SHORTCUT SUMMARY: So, here we are in 1543; we have reached the last chapter of the long geo-tale of the 6 wives of King Henry VIII. It was not a happy or successful 40-year marital journey for Henry or the wives. There were periods of peace and happiness - even tenderness - but they were fleeting. The story of Henry VIII and his wives is mostly a tale of woe.
All that being said, Henry did choose wisely with his last spouse, Wife #6, Katherine Parr. At this stage of his life, he needed a caretaker and companion, not a hot young lover who would turn his seed into baby boys. Katherine understood her role and performed it well.
It is true that Katherine Parr was known for her beauty, and her family was noble in a minor way, but she was 37 years old when she married Henry, and she'd already been twice-widowed (and never pregnant). Marriage to Henry wasn't her "first rodeo." She had seen a thing or 2 -- good and bad -- and, by the time she married Henry, she was a mature, lovely, very intelligent, and very patient person. Exactly what Henry needed.
Besides her wise, calm, and kind caretaking of a deteriorating -- both physically and mentally -- Henry, Katherine is known for 2 other important achievements during her relationship with Henry: she became a "mother" to the Tudor family and royal line and also an author of historical distinction.
As Henry's queen, Katherine brought Henry's 3 children together to live under one roof for the first time, and she created a strong family environment for the children, Henry, and herself. In addition, she took direct control of the strict and expansive education of Henry's 2 younger children, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward, and tried to ensure that they were well prepared for their royal futures. Although she was the biological mother to none of the royal children, Katherine became a beloved "mom" figure while she was queen (and longer for Elizabeth, to whom she grew very close) - she loved and cared about Henry's kids as if they were her own. Katherine also was very influential in ensuring that Princesses Mary and Elizabeth would follow their brother onto the English throne, something that was questionable until Katherine persuaded Henry to legally "lock-in" his royal line. Katherine's efforts to personally unite Henry with his children in a loving family unit and to secure that family as the Tudor royal line was a significant achievement.
Secondly, from the time that she was very young, it was clear that Katherine was very intelligent, and, as she matured, she became known as an intellectual - she enjoyed learning for the sake of learning. She was well-educated as a child and strived for continued educational growth as an adult. At the time of her marriage to Henry, Katherine became fully immersed in the study of Christian religion, and she began writing about her views and feelings and, with Henry's approval, composed an anonymous book called "Prayers or Meditations," which was quite well-received. She then wrote 2 more books (which were and are respected by religious scholars), which were published under her own name. The main book is called "Lamentations of A Sinner." With "Lamentations of A Sinner," Katherine became the FIRST woman in England who published a book under her own name. She was not successful as a writer just because she was the queen; she earned high praise because she was genuinely talented. As women in the mid-16th century were not known for their intellectual pursuits, Katherine's authorship was obviously an enormous achievement.
Henry VIII died in 1547 when his ailing body finally gave out, and his son became King Edward VI. After Edward's coronation, Katherine moved from London's royal palaces to Chelsea with a very hefty annual pension and her freedom. Finally, Katherine was able to live the life SHE wanted to live, and she very quickly married a long-lost true love, and, to her shock and everyone else's, she became pregnant for the first time in her life. In another tragic twist of fate for a wife of Henry VIII, Katherine died right after giving birth to her first child (a girl named Mary) from an infection caused by childbirth. She outlived Henry by a little more than a year. She is buried at the chapel of Sudeley Castle in Gloustershire, England.
The cache location is meant to symbolize Katherine's role as the last wife of King Henry VIII - she was truly his caretaker for the last 4 years of his life. The cache's original swag of pocket-sized journals symbolize, in a very small way, Katherine's development as an author, as she recorded her research, thoughts, views, and findings on her studies in journals that she subsequently turned into her books.
