(Cover image – © Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
(Prince Arthur © Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021)
So, the lingering question from the last post is—who was the affectionate husband-by-proxy Prince of England that was Arthur Tudor?
Well, let us find out, shall we?
. . .
First of all, it goes without saying that Arthur was a much more affectionate boy than his younger brother, the future King Henry VIII. And, in my opinion, he would have been a much better husband to Catherine than his cheating brother, had he had lived. But, would he have been a better King, who knows?
Labelled ‘the King who never was’, the young Tudor prince was born on 19th September 1486 to his much-relieved parents, who desperately needed their first child to be a male in order to secure their marriage and Henry Tudor’s claim to the throne. Born exactly 8 months after his parents’ marriage and one month premature, the young Tudor prince was, unfortunately, burdened with great expectation from his parents through the legendary namesake he was given; Arthur, after the legendary king Arthur, who is most known for his adventures with the sorcerer Merlin. Pretty much his parents’ way of saying ‘you are destined for great things’, yet it couldn’t be further from the reality of what really happened.
This says a lot about Henry VII’s ego if he names his first son after one of the most legendary kings of all time, doesn’t it?
What’s even more bizarre is the fact that Henry VII made his wife give birth to Arthur in St. Swinthun’s Priory, as it was believed at the time to be where Camelot was said to have existed. As if you couldn’t get any godlier than to dictate where your wife gives birth, a little controlling if you ask me.
Sadly, for Arthur, this was only the beginning of his father’s controlling and dictatorship ways; because not long after his birth and of course, he survived his first year of infancy as most Tudor children died before they even reached adulthood due to high child mortality rates, his father soon began plotting a politically arranged marriage for his eldest son and heir. What encouraged Henry’s dedication to this was the fact that whomever he chose as his heir’s future wife and Queen would secure a lasting alliance between England and the country of which she originated from through the children that they would produce. The girl he chose would have to be from a royal family of whom he could not only trust but he could benefit from financially and politically, so the pressure was on.
And it seemed like Catherine of Aragon was the perfect choice.
So, at three years old, the negotiations for Arthur and Catherine to marry began.
A bit stifling to be told from a young age that your wife has already been picked for you by your dad since you were three years old. I can’t even begin to imagine how the both of them took to the news, but I suspect that they dealt with it appropriately, considering they would have been born knowing who they married wasn’t necessarily in their hands.
Surprisingly, Arthur seemed to blossom well with the news that he would marry a complete stranger upon turning fifteen; as he was quite small when he was born after being born a month too soon, it was a complete shock to everyone to see that the heir to the throne was not only ‘strong and able’ but taller than most boys his age! And his looks were almost similar to a prince in a fairy-tale as he possessed silk-like auburn hair and a fair complexion. Catherine most definitely would not have complained of the handsomeness of her future husband, that much was sure!
Much to the King’s delight, Arthur was very much a credit to his father as he has been deemed an ‘over-achiever’ and he always seemed to deliver as he received an education fit for a royal prince in many subjects including the classics and was fluent in complex languages such as Latin, and he could even dance quite well—something that might not seem important to us nowadays but dancing and music was of the highest importance to the Tudors as court life heavily focused on the arts.
However, despite his almost-perfect appearance, his gentlemanly manner and his high-quality skills as a pupil, Arthur has always been considered to have one ‘fatal flaw’ as you will; he was too ‘amiable, gentle and was a delicate lad’ which most of the King’s court disagreed with as a King was someone who should be of a strong, wise and stern nature, not a soft lad like Arthur. But I wouldn’t have seen this as a negative really, considering his later devoted nature to Catherine and his extended political and ‘kingly’ education would have made him quite a fine king and a loyal husband, a stark contrast to Catherine’s second husband as history soon reveals.
Notably, one thing that Arthur and Catherine had in common was the perishing of their families; whilst Catherine’s parents lost their son and heir, Arthur’s parents’ attempts to create more ‘spare heirs’ diminished swiftly. Over the years following Arthur’s birth, his parents had had several more children but sadly only three of them made it to adulthood; his younger sister Margaret who would later become the Queen of Scotland, the future King Henry VIII and their last surviving daughter, Mary who went on to cause a scandal within Henry VIII’s court after she secretly married his best friend Charles Brandon after her first husband, the King of France, died suddenly before consummating their marriage.
