Good Evening To Everyone,

Immediately upon her arrival at Plymouth Sound, Catherine asked to be taken to a church to offer thanks for her safe arrival in her new homeland. Here we see that the training of her mother, Queen Isabella, was so evident.

Everyone, including Catherine's new father-in-law, was excited about her arrival, and could not wait to see her. However, as a high-born Castilian bride, custom decreed that Catherine remain veiled to both her new husband and father-in-law until the solemn benediction of the final ceremony had been pronounced. King Henry VII was most vexed at this custom, and felt that as a new subject of England, the quaint custom of Castille was of little relevance. Catherine felt quite adamant about this, and she and her ladies remained heavily veiled.

After some time, and much good-natured grumbling, the situation was resolved in favour of Catherine's new English future, as opposed to her Castillian past. The veil was finally lifted. Catherine curtsied deeply in a gesture of symbolic obedience to the English King.

How truly fortunate it was that King Henry was enchanted with what he saw! There had been no trick, no disillusion. The Prince of Wales was also likewise very pleased with his lovely bride, and wrote to his parents-in-law to say that she was truly a vision of loveliness.

It was clear that Catherine, now on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, possessed a freshness and purity of appearance. Her naturally pink cheeks and white skin were greatly admired in an age when make-up was clumsy in execution. A fair complexion like Catherine's was thought to indicate a serene and cheerful temperament. Catherine's hair was also fair and thick, with a reddish-gold tint, and her features were neat and regular in a pleasingly oval-shaped face. As to Catherine's height, she was extremely short, even tiny. She was also on the plump side, but that was an advantage in those days.

As to the Prince of Wales, he was not yet fifteen, but he was extremely delicate, and seemed much younger than his years due to his frail health. He was very fair-skinned, but without Catherine's pink cheeks, his fair skin tones seemed to give a worrisome pallor.

Now, as Latin had been the language of the couple's correspondence to each other, they could at least talk to each other in some manner, since Catherine knew no English, and Arthur could not speak Spanish.

Unfortunately, Catherine's pronunciation of her Latin, however fluent, was vastly different from that of King Henry or Prince Arthur, so Catherine was unable to make herself understood. The English bishops were prevailed upon to persevere, and they finally made some sort of contact.

Nor were the Prince and Princess able to dance together. Their training in this respect was completely different. So Catherine was content to dance a Spanish dance, and Arthur danced in the English manner with some of the ladies of the court.

Catherine had been welcomed in triumph into the city of London on November 12, 1501.

Catherine and Prince Arthur were married two days later, on November 14m 1501, in St. Paul's Cathedral. Another Spanish note was struck by the fact that Catherine, like her ladies, wore a mantilla with her stiffly embroidered dress of white and gold encrusted with jewels. She was escorted up the aisle of the church by her husband's younger brother, Henry, Duke of York, her hand in his. Now Henry, the Duke of York was only ten years old, but he was extremely tall, and seemed to look older than his brother, Prince Arthur, who was five years his senior.

At the sumptuous banquet which followed the wedding, Catherine sat to the right of King Henry VII, while Prince Arthur sat at a separate children's table with Prince Henry and his other sisters.

The wedding night was to be spent at Baynard Castle, and the couple was duly transported there, and, as the custom decreed, they were "put to bed" by courtiers, who then discreetly disappeared so that the couple could begin their honeymoon.

In an age when marriages were frequently contracted for reasons of state between children, parents tended to take care to give time and consideration to the proper consumation of the marriage. Therefore, sometimes years might pass before the couple would actually be allowed to be alone together to actually begin their physical part of the marriage contract.

In the case of Arthur and Catherine, all four parents agreed that nothing should be rushed. The plan, therefore, was for Catherine to remain in London under the tutelage of her mother-in-law, while Arthur was allowed to continue his growing-up, undisturbed by the distractions of a wife, in the Marches of Wales, at Ludlow Castle. It was expected that Catherine would remain behind, and be tutored in English, and the customs of her new land. Instead, Catherine set off for Ludlow Castle in December.

On the Welch borders that spring, the weather was notably cold and wet. Towards the end of March in 1502, Prince Arthur's fragile health began to give away. The Prince may have been suffering from tuberculosis; there was also an outbreak of the plague in the neighborhood, and the dreaded "sweating sickiness" was all around.

It was this "sweating sickness" that caused Catherine to collapse, and she was extremely sick during this time.

She was still very seriously ill on April 2, 1502, when Prince Henry passed from this life. He was fifteen and a half; his "dearest spouse" was now his widow. Catherine of Aragon, at the age of sixteen years and three months, had now become the Princess Dowager of Wales.

The news of the death of the Prince of Wales reached Greenwich Palace on April 3, 1502, by messenger. At Ludlow Castle, the Prince's Council awaited orders as to the manner of Arthur's funeral, while Catherine languished still extremely sick, in the care of her Spanish ladies. It was not until three weeks later that Arthur's body was taken by torchlight in procession to Ludlow parish church, and from there the procession moved on to Bewdley Palace. The Prince was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

Catherine now became a problem of two states - to whom could she be suitably married? There were several suitors who were duly considered, and then summarily dismissed, for various reasons.

Then, there was the subject of the dowry, which Prince Ferdinand had not yet completed the payments on. Now, what should be done about that. Well, King Henry VII reasoned, the remaining dowry owed from the first marriage could be negotiated to be a part of second marriage if - well, it could be that perhaps, maybe, just maybe, perhaps young Prince Henry might be considered for the marriage contract.

King Ferdinand, Catherine's father, was quite certain that "our daughter remains as she was when she was here - a virgin", and expressed this view often.


TO BE CONTINUED IN PART III . . .