FULL STORY - KATHERINE PARR - SIXTH WIFE
Katherine Parr was Henry VIII's sixth and last wife. Given his spousal history and his mercurial moods and deteriorating health, Katherine really truly did NOT want to marry Henry, but when the King of England asked her to marry, she felt it was an obligation - it was her duty to serve him. Their relationship lasted for 4 years, until Henry died in 1547. This Queen Katherine was a sensible, faithful, and trusted adult companion and a patient caretaker; Henry was too worn out, both mentally and physically, for passionate romantic adventure. He needed a friend, and he chose well. But ...."underneath Katherine's calm exterior, deep passions flowed - for learning, religious reform, and another man."
Katherine Parr grew up in a northern English family of gentry that earned its high place in Henry VIII's early court by performing good deeds and dutiful service for the royal family. Several male members of Katherine's family were knighted, and a handful of those earned noble titles like marquis, baron, and lord. One brother was a member of the Privy Council (sort of like the US president's cabinet), and another was made a member of the Knights of the Garter (sort of like King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table). Katherine's father was a knight and a favorite companion of a young Henry VIII, and her mother was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's Wife #1, Katherine of Aragon. It is thought that Katherine Parr and Mary Tudor (Henry's first child), who was four (4) years younger than Katherine, were probably friends as children and educated together by the same tutor, since their mothers were close friends.
Katherine (age 37) was twice-widowed by the time she married Henry (age 52), so this third marriage wasn't Katherine's "first rodeo." Her first husband died when she was age 20; her second husband, John Neville, Lord Latimer, was 20 years her senior and very ill during the latter part of their eight (8) year marriage; she spent many months nursing him as he slowly declined and eventually died.
During Lord Latimer's long illness, Katherine met and fell in love with Thomas Seymour, the esteemed brother of Henry's Wife #3 Jane Seymour and uncle to Henry's son and heir, Edward. It is not clear how far their relationship had developed when Henry took an interest in Katherine, but when Henry and Katherine married, Henry sent Thomas Seymour to Belgium on the European continent for long stretches (like years) of diplomatic service. Seymour came back into Katherine's life later as her long-lost true love. And what a scoundrel he was!
Katherine was very different from Henry's previous wives in her maturity and her personal interests. In today's world, Katherine probably would be a college professor, and her area of study would be theology, with a specialty in Christianity. She was highly interested in Christian history, fundamentals, and variations. As she ventured through life, she drew away from her Catholic faith and developed a strong belief in many principles of the Protestant Reformation.
There is evidence to show that Katherine, from a very young age, was highly intelligent and very curious. It was noted that when she was a child and began to learn to embroider and sew, she complained constantly to her mother that she didn't want to spend her time with needles in her hands when there were books to explore! Katherine did learn the domestic arts well, thanks to her very traditional and highly religious mother, but she was also quite well educated. By the time she reached adulthood, she had been schooled in history, geography, mathematics, arts, literature, and she fluently spoke/read several languages, including Greek and Latin. When life circumstances allowed, she hosted gatherings similar to "salons" in her homes, where learned persons were invited to speak and lead discussions among the guests and attendees (like book club, only much more erudite and sophisticated).
After she became Henry's wife, Katherine's popular salons at the various royal venues became intensive, focused almost exclusively on religion, and were lead by the country's esteemed church leaders, especially those who wanted significantly more Protestant reform within the Anglican church.
Katherine became so involved in her religious learning and development that she began to write about it, and, with Henry's permission, she wrote an anonymous book called "Prayers or Meditations," which was well-received by her learned audience. Thereafter, she wrote 2 more books (also with Henry's permission): "Prayers or Meditations" and "Lamentations of A Sinner." Both were published under her own name, and both were and are respected by religious scholars, even today. With these 2 books, Katherine Parr was the first English woman to have a book published under her own name. She truly was a successful intellectual in her time. Wife #2 Anne Boleyn's intelligence was probably equal to Katherine's, some historians suggest, but Anne used her brains to gain power and prestige and riches; Katherine enjoyed her intellectual pursuits for the sake of learning.
