Catherine Parr The Wife Who Buried Henry VIII PLUS GIVEAWAY!

 

Catherine Parr was the sixth wife of Henry VIII at the young age of thirty-one. Catherine's mother, Maud Green was a lady in waiting for Catherine of Aragon. When Maud had her first daughter, she named her Catherine after the queen. So interestingly, Henry's last wife had been named after his first wife. Catherine was an educated woman and had been taught in several languages,  Italian, French, Latin and eventually Spanish. 

By After Master John - http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1276906https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/queen-catherine-parr-15121548-170943/view_as/grid/search/keyword:catherine-parr/page/1#, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13408812

Catherine, at the age of seventeen, married her first husband, Edward Burgh. She had been married to him for four years when he died. The following year Catherine married John Neville 3rd Baron Latimer. He was 19 years her senior. Catherine found herself a stepmother for Latimer's two children. A rebel mob forced her husband to go with them and then took Catherine and her step children prisoners in the castle. Latimer was eventually able to secure their freedom. The two remained married for nine years when he died. Once again, Catherine found herself widowed.

However, she wasn't widowed for long because King Henry asked for her hand in marriage. On July 12th, the same year that she'd lost her second husband, she married her third husband, the King of England. Catherine became the first Queen of England to also be the Queen of Ireland, following Henry's adoption of the title King of Ireland.

Like most of Henry's wives, Catherine had her woes as well. Catherine was a sympathizer for the Protestants and interested in the reformed faith. That made her unpopular or even enemies with the conservatives in court. In 1546 that influence brought the conservative faction after her. Anne Askew, who was a practicing Protestant was questioned and tortured in the attempt to gain evidence against the queen. But Anne refused to recant her faith or give up her queen. But even without information from Anne Askew the faction had gathered enough evidence to arrest the queen. The warrant for Catherine's arrest was somehow dropped and someone who was loyal to the queen quickly went and told her. Catherine then became very ill. We will never know if this was a true illness or a ruse to buy her time. Henry in his concern came to see her.  She swore to him that she only argued with him to take his mind off his suffering from his ulcerated leg. She played on Henry's vanity and the two were reconciled.

Catherine wrote a book, Prayers or Meditation and published it under her name. She was the first queen to do so. After Henry's death she wrote another book titled, The Lamentation of a Sinner.

By Katherine Parr - http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/2o8h34, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44606709

Catherine had a close relationship with her step children. She was also active in their education, especially the younger two, Elizabeth and Edward. In 1547 Henry died. Two months later Catherine married Thomas Seymour the late Queen Jane Seymour's brother. Because the marriage happened so quickly and secretively a scandal arose. 

In 1548 Catherine became pregnant for the first time at age 36. She gave birth to a little girl on August 30th and named her Mary. Catherine soon became ill and on September 5th, just a few days after giving birth, she died of an infection caused from giving birth.

GIVEAWAY: Today is the kick off for my new release, Sword of Trust book 2 in the Winds of Change Series. I'll be giving away choice of my books! To enter the giveaway be sure to leave your email and tell me what your thoughts are on all these women that were willing to marry Henry VIII.

Debbie Lynne Costello is the author of Sword of Forgiveness, Amazon's #1 seller for Historical Christian Romance. She has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina with their 4 horses, 3 dogs, a miniature donkey, and 6 pekin ducks.

Deirdre Mackenzie has spent her life hiding from her 

father and hating the English. However, when she is caught stealing from an English laird, his unexpected kindness begins to melt away her hatred and strums lonely heartstrings longing for love. Bryce Warwick discovers the “boy” caught with his livestock is actually a young woman. After several attempts to lure the truth from her, he determines she is as deceitful as his late fiancée who nearly cost him his life. But the woman is the least of his worries with the turbulence brought on by threats of another border war and by King Richard's distrust of the nobles.

With old wounds in need of healing and adversaries who would ruin their chances at true love, both must learn to trust in a way they never knew possible.

The stakes are high, secrets prevail, and treason is just a kiss away.

PURCHASE HERE