So, with only four surviving children by the time it came for Arthur and Catherine to marry, it was becoming urgent for the Tudor line to be secured by their marriage and a pregnancy following shortly after, alike his parents’ own marriage.
Despite this—Arthur maintained healthy and quite close relationships with his younger siblings but he favoured his younger sister of three years; Margaret, the most. I wonder if he would have spared her the heartache that she suffered throughout her three marriages by choosing not to go to war with her husband like his younger brother did. If only Henry was as soft and compassionate as his older brother, but again, would that fatal flaw have clouded his judgement, had he been King?
. . .
Now, as I mentioned in the previous post, Catherine and Arthur were married by proxy at the tender age of fourteen-nearly fifteen years of age, meaning that whilst their wish to marry quite young had been fulfilled, it still meant that they had not met in person and were separated by the Mediterranean Sea.
This, however, did not dampen the newlyweds’ spirits nor lessen their eagerness to become closer as husband and wife.
If anything, it only spurred them on!
From the moment their wedding took place by proxy, Arthur’s infatuation with meeting his wife began and his desire to speak with her was set in motion. It is said that Catherine’s male stand-in for Arthur during her conduction of the martial ceremony described him as being ‘much rejoiced to contract the marriage because of his deep and sincere love for the Princess.’
I suppose Catherine must have been thrilled to hear that her stranger husband was rejoiced to have been married to her—not. I can imagine her being quite shocked and nervous considering the fact that even by arranged marriage terms, Arthur was moving quite swiftly in terms of wooing his new wife.
And his efforts to showcase his affection did not stop there.
After their marriage by proxy had been officiated, Arthur was swift in sending his wife numerous letters of which he expressed his love and affection for her as well as his eagerness for her to come to England so that they might truly be husband and wife. Since neither one of them understood the other’s language, the letters they wrote were written in Latin, a language of which they both understood. Sadly—many of the letters they wrote to one another have been lost over time, however, there is one surviving letter in which highlights how passionate (and one might say overboard) the prince doted on his wife.
This letter reads as follows from Arthur’s own hand;
“To the most illustrious and excellent princess, the Lady Catherine, princess of Wales, duchess of Cornwall, &c., my most entirely beloved spouse. (5 October 1499):
Most illustrious and most excellent lady, my dearest spouse, I wish you very much health, with my hearty recommendation.
I have read the most sweet letters of your highness lately given to me, from which I have easily perceived your most entire love to me. Truly those your letters, traced by your own hand, have so delighted me, and have rendered me so cheerful and jocund, that I fancied I beheld your highness and conversed with and embraced my dearest wife. I cannot tell you what an earnest desire I feel to see your highness, and how vexatious to me is this procrastination about your coming. I owe eternal thanks to your excellence that you so lovingly correspond to this my so ardent love. Let it continue, I entreat, as it has begun; and, like as I cherish your sweet remembrance night and day, so do you preserve my name ever fresh in your breast. And let your coming to me be hastened, that instead of being absent we may be present with each other, and the love conceived between us and the wished-for joys may reap their proper fruit.
Moreover, I have done as your illustrious highness enjoined me, that is to say, in commending you to the most serene lord and lady the king and queen my parents, and in declaring your filial regard towards them, which to them was most pleasing to hear, especially from my lips. I also beseech your highness that it may please you to exercise a similar good office for me, and to commend me with hearty good will to my most serene lord and lady your parents; for I greatly value, venerate, and esteem them, even as though they were my own, and wish them all happiness and prosperity.
May your highness be ever fortunate and happy, and be kept safe and joyful, and let me know it often and speedily by your letters, which will be to me most joyous. From our castle of Ludlow. 5th of October, 1499.
Your highness’ most loving spouse,
Arthur, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, etc.
Eldest son of the King.” {1}
So, as you can see, there was no lack of love or cherishment between the two, at least not from Arthur’s side.
