Everybody knows Catherine of Aragon as Henry VIII's first wife. Far fewer people realise that Henry was not the first Tudor prince she married.

Her first husband was Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales.

The marriage had been planned for years as a powerful alliance between England and Spain. Catherine and Arthur were both just fifteen when they married at Old St Paul's Cathedral on 14 November 1501.

Arthur was the heir to the English throne. Henry was the younger brother who was never expected to become king.

Then everything changed.

Only months after the wedding, Arthur became ill at Ludlow and died in April 1502. Catherine was suddenly a teenage widow and Henry became heir to the throne.

Seven years later, in 1509, Henry married his brother's widow. He was seventeen; Catherine was twenty-three.

The question of Catherine's first marriage would return with enormous consequences. Catherine maintained that her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated. Years later, when Henry wanted their marriage annulled, he argued that marrying his brother's widow had offended biblical law.

The dispute contributed to Henry's break with Rome and the creation of an independent Church of England.

One teenage marriage, one young prince's death - and a chain of events that helped alter English history.

Discover more remarkable history stories on our book ...

Love Stories, Passions and Heartbreaks 

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