I. of England,
daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, was born on the 15th or
16th of December 1485. She left Spain in 1501 to marry Arthur, prince of
Wales, eldest son of King Henry VII., and landed at Plymouth on the 2nd
of October. The wedding took place on the 14th of November in London,
and soon afterwards Catherine accompanied her youthful husband to Wales,
where, in his sixteenth year, the prince died on the 2nd of April 1502.
On the 25th of June 1503, she was formally betrothed to the king's
second son, Henry, now prince of Wales, and a papal dispensation for the
alliance was obtained. The marriage, however, did not take place during
the lifetime of Henry VII. Ferdinand endeavoured to cheat the English
king of the marriage portion agreed upon, and Henry made use of the
presence of the unmarried princess in England to extort new conditions,
and especially to secure the marriage of his daughter Mary to the
archduke Charles, grandson of Ferdinand, and afterwards Charles V.
Catherine was thus from the first the unhappy victim of state politics.
Writing to Ferdinand on the 11th of March 1509, she describes the state
of poverty to which she was reduced, and declares the king's unkindness
impossible to be borne any longer.[1] On the old king's death, however,
a brighter prospect opened, for Henry VIII. decided immediately on
marrying her, the wedding taking place on the 11th of June and the
coronation on the 24th. Catherine now enjoyed a few years of married
happiness; Henry showed himself an affectionate husband, and the
alliance with Ferdinand was maintained against France. She was not
without some influence in state affairs. During Henry's invasion of
France in 1513 she was made regent; she showed great zeal and ardour in
the preparations for the Scottish expedition, and was riding towards the
north to put herself at the head of the troops when the victory of
Flodden Field ended the campaign. The following year an affectionate
meeting took place between the king and queen at Richmond on the return
of the former. Ferdinand's treachery, however, in making a treaty with
France roused Henry's wrath, and his angry reproaches fell upon his
unfortunate wife; but she took occasion in 1520, during the visit of her
nephew Charles V. to England, to urge the policy of gaining his alliance
rather than that of France. Immediately on his departure, on the 31st of
May 1520, she accompanied the king to France, on the celebrated