. . .
But this happiness between the newly-married couple was not to last very long at all.
Due to financial disagreements over Catherine’s dowry as well as difficulty in ensuring that Catherine could cross the sea safely, it took a whole two years after their marriage by proxy for Catherine to actually make the journey to England before landing in Southampton in 1501.
It might be important to note that Henry VII was actually slightly content with Catherine’s arrival in England being delayed as Catherine’s father had still not paid her dowry and Arthur was prone to catching illnesses quite easily, despite being ‘strong and able’. Nonetheless, from the moment Catherine landed in England, Henry VII dictated everything about their marriage, with one of his first demands for Catherine being that he saw her face. According to Spanish traditions, the bride would wear a veil that concealed her face until she was presented to her new husband. Henry VII did not like this tradition as he wanted to ensure his future daughter-in-law was ‘suitable’ for his son—basically, he wanted to see if she was attractive.
Regardless, Catherine, being the obedient Spanish Princess that she was, acquiesced to her future father-in-law’s request in a graceful manner, even entertaining him by dancing with her Spanish routes.
. . .
When I say that Arthur and Catherine’s wedding was an extravagant occasion where no expense was spared, you can bet that I mean every word.
Although their wedding took place on the 14th November of that same year, Henry had been planning for almost an entire year before that to ensure that his son and heir’s wedding was one to be remembered. From having three days of tournaments following the wedding to having the couple dressed in matching white satin for the ceremony to even having a fountain made that poured endless wine for the guests. It was almost too fancy to comprehend.
And even the ‘bedding ceremony’ was too awkward to picture, as the couple were walked by Arthur’s parents, a highly-esteemed bishop and valued members of the King’s court where invited to their wedding chamber where they were changed into their night clothes, blessed with holy water so that their wedding night might bless them with ‘fruit’ (a child) and then left to consummate their marriage.
Nothing more embarrassing than having strangers watch you undress, right?
Now, this is where everything went downhill…
Although the couple soon began showing signs of doting upon one another and experienced a lavish honeymoon to Tickenhill manor, things soon began to take a turn for the worst after Arthur was separated from his dear wife after returning to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marshes (since he was the Prince of Wales, after all). It did not take long for the separation to take a hold on Arthur who soon became worriedly ill to the point where Henry VII made the rash decision to send Catherine there to join him, hoping her presence would send the ‘evil illness’ away from his son.
Bad decision there, Henry. Because not long after being reunited, Catherine herself had become ill with this mysterious illness and was sadly separated from her husband once more, as they were both taken to their private and separate chambers to offer them the best chance of healing so that they do not ‘infect’ one another again.
According to history, it was said that both Arthur and Catherine never once stopped inquiring about the other despite their ill health and often asked their servants to pray for the swift recovery of their significant other. Romantic as it was, their prayers would not be answered as not long after Catherine had developed an intense state of delirium as a result of her illness, Arthur took a turn for the worst and tragically lost his battle to his illness which modern-day experts reckon could have been tuberculosis, testicular cancer or even the flu, passing away on the 2nd April 1502, just half a year away from his sixteenth birthday and not even a whole year into his marriage.
What is even more heart-breaking is that Catherine was not made aware of this fact until she recovered from her state of delirium many weeks later, upon waking was she told that her husband had tragically passed away and that she was now a widow.
Her heartbreak from the news was said to be so gut-wrenching that it brought her servants to tears and that she was so sickened by grief that she almost developed another bout of illness.
Her love for Arthur must have been so passionate for such a short time of marriage for her to have reacted so strongly, though, we must consider if this was expected of her to react this way or whether this was an example of the pure grief and heartbreak that she felt from his death.
At nearly sixteen, Catherine now found herself a widow in a foreign land, her future lay uncertain before her.
Regretfully, this was only the start of what should soon become a miserable existence.
Find out what happens to our heartbroken Catherine in the upcoming post.
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
References:
Rebecca Larson (2016). Prince Arthur and Katherine of Aragon. TudorDynasty [online]. Available from: https://tudorsdynasty.com/prince-arthur-katherine-aragon/.
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