Catherine of Aragon was born on 16 December 1485 at the Archbishop’s Palace of Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, Spain. As the youngest surviving child of the “Catholic Monarchs,” Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, she was raised with a strong education in theology, languages, and court etiquette. Following a long, tumultuous period in England as the teenage widow of Arthur, Prince of Wales, she married Henry VIII shortly after his accession to the throne, with their marriage taking place on 11 June 1509 at the church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich Palace.
Shortly after, on Midsummer’s Day, Sunday, 24 June 1509, Catherine and Henry VIII were crowned together as King and Queen of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a lavish ceremony in Westminster Abbey. The celebration was marked by incredible luxury, including a procession from the Tower of London where Catherine rode in a horse-drawn litter wearing an embroidered white dress and a golden coronet with her hair flowing down her back. The joint coronation was well received by the English people, establishing a public image of a “fairytale” marriage that was accompanied by feasts, tournaments, and widespread public celebrations, though this period of joy would eventually fade.
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