Today in 1511 Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon’s son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, died at just 52 days old. He was the heir that Henry needed, and both parents were devastated when they heard. No one knows what killed Henry – it may have been SIDS. It was tragic for Henry and Katherine – Henry tried to comfort Katherine as best as he could, and they arranged a funeral filled with the honors for a Prince. The King and Queen didn’t go to the funeral in person so as not to attract attention away from the Prince, but he was buried in Westminster Abbey, carried in a small coffin from Richmond Palace to the river where it was brought up the river in a convoy of 3 barges.
180 paupers were paid to pray for the soul of the baby Henry. Henry VIII and Katherine were still young enough to have more children, though of course, they would only have Mary, and it would be 26 years before Henry would have another son.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 47: Tudor Times talks about Katherine of Aragon
Episode 69: Supplemental – Chat with James Boulton on Katherine of Aragon
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
