On 11th June 1509, seventeen year-old King Henry VIII married twenty-three year-old Catherine of Aragon, his brother Arthur’s widow, in the Queen’s Closet at Greenwich Palace.
The wedding was low-key and was a private ceremony with just two witnesses: George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Steward of the King’s Household, and William Thomas, a groom of the Privy Chamber. It was rather different to Catherine’s first wedding, which had taken place at St Paul’s and which was said to be one of the most expensive royal weddings in history. However, plans for the couple’s midsummer joint coronation were well under way, so there’d be plenty of celebrating then.
You can read more about Henry and Catherine’s wedding in my article 11 June 1509 – Henry VIII Marries Catherine of Aragon.
Also on this day in history
- 1456 – Birth of Anne Neville, Queen Consort of Richard III, at Warwick Castle. Anne was the daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and 6th Earl of Salisbury, known as the Kingmaker, and his wife, Anne Beauchamp.
- 1488 – Death of James III of Scotland, at Sauchieburn, or “the field of Stirling”. It is not known whether he died in battle or after the battle.
- 1540 – Birth of Barnabe Googe, translator and poet. Googe is known as one of the earliest English pastoral poets.
- 1544 – Bishops ordered by Henry VIII to ensure that the new litany was “in our native englysshe tonge”.
- 1560 – Death of Marie de Guise (Mary of Guise), former consort of James V and regent of Scotland, at Edinburgh Castle. Her body lay in a lead coffin at the castle, in St Margaret’s Chapel, until March 1561 when it was taken back to France. Marie was buried in the convent of St Pierre at Rheims.
- 1576 – Death of Sir Anthony Cooke, humanist and educator. Cooke educated his daughters to a high standard, teaching them Latin and Greek, and probably also modern languages and Hebrew. He was appointed royal tutor to Edward VI, but it is not known whether he actually tutored the King. It may have been more of a guiding role. He was buried at Romford, and his effigy can be seen at St Edward’s Church there.
