Sponsored by
Slideshow: Katharine teaches us a lesson from history
TO a stirring trumpet fanfare, hundreds of children, dignitaries and clergy poured into Peterborough Cathedral for the anniversary of the burial of a celebrated Tudor figure.
TO a stirring trumpet fanfare, hundreds of children, dignitaries and clergy poured into Peterborough Cathedral for the anniversary of the burial of a celebrated Tudor figure.It was 427 years ago that Katharine of Aragon was laid to rest in her tomb at the awe-inspiring building – and each year, the occasion is marked by even more pomp than the last.
It is difficult to believe that just a few years ago, only a handful of people gathered at the foot of her resting-place to commemorate the date.
Yesterday, the cathedral was packed with guests including youngsters dressed in period costume and the UK's Spanish Ambassador, His Excellency Carlo Miranda, Count of Casa Miranda to watch the spectacle of dancing, singing, hymns and prayers.
The event also marked the 22nd anniversary of Peterborough's twinning link with Alcal de Henares, Katharine's birthplace in Spain.
Other guests included representatives of the Anglo Spanish Society in London, members of the Hispanic Society of Peterborough, members of the Ampthill and Flitwick Dramatic Society and representatives from Kimbolton Castle and Buckden Towers.
Pupils from Bushfield Community College, in Orton Goldhay, impressed visitors by playing Tudor music on xylophones.
Youngsters from Jack Hunt School gave fluent readings in Spanish, pupils from Peterborough High School sang a song set to Greensleeves, St Augustine's Junior School performed a Tudor dance accompanied by the school choir, and there were addresses by the Very Reverend Charles Taylor, Dean of Peterborough, as well as the Canon precentor Bruce Ruddock.
And then came the main event – a moving procession where children laid flowers at the tomb of the first of Henry VIII's six wives.
You could have heard a pin drop as hundreds of guests stood in silence as the ceremony unfolded.
The Very Rev Taylor gave a short history of the time and said people today could take away the message of Katharine's faithfulness and loyalty.
He said his "hunch" was that this was part of the reason Peterborough Abbey, as it was known, was spared when Henry VIII launched his dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, because it contained Katharine's tomb and he couldn't "bring himself" to destroy the building out of respect for her loyalty.
But he didn't miss a beat for the chance to compare how, in some areas, times hadn't moved on from the Tudors.
He said: "The mark of a civilised community is the way in which it cares for the elderly. The way in which Henry VIII used Katharine as a political weapon and then thrust her aside suggests the Tudors were not a civilised society."
"Not that our disposable society with our cosmetically induced fear of aging is much better."
Factfile:Katharine of Aragon
Katharine (also Catherine) of Aragon was a Spanish princess.
She was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and was originally married to Henry's brother Arthur.
Henry VIII married Katharine to maintain the alliance with Spain after Arthur died.
After 20 years of marriage, she had only given birth to one girl, Mary, later to become known as Bloody Mary.
As Henry VIII needed a son to provide a male heir to the throne, and as his advisors deemed Katharine to be past the age of child-birth, Henry tried to persuade her to become a Nun. She refused, and after two years of arguments with the Pope, Henry created a new Archbishop who was prepared to declare the marriage annulled in 1532.
But Henry was determined to marry his favourite, Anne Boleyn, and did so secretly in 1533. He then passed the Act of Supremacy, declaring that he was the head of the English church.
Katharine continued to reject the divorce and her new title of Princess Dowager. She was forced to live in much reduced conditions and denied access to her daughter. Katharine died on January 7, 1536 at Kimbolton House in Cambridgeshire.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.