b. 1512; d. 7 Sept 1548.
Sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, the only wife to survive him.
Daughter of an official of the royal household, Catherine Parr was already twice widowed by the time King Henry married her on 12 July 1543.
A highly intelligent, brave, and tactful woman, as well as religiously devoted, Catherine Parr managed to navigate the intricacies and sensitivies of Henry's court and developed close relationships with Henry's children by his former marriages. Without fanfare, she managed to reconcile Henry to her estranged daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and had a great influence on their education and upbringing. She and Henry—already 52 on their wedding day, heavily overweight and moving about with difficulty—had no children of their own. After Henry's death in 1547, she remarried her former suitor, an admiral, Thomas Seymour, younger brother of Jane Seymour (they were already on the verge of marriage when Henry fell for Catherine; she could not have turned the king down without rising danger to the lives of all she loved). She died soon after giving birth to a daughter.
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