Henry VIII married his brother’s widow, Katherina of Aragon, at a small ceremony in Greenwich on 11 June 1509.
They were a handsome couple, and initially very much in love. Henry probably lied when he claimed his father had told him to marry her while Henry VII was on his death bed, but the new king was determined to wed the forlorn and lovely damsel so in need of a heroic knight to save her. Only a few weeks prior to the death of Henry VII, Katherina had written her father anguished pleas to be allowed to come home and spend her “few remaining days in serving God” because she had given up all hope of marriage to the heir. Her household was literally packing in preparation to return to Spain because everyone thought the newly crowned king would seek a different bride, one with more wealth or more powerful connections. In return for her rescue, Katherina loved her new husband with all the fever of any princess rescued from dragons or ogres, and when she got pregnant so soon after the wedding, all the fairytale dreams seemed to be coming true for them both.
But alas, this was a fairytale without a happily ever after.
The first blow was when Katherina gave birth prematurely to a stillborn girl on 31 January 1510. Katherina did not receive much sympathy or understanding about her ordeal from anyone but her husband and her ladies in waiting. She actually had to write her father a letter begging him not to be angry with her because she had given birth to a stillborn girl.
Adding to Katherina’s nightmarish experience was the fact that Henry had begun his first affair. The obvious affection between them had lulled her into thinking that Henry would remain faithful for the entirety of their marriage. This was probably unreasonable on her part, since they lived in a time period when it was accepted — even expected — for a wealthy and powerful man to keep a mistress or two. Furthermore, it was believed that when a man’s wife was sexually unavailable for any reason he not only had the right to seek physical satisfaction elsewhere, it was actually necessary that he do so to preserve his health. It should be noted, however, that compared to other European royalty or even the lesser nobles in his own court Henry was an unusually faithful husband. In spite of living in an atmosphere that sanctioned and assisted his adultery, he was very moderate in his extramarital habits. He did not flaunt his affairs or name official mistresses or openly brag about multitudinous relationships.
Katherina became pregnant again sometime in late April or early May of 1510, and on New Year’s Day of 1511, the queen gave birth to the son everyone was waiting for. The newborn Prince of Wales was named Henry after his father. He appears to have been a normal and healthy baby, prompting widespread and prolonged celebration. Henry and Katherina were thrilled with their new son, whom they hoped would be the first of many. Henry VIII went on a pilgrimage to a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in order to give thanks for the birth of his heir, and the proud parents hosted a tournament at Westminster in mid-February to celebrate his arrival. Regrettably, their adored son died on February 22, at the tender age of 7 weeks. Unfortunately, there were a seemingly endless number of reasons a baby could die in infancy during the sixteenth century so there is no way of knowing what killed the small heir.
The queen became pregnant again in 1513, but she lost her baby in October. The baby was a much-desired boy, and it is uncertain whether she miscarried or was far enough along in her pregnancy that it could be described as a stillbirth. Katherina became pregnant yet again sometime in late spring or early summer of 1514. Sadly, a few months later in February of 1515 the queen gave birth to a son who died soon after his first breath.
That’s a total of four, maybe even five, pregnancies in just six years, with only one baby born healthy enough to live even for a month. In contrast to other women of her era, who had an average of six or seven pregnancies over the course of their life spans, the queen was doing more than her share of breeding. There is an oft believed myth that women lived in a constant state of pregnancy during the early modern time period, but in fact a woman who bore a child almost every year was an exception not the rule.
Katherina became pregnant again a few months after the loss of her third son, and this time her reproductive luck took a turn for the better. On 18 February 1516 she gave birth to a healthy daughter, who was named Mary. This would be the queen’s only surviving child, since she would give birth only once more – on 9 November 1518 – to a daughter who would die shortly after she was born, as so many of her siblings had.
What killed so many of Katherina and Henry’s offspring? The most likely cause was alloimmunization, when the mother’s antibodies attack the fetus due to an incompatibility between the minor blood antigens of the mother and fetus. If Henry VIII had a Kell positive blood type and Katherina did not, then any fetus conceived after the first pregnancy would be attacked by the mother’s antibodies provided it had inherited the Kell blood type from the king. Any fetus with a Kell positive blood type like Henry’s would not survive unless it were the first born. First born children and any fetus that did NOT inherit the Kell gene (like Princess Mary Tudor) would survive gestation, barring any other problems during the pregnancy.
The king remained sexually involved with his wife for several more years, but there were no further pregnancies. The King’s once loyal heart began drifting away from his wife in the early 1520s, and by 1524 he was no longer having sex with her. Plans for a divorce were (unbeknownst to Katherina) in the works, long before Henry would fall in love with Anne Boleyn.
Katherina fought her divorce tooth a nail, but Henry broke from the Catholic Church and married Anne Boleyn anyway. She died, still loving her handsome prince of old, far away from him in Kimbolton Castle on 7 January 1536, and he celebrated her death with feasts and jousting. It was a terrible end for what had begun as a wonderful and happy union.