Henry VIII | Katherine (Queen Katherine)
Katherine of Aragon is wife to Henry and is afterwards divorced. Much of the central action of the play concerns Henry's attempt to divorce Katherine, his wife of over twenty years. Historically, Katherine, daughter of the Spanish King Ferdinand II, had originally been married to Arthur, Henry's older brother and heir to the English throne. However, when Arthur died a few months afterward, his marriage unconsummated, Katherine was married to Henry, the new heir. At the time, it was considered a form of incest to marry a brother's widow, but the pope determined that since the first...
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