Henry V of England & Catherine of Valois

Henry V of England & Catherine of Valois

The marriage of Henry and Catherine, turned the youngest, and some say neglected, daughter of a beleaguered King of France into a Queen of England.

This royal bride would be the future mother of a dynasty that would forever unite the thrones of two countries.

However, it wasn’t her wedding with Henry V that made such a mark on the history of England.

It was Catherine’s later marriage that really changed history.

Her second union with Owen Tudor, led to a royal house that ripped up the rule book, and changed England forever.

She was the woman who gave us the Tudors.

In 1420, Catherine is a beautiful princess of unimpeachable character, and suddenly the centre of attention.

Henry IV’s son, Henry V, had been waging war in France almost from the start of his reign in 1413.
By 1420 he had the upper hand, and the Treaty of Troyes cemented his position.

It made him the heir to King Charles VI of France, and included a clause for a royal marriage between Henry the hero king, and the young and pretty Catherine.

On 2nd June 1420, Henry and Catherine married at Troyes Cathedral in France.

Henry was 33, and Catherine, just 18 years old.

Queen Catherine was crowned at Westminster Abbey on February 24th 1421, having been carried to her coronation through streets draped in cloth of gold.

These two beautiful people were seen as the start of a new phase in European politics.

Together, Henry and Catherine would form a dynasty that would rule England and France, uniting old enemies under a common crown.

Henry and Catherine were the celebrity couple of their day, with chroniclers praising their beauty, and the few contemporary portraits of them showing them in the most fashionable clothes around.

By the time Henry returned to France in late 1421, he and Catherine had sent the whole country into a state of celebration by announcing a royal pregnancy.

Queen Catherine gave birth to a prince called Henry on 6th December 1421.

The promise of Troyes had been fulfilled – in a baby born to rule England and France.

But Catherine’s luck was about to run out…..

In May 1422, Catherine travelled to France to see her husband.

Catherine was shocked to see her strong husband was a shadow of the handsome hero who had left his lovely bride and jubilant subjects, the year before.

He was exhausted by his French campaigns, and on 31st August 1422, Henry died of dysentery at the age of 36.

Now his widow, Catherine led his funeral cortege home.

Her baby son was now King Henry of England and France, and suddenly, the young 21 year old queen went from a superstar to the shadows once more.

Until she met a certain Welshman, called Owen Tudor…

🌹 The Marriage of King Henry V & Catherine of Valois~By James William Edmund Doyle, in A Chronicle of England.