Arthur Tudor

Arthur
Prince of Wales
Anonymous portrait, c. 1501
Born	(1486-09-20)20 September 1486 Winchester Cathedral Priory, Winchester, Kingdom of England
Died	2 April 1502(1502-04-02) (aged 15) Ludlow Castle, Ludlow, Shropshire, Kingdom of England
Burial	25 April 1502 Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, Kingdom of England
Spouse	Catherine of Aragon (m. 1501)
House	Tudor
Father	Henry VII of England
Mother	Elizabeth of York
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Arthur Tudor (20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502) was Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester and Duke of Cornwall. As the eldest son and heir apparent of Henry VII of England, Arthur was viewed by contemporaries as the great hope of the newly established House of Tudor. His mother, Elizabeth of York, was the daughter of Edward IV, and his birth cemented the union between the House of Tudor and the House of York.

Plans for Arthur's marriage began before his third birthday; he was installed as Prince of Wales two years later. He grew especially close to his siblings Margaret and Henry, Duke of York, with the latter of whom he shared some tutors. At the age of eleven, Arthur was formally betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, a daughter of the powerful Catholic Monarchs in Spain, in an effort to forge an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France. Arthur was well educated and, contrary to some modern belief, was in good health for the majority of his life. Soon after his marriage to Catherine in 1501, the couple took up residence at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, where Arthur died six months later of an unknown ailment. Catherine would later firmly state that the marriage had not been consummated.

One year after Arthur's death, Henry VII renewed his efforts of sealing a marital alliance with Spain by arranging for Catherine to marry Arthur's brother Henry, who had by then become Prince of Wales. Arthur's untimely death paved the way for Henry's accession as Henry VIII in 1509. The potential for a question as to the consummation of Arthur and Catherine's marriage, was much later (and in a completely different political context) exploited by Henry VIII and his Court to cast doubt on the validity of Catherine's union with Henry, eventually leading to the separation between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.