Mail on Sunday 25 April 2010
England's very own Katherine the great
Matthew Dennison
It was a brave woman who, in July 1543, married Henry VIII. Did Katherine Parr's nerves ever fail her? Certainly she took three months to agree to the King's proposal, even though she must have known Henry's wish amounted to a command.
The King's marital career had been less than happy. Only a year earlier, he had executed 21-year-old Catherine Howard, the second of his wives to suffer such a fate. More than that, Katherine herself was in love with another man.
Ruthless, egotistical and capable of great cruelty, Henry was a daunting proposition. At 51, he was more than 20 years older than Katherine, who had already been widowed twice. Age did not suit the Tudor colossus, who suffered from bone disease in his legs, probably brought about by jousting injuries. His weight did not help. One contemporary said he was so large 'three of the biggest men to be found could get inside his doublet.'
His huge bulk and aching legs mad Henry an irascible figure but they did not prevent him from falling in love. Katherine, most people agreed, was a worthy object of his affection. 'For beside the virtues of her mind,' one wrote, 'she was endued with rare gifts of nature, as singular beauty, favour and a comely personage; things wherein the king was greatly delighted.' The same attributes had also attracted dashing rake Thomas Seymour. Katherine put aside love for duty.
But she was married to Henry for less than four years. History remembers her as the wife who 'survived' Henry. The Victorians liked to think of her as a serious, matronly figure who devoted herself to nursing the ageing King. Others have regarded her as a religious extremist who married Henry to promote her own views about the Reformation. The truth, of course, is less simple, as Linda Porter's new biography amply demonstrates.
Katherine wrote a number of successful religious books and was painted more frequently than any other 16th Century consort. During her time as Queen, her public prominence was high. But her decision to marry her old flame, Seymour, within months of Henry's death did much to undermine her reputation.
After her death from fever in 1548, following the birth of her only child, the 36-year-old Queen seems quickly to have been forgotten.
Porter's account of Katherine's life is colourful and well paced. Occasionally her style lurches towards romantic fiction but those who enjoy Tudor history will agree with Porter's assessment that Katherine's was indeed a remarkable life.
