The sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, and probably the one who did him the most good.
Catherine Parr was the daugher of Sir Thomas Parr, a close companion of King Henry VIII. Her mother was a close friend of Catherine of Aragon, and she part of Mary's household. Widowed twice and engaged in a romatic relationship with Sir Thomas Seymour (brother of the late queen Jane Seymour) when Henry first met and then married her in 1542 (12 Jul), she became both Queen of England and Ireland, and the only wife of Henry to survive him. A highly capable woman, she stood in as regent when Henry went to war in France in 1544. She was also a learned and caring woman who became the missing mother Henry's children never had and ensured that the children (esp., Elizabeth) were grounded in learning. She was largely responsible for the reconciliation of the king to his two daughters, which resulted in their restoration to the line of succession.
Evangelical in her leanings, she became the subject of investigations by anti-Protestant officials. Her religious sentiments are reflected in the two books she wrote, Prayers or Meditations (the first book ever to be published by an English queen under her own name) and Lamentations of a Sinner (published after Henry's death).
When Henry died (Jan 1547) Catherine was provisioned with a generous endowment to support herself. Her old flame, Thomas Seymour, again proposed and they were secretly married a half year after Henry's death (they knew they would never get royal approval for the marriage so soon after the king's death). When the marriage was finally uncovered it caused no small consternation. Catherine became pregnant for the first time in her life in 1548, giving birth to a dauther, Mary Seymour, later that year. Catherine died six days later; the fate of Mary Seymour, though she survived infancy, remains unknown. Mary never knew her father for he was beheaded for treason in 1549.
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