Catherine Parr
On the 12 July 1543, 52-year-old Henry VIII married for the last time; his bride on this occasion was the wealthy widow, Katherine Parr.
According to Katherine’s biographer, Linda Porter, twenty people, including the King’s daughters, the Lady Mary and Elizabeth, crowded into the Queen’s closet at Hampton Court Palace to witness King Henry VIII marrying his sixth wife.
It must have been a very intimate occasion, as the room measured approximately 10 by 14 metres (Porter, Pg. 143).
There is no record of what time the ceremony took place or of what Katherine was wearing but Richard Watkins, the King’s prothonotary (“principal clerk of a court”) did make an official record of the marriage (Letters and Papers), including the names of all those present.
Notarial instrument witnessing that, on 12 July 1543, 35 Hen. VIII., in an upper oratory called “the Quynes Pryevey closet” within the honor of Hampton Court, Westm. dioc., in presence of the noble and gentle persons named at the foot of this instrument and of me, Ric. Watkins, the King’s prothonotary, the King and lady Katharine Latymer alias Parr being met there for the purpose of solemnising matrimony between them, Stephen bp. of Winchester proclaimed in English (speech given in Latin) that they were met to join in marriage the said King and Lady Katharine, and if anyone knew any impediment thereto he should declare it. The licence for the marriage without publication of banns, sealed by Thos. abp. of Canterbury and dated 10 July 1543, being then brought in, and none opposing but all applauding the marriage, the said bp. of Winchester put the questions (recited) to which the King, hilari vultu, replied “Yea” and the lady Katharine also replied that it was her wish; and then the King taking her right hand, repeated after the Bishop the words, “I, Henry, take thee, Katharine, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us depart, and thereto I plight thee my troth.” Then, releasing and again clasping hands, the lady Katharine likewise said “I, Katharine, take thee Henry to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to be bonayr and buxome in bed and at board, till death us depart, and thereto I plight unto thee my troth.” The putting on of the wedding ring and proffer of gold and silver (described) followed; and the Bishop, after prayer, pronounced a benediction. The King then commanded the prothonotary to make a public instrument of the premises.
Present : John lord Russell, K.G., keeper of the Privy Seal, Sir Ant. Browne, K.G., captain of the King’s pensioners, and Thos. Henage, Edw. Seymer, Hen. Knyvet, Ric. Long, Thos. Darcy, Edw. Beynton, and Thos. Speke, knights, and Ant. Denny and Wm. Herbert, esquires, also the ladies Mary and Elizabeth the King’s children, Margaret Douglas his niece, Katharine duchess of Suffolk, Anne countess of Hertford, and Joan lady Dudley, and Anne Herbert.
Notarial attestation by Ric. Watkins, Ll. B., King’s prothonotary.
Large parchment.
Katherine Parr on her ‘wedding day’ at Hampton Court Palace 2009 © On the Tudor Trail
The vows taken on this occasion were identical to those taken at all of Henry’s weddings and ‘virtually unchanged by the Reformation or centuries, they are the words still spoken at Anglican weddings’ (Porter, pg. 144).
There are no surviving records of any celebrations taking place after the wedding perhaps signalling that it was a discreet affair.
Katherine was proclaimed Queen of England on the same day but there was no great entry into London planned and no talk of a coronation (Porter, Pg. 144).
In the week after their wedding the King and Queen commenced their annual summer Progress. At the first stop, Oatlands in Surrey, Katherine penned a letter to her brother. This is a summary of the letter recorded in Letters & Papers:
It having pleased God to incline the King to take her as his wife, which is the greatest joy and comfort that could happen to her, she informs her brother of it, as the person who has most cause to rejoice thereat; and requires him to let her sometimes hear of his health as friendly as if she had not been called to this honor. Given at my lord’s manor of Otelands, 20 July 35 Hen. VIII.
Add. : well-beloved brother, the lord Parre, lord Warden of the Marches.
Katherine would go on to reign for longer than Henry’s previous four wives and foster a caring and close relationship with Henry’s three children, Edward, Elizabeth and Mary.
She was the only of Henry’s consorts to be Queen consort of England and Ireland, she was the first English Queen to publish a book under her own name and she proved herself worthy and intelligent when Henry appointed her as regent for two months in 1544.
Katherine Parr was so much more than just the queen that ‘survived’.
References & Sources
Martienssen, A. Queen Katherine Parr, 1975.
Porter, L. Katherine the Queene: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, 2010.
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 18 Part 1: January-July 1543
Entry 873 & 918
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