Katherine's religious study and views became problematic when pro-Catholic forces at court almost convinced King Henry that Katherine's religious beliefs were becoming heretical and that she should be at least silenced or, even better, imprisoned, to deter others from following her example. Henry, whose own religious views wavered, depending on which way the wind blew, carefully listened to the pro-Catholic groups for a time and seemed to agree with some of their arguments and even had a warrant for Katherine's arrest (for heresy) drafted up, but he ultimately rejected it. Henry eventually pulled away from the Catholic groups that resented Katherine's strong Protestant leanings, but the Catholic v Protestant turmoil that Henry allowed to fester --and the draft warrant -- frightened and quieted his wife and queen on her public religious fervor. (I think Henry VIII was spiritually Catholic deep inside, but he wanted the wealth and power of the church for his royal house, so he rode the fence on various tenets of Catholicism v Protestantism after he created the Anglican church in England, and he used whatever bits and pieces of religious philosophy benefitted him at the time in question - he was king, he did what he wanted when he wanted).
Katherine Parr never became pregnant by her first 2 husbands or by King Henry VIII (he never stopped talking about more boys - the heir and a spare - but he knew it wasn't likely, and that isn't why he married Katherine Parr), but she did have very fine maternal and familial instincts, and she became a real mother to all 3 of Henry's children. She insisted that Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward live with her and Henry, instead of in other castles under different guardians, and she created a family environment for Henry and his children. Mary was a young adult, but she became very close to Katherine, who tried to counsel and comfort her (Henry had refused to arrange a marriage for Mary, even though she was highly sought after as an English princess, and she was afraid she would become an old maid; Henry just had not found an advantageous enough political partnership for England through Mary, and he was saving Mary for that purpose). Elizabeth and Edward both grew very attached to Katherine; she was directly involved in both children's educational development, and she made the decisions regarding their daily activities. Elizabeth, in particular, was influenced by Katherine's quests for knowledge and learning; she was present at many of Katherine's salons and was encouraged to participate in the discussions.
Officially, Henry trusted Katherine so much with his son that he appointed her the sole regent for Edward when Henry made one last unsuccessful foray into the coastal French territories at the head of his army (his health was so bad, he rarely left his tent, and he could not ride a horse and had to be carted around). As Edward's regent, it was Katherine who would have controlled England for many years until Edward became an adult, if Henry had died in France. Henry's level of trust for Katherine, on behalf of his son, was extraordinary.
Finally, Katherine was instrumental in the passage of the Succession Act, which fully restored Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth as Prince Edward's royal heirs. Because of Henry's destructive relationships with their mothers, both Mary's and Elizabeth's royal lineage was legally disrupted, but the Succession Act put the princesses firmly back in line to inherit the throne after their brother, if he did not leave his own male heirs (and he did not). Katherine Parr solidified the Tudor family as an everyday family (Mom, Dad, and kids) and as a royal lineage (King, Queen, Prince, and Princesses).
King Henry VIII died, most likely from a pulmonary embolism, at 2 a.m. on January 28, 1547, at Whitehall Palace, in the sole presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cramner. None of his family was present. Henry's son Edward (age 9) was crowned as King Edward VI. After Edward's coronation, Katherine moved from London's royal palaces to Chelsea with a very hefty annual pension and her freedom. Finally, at long last, Katherine was able to live the life SHE wanted to live.
Thomas Seymour, Katherine Parr's "true love" (whom Henry was sent on diplomatic missions on the European continent to keep him away from Katherine) returned to England when Henry died, and within a short period of time, Thomas Seymour and Katherine Parr married. Disgustingly, it seems that Thomas Seymour also sexually pursued the young teenage Princess Elizabeth, who lived with Katherine, her formal guardian upon Henry's death. More than once, Katherine encountered Seymour and Elizabeth in passionate romantic embraces in Elizabeth's chambers; finally, Elizabeth was moved to another castle (there are well-respected historians who believe that Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, was actually impregnated by Thomas Seymour as she lived far away from London and was unseen for many months after this move away from Katherine Parr's home, but the pregnancy has never been proven or generally accepted by historians as true).
