The Other Tudors Read Online Free PDF Page B

of heirs and claimants to the throne and to keep Henry from having a son for whom he might grow too ambitious? If Prince Henry did marry, it should certainly be to a lady who had no aspirations to the English throne through her own family or to a foreign princess who needed a resident prince consort to dwell abroad.
    Shortly after Arthur and Catherine’s wedding, Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the son of Edward IV’s sister Elizabeth and a claimant to the throne, who had returned to England under the King’s promise of safety, again fled to France, taking his brother Richard with him. Driven by suspicion, Henry VII took immediate action against all those remaining who had any claim to the throne. In March 1502, William Courtenay (husband of Queen Elizabeth’s sister Katherine), William de la Pole (brother of Edmund and Richard) and James Tyrrell (Governor of Guisnes, near Calais), who had received Edmund de la Pole when he fled in 1499, were all imprisoned in the Tower of London. William Courtenay was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, but was merely imprisoned until Henry VII’s death, when Henry VIII released him. William de la Pole stayed in prison for 38 years, and died there. JamesTyrrell was executed in May 1502, having supposedly confessed, almost 20 years after the event, that he had arranged the murders of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, the Princes in the Tower, under orders from Richard III.
    On a happier note, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York were delighted with their son’s bride. Catherine of Aragon was pretty and mature beyond her years, only a year older than her husband. She had been brought up to play the part of the Princess of Wales and later Queen of England. She was plump and graceful, with small hands and feet, long chestnut-brown hair and a flawless, fair complexion. She was well read, regal, dignified and pious, although she lacked spontaneity or humour, and was incapable of subterfuge or compromise. Her husband was tall and fair, with the family good looks. The question of his health does not seem to have arisen. As it would have been of great interest to the other European rulers if Arthur had been sickly, it would have been avidly reported; it is therefore safe to say that he enjoyed reasonably robust good health. However, in view of what followed, Prince Arthur may already have been showing the first symptoms of the illness that killed him.
    The couple set up their household and spent their brief married life at Ludlow Castle. On 2 April 1502, Prince Arthur died there, after only five months of marriage. For most of this time, he had been ill with ‘consumption’ and the longed-for second wedding night never happened. The Prince’s ailment is usually diagnosed as tuberculosis, but it may very well have been pneumonia. Catherine herself was extremely ill, so much so that she was unable to attend Arthur’s funeral at Worcester Cathedral, and it was some months before she could be moved to London. Her mother-in-law, Elizabeth, sent a sombre, black-draped litter for Catherine to travel in slowly and safely to Durham House, on the Strand, where she set up her household and where Henry VII paid £100 a month to keep her in the style of Dowager Princess of Wales. Despite rumours to the contrary, Catherine showed no signs of being pregnant, wholly due, she would maintain, to nothing of a sexual nature having happened. She remained in England, waiting for her parents and father-in-law to decide what should become of her.
    Henry VII decided that his second son, who was now Prince of Wales, should marry Catherine – chiefly so that he could maintain an alliance with Spain, and also, in no small part, so that he could keep her dowry. Henry VII’s reputation for meanness was, it seems, well founded. Prince Henry does not appear to have been unwilling, as he seemed to admire his brother’s bride and wished for the marriage.
    The question of whether or not the first marriage had