Just a preview, because I am exhausted by hours of cooking and not enough sleeping, and also, strangely, by reading Catherine of Aragon, for whom I have a lot of sympathy at the best of times and who really is very compelling in this play.
So here’s your trivia question for today:
Can you name Henry’s six wives and their fates?
Here’s a small hint:
I am ridiculously proud of these cakes, which are, of course, only a very small part of the Insane Quantities of Food (TM) prepared this weekend. Though, actually, I didn’t overcater all that drastically.
You’ll get the proper photographic post with everything else tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday, once I’ve sorted through all the photos taken by the lovely Melissa Siah.
But I’ll leave you with this somewhat disturbing thought: Catherine of Aragon was Henry’s Queen from 1509-1533 (though she and I would both maintain that she was in fact Queen until her death in 1536, since the Pope never did rule on that annulment). Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr were born in 1518 and 1512, respectively, to noble English families, who did have a tendency to name children after members of the royal family.
What are the odds that Henry’s last two Queens were named after his first one?
And if so, is that creepy or what?
Oh, and Henry’s six wives were as follows:
Catherine of Aragon, marriage annulled, sort of, in 1533, and died in 1536; Anne Boleyn, beheaded for treason and insufficient production of male heir in 1536; Jane Seymour, died of complications from childbirth in 1537; Anna of Cleves, marriage annulled in 1540, became the King’s ‘beloved sister’ and managed to outlive him, suggesting that she was smarter than she is given credit for; Katherine Howard, beheaded for treason in 1542; Katherine Parr, who survived Henry despite theological machinations, married again, and then died in childbirth only a year after Henry’s death.
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