, and it is likely that the child did not survive her third year.

Queen Catherine is buried in the chapel of Sudeley Castle. In 1782, 234 years after his death, his coffin was discovered in the ruins of the chapel and his remains were noted to be remarkably well preserved. The casket is reopened several times and then rushed to a poor burial. When it was officially reopened in 1817, only a skeleton remained. A few years later, a mausoleum was erected in his name.