WHAT IF... HENRY VIII’S FIRST SON HAD LIVED?
Within two months of coming to the throne in 1509, the young King Henry VIII had married Catherine of Aragon, and within two years he had a son and heir. Catherine – the beautiful, intelligent and accomplished princess from Spain, and widow of Henry’s older brother, Arthur – had lost her first child, a daughter delivered stillborn, in 1510. But she quickly fell pregnant again, and on New Year’s Day 1511 she gave birth to a boy at Richmond Palace.
There were bonfires in the capital, free-flowing wine, banquets, and Henry held a jousting tournament as England rejoiced over the news. The child, christened Henry, served to
