Arthur, Prince of Wales

Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (19/20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502) was the first son of  King Henry VII of England  and  Elizabeth of York. He predeceased his father. When Henry VII died, Arthur's younger brother, Henry, became king as  King Henry VIII .

Marriage
For two years, Arthur wrote numerous letters in   Latin  to his bride-to-be, and she would formally reply. However, as the young couple had never met, the letters were written as instructed by their tutors and were more polite than passionate. When Arthur was 14, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promised to send their daughter Catalina (later known as Catherine) to England, but it was not until after Arthur turned 15 that Catherine and her retinue finally started their journey. The Spanish   Infanta  finally landed in the autumn, and on 4 November 1501, the couple met at last at   Dogmersfield  in Hampshire.

Little is known about their first impressions of each other, but Arthur did write to his parents-in-law that he would be "a true and loving husband" and he later told his parents that he was immensely happy to behold the face of his lovely bride. Ten days later, on 14 November 1501, they were married at Old St Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the festive day came the bedding ceremony, in which most of the court put the young couple to bed.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:19px;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Death and aftermath
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">The couple soon travelled to <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Ludlow Castle<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">on the <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Welsh <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">border, where Arthur resided in his capacity as <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Prince of Wales<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">and President of <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  The Council of Wales and Marches<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">. He died suddenly at the early age of 15. The cause of his death is unknown but may have been  consumption<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, diabetes, or the mysterious <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  sweating sickness<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, which some modern theorists tie to a hant avirus<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">Catherine also fell ill, but survived. Arthur's brother, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Henry<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">, Duke of York, was not created <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  Prince of Wales<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.200000762939453px;">until it was certain Catherine wasn't carrying Arthur's child. She lived in relative obscurity until becoming Henry's first wife after his coronation.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Henry became heir upon Arthur's death and would come to the throne in 1509. He was somewhat unprepared for the position, as it had been intended that he would pursue a clerical career and perhaps become Archbishop of Canterbury. This lack of preparation and education is seen in the heavy influence during the early years of Henry's reign of older statesmen such as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the queen Catherine of Aragon, his elder by five years.