Then, shockingly, Katherine Parr discovered that SHE herself was pregnant with Thomas Seymour's baby. She had never been pregnant in her 3 previous marriages, and she assumed that she was barren, but, at age 42, she was pregnant for the first time. She and Seymour "overcame" the "Elizabeth issue," and awaited the arrival of their child. Incredibly and tragically, Katherine Parr died from infection very shortly after giving birth to her first child, a baby girl named Mary, after her stepdaughter Mary Tudor. Baby Mary Seymour was handed off to a close friend of Katherine’s, and she was thereafter lost to the mists of history – no one knows what became of her).
Katherine Parr lived only a year longer than King Henry VIII. In that year, she married the man she thought was the "true love" of her life, forgave his indiscretions with a teenage princess whom she had loved as a daughter, and then died giving birth to his daughter, who did not know her mother or father (Thomas Seymour was executed a year after Katherine's death for treasonous acts towards his nephew King Edward VI). It wasn't much of a final year for Katherine Parr, who longed for so much more from her fourth husband and what she thought would be many more years of life.
Katherine Parr is buried at St. Mary's Chapel at Sudeley Castle in Gloustershire, England.
The cache location is meant to symbolize Katherine's role as the last wife of King Henry VIII - she was truly his caretaker for the last 4 years of his life. The cache's original swag of pocket-sized journals symbolize, in a very small way, Katherine's development as an author, as she recorded her research, thoughts, views, and findings on her studies in journals that she subsequently turned into her books.
AFTERWARD: Millions upon millions of pages have been written about the life and times of King Henry VIII and his 3 Katherines, 2 Annes, and his Jane, and their children. In all that information, there was a single overriding concern that dominated almost all of Henry's life: his desire to produce surviving (legitimate) male heirs. But, despite six (6) wives and great effort and real tragedy, there were only three (3) surviving legitimate children, and only one (1) was a boy.
Why? Was it just bad luck or just chance? Or was there an actual reason?
Believe it or not, medical historians who have reviewed Henry's and his wives' procreative cases believe that there might be a medical explanation for their collective inability to produce surviving children: They believe that Henry may have inherited a very rare genetic blood characteristic that interfered with his ability to procreate.
There are bioarcheologists (yes, apparently there is such a profession) who suggest "that the numerous miscarriages suffered by Henry’s wives could be explained if the king’s blood carried the Kell antigen [kell-negative is common; kell-positive is rare]. A Kell-negative woman who has multiple pregnancies with a [rare] Kell-positive man can produce a healthy, Kell-positive child in a first pregnancy; But the antibodies she produces during that first pregnancy will cross the placenta and attack a Kell-positive fetus in subsequent pregnancies," resulting in miscarriage. This theory could definitely apply to the multiple miscarriages experienced by Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn (it doesn't seem to apply that much to the other wives, but Jane Seymour died after her first child was born, Anne of Cleves and Henry never copulated and Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr never became pregnant, probably likely due to Henry's greatly weakened physical state at the time of their relations).
To support their "Kell" theory, the bioarcheologists have completed some "bio-genealogy "and "traced the possible transmission of the Kell positive gene from Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the king’s maternal great-grandmother. ....The pattern of reproductive failure among Jacquetta’s male descendants, while the females were generally reproductively successful, suggests the genetic presence of the Kell phenotype within the family." They have petitioned Queen Elizabeth II to exhume the skeleton of King Henry VIII to perform DNA tests to prove their Kell antigen theory, but she has repeatedly refused their requests.
So, there it is. Five centuries later, scientists hypothesize that it may actually have been that Henry himself – and NOT his wives – was responsible for his inability to produce male children.
Or not.
Life is full of mysteries.
Good heavens! Congratulations, Schmyoo and dotdotdash on FTF! Found moments after its publication and in truly nasty weather! Schmyoo and dotdotdash are anointed geo-knights for their FTF efforts, considering the ice and snow!