Catherine of Aragon was the daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, and the first of English King Henry VIII's wives. Catherine first married Henry's older brother Arthur, who died only months after the wedding. Henry married her shortly after he came to the throne. Though she was often pregnant during their long marriage, only one of her children, Mary, survived. In the 1530s, Henry broke with the Catholic church to get an annulment to his and Catherine's marriage. He wanted to marry a younger woman who could give him a son.

Please note that Katherine is the spelling accepted by scholars, and used by the queen herself. Catherine is the popular, but modernized spelling.