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above sewing her husband’s shirts, living up to her motto, “Humble and loyal.”
    Katherine’s badges, the pomegranate of Granada and the arrow-sheaf of Aragon, were soon seen everywhere in the royal palaces, entwined with Tudor roses, crowns, and portcullises. A queen was expected to dress the part, and Katherine always appeared sumptuously attired, often with her hair falling loose over her shoulders—a fashion permitted only to unmarried girls and queens—or adorned with a Venetian cap. It was she who introduced into England the Spanish farthingale, a petticoat of linen or canvas stiffened with ever-increasing hoops of cane, whalebone, or steel into a bell shape. This was worn under the gown and kirtle, and remained fashionable until around 1520.
    Katherine’s badges also adorned many items in her vast collection of jewellery, which included the official jewels handed down from one English queen consort to the next. Like many people, she believed that some jewels had supernatural powers: one of her rings was said to cure fits. She owned a pomander with a dial in it—probably an early watch—as well as very costly ropes of pearls with jewelled crucifixes and pendants of St. George, and exquisite brooches with pendant pearls for her corsage.
    Katherine shared Henry’s enthusiasm for hunting and elaborate court entertainments, as well as his intellectual interests. She loved music, dancing, engaging in stimulating conversation, and watching tournaments; the King always sported her favours when he jousted. In true courtly tradition, he wrote poems and songs for her—for example:
    As the holly groweth green
And never changeth hue,
So I am, e’er hath been
Unto my lady true. 28
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    Henry was fond of telling people that “he loved true where he did marry.” 29 He wrote to Katherine’s father: “If I were still free, I would choose her for wife before all others.” 30 In Elizabeth of York’s missal, which he gave to his wife, he inscribed: “I am yours, Henry R., for ever.” After each midday meal he was usually to be found in the Queen’s apartments, discussing politics, theology, or books, receiving visitors, or just “taking his pleasure as usual with the Queen.” 31 Often he took his supper there, and he always joined Katherine for Vespers. His chief desire was to please her.
    Katherine adored him. She referred to him variously as “Your Grace,” “my husband,” or even “my Henry.” Soon after her marriage, her confessor described her as being in “the greatest gaiety and contentment that ever there was.” 32 All that was needed to complete the royal couple’s happiness and secure the succession was a son.
    Henry VIII inherited a great fortune—which has been estimated at £1,250,000 (about £375 million today)—from his careful father. His kingdom, “this fertile and plentiful realm of England, at that time flourished in all abundance of wealth and riches, and grace and plenty reigned” within it. 33 Under Tudor rule, the realm had come to enjoy the benefits of peace after thirty years of dynastic struggles.
    Plans were soon in hand for the new King’s coronation, which was to be the first of the many displays of magnificent pageantry that would characterise Henry’s reign. Stocks of the scarlet, white, and green fabrics required for kitting out the entire court ran out, and the Keeper of the Great Wardrobe had to send to Flanders for further supplies. Tailors, embroiderers, and goldsmiths could hardly keep pace with the demand. 34
    On 21 June, King and court moved to the Tower of London, where sovereigns traditionally stayed before being crowned. The Tower proper, or central keep—it became known as the White Tower in 1234, when it was whitewashed—had been built to defend London by William the Conqueror around 1080. The royal apartments had then occupied the