Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love [Hardcover]

For a long time this is the first proper biography on Katherine Parr. Of course she features in all of the works on Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but very often it only covers the parts of her life after she had become a member of the Royal Family.

Susan James's work on Queen Katherine gives a full picture of Katherine's life. The parts related to the life before her marriage to the King are most interesting and already shed a lot of light on Katherine Parr. Her relationship with her mother Maud and her mother's example how to manage as a widow her own life, her family and her estate and her valuing education for females is quite revealing. The same applies to her relationship with her sister and brother. Susan James corrects the strangely often repeated notion that Katherine married the 2nd Baron Borough of Gainsborough while in reality she was married to his son and heir who happened to carry the same first name. Her second marriage to the 3rd Baron Latimer seems to be a dry run for the marriage with the king: she married an older, sickly man of higher social standing and got two step children which were becoming quite close to her. The marriage to the king seems to be a repeat of this situation. But Katherine as Queen managed to fulfil her role in an excellent way. She was made even regent during the King's absence. She seemed to have liked the power.

Susan James puts Katherine in perspective of the role of woman at the time, deals with aspects of education for females, covers Katherine's role to foster these, her own achievements and of course with her political and religious importance. She is not blind to her faults and describes her own misjudging of the situation and relationship with the King leading and causing the crisis of 1546 which nearly cost Katherine her position and properly her life. However, it is prove of her flexibility, intelligence and calm how she solved the situation.

Most interesting are the descriptions how she hoped to become regent for young Edward VI.

Her last marriage after the King's death to Thomas Seymour might have been a love match, but cost Katherine her reputation. Susan James tries to do justice to Thomas Seymour, tries to paint him in a better light as historic reputation has it, but even she has to give finally in.

All in all a book I enjoyed as covers all aspects of Katherine's life, not just her few years as Queen Consort. It shows one of the many remarkable Tudor women. She was much more than simply wife No. 6.

My only regret is that the book itself is quite badly printed. Parts of the descriptions of the photos are missing. The publisher could have done a much better job, however that does not undermine the value of Susan James's work.

This is an interesting book. Catherine Parr reminds me a bit of Anne Boleyn, but there hasn't been much written about her. Martienssen's book on her is good too, but this is more up to date. I read the first version of this, which I think is called Kateryn Parr. It was good, but had as much about Catherine's brother and sister-in-law as about Catherine. I liked that because I'm interested in Edward VI's reign, and the Marquess and Marchioness of Northampton were interesting. However, this is a much tighter story, focusing fully on the queen. If you're interested in Henry VIII's wives, or independent and intelligent sixteenth-century women, I'd recommend this.

This is an impressive biography of Catherine Parr that really rewrites a lot of what is written about her in older "six wives" books. The Catherine we see here is not the "Nurse-Queen" that is so often depicted on those who base their research mostly on Agnes Strickland as a source.

The lady we see here is someone who grew up in a house dominated by a strong woman and who survived the wilds of the north and the revolt of the pilgrimage of Grace and who never forsake an early love of learning instilled by her mother.

Catherine's nearly 4 years as Queen is particularly well covered and I felt I learnt a lot about her from this book. The Catherine you read about here is a complex woman who for someone who did not grow up at the court managed to fulfill her role as Queen to an extent that she impressed both local doubters and foreign diplomats. Of course her sudden rise and religious beliefs gave her enemies and the well known plot against here is covered well here.

For anyone interested in Tudor history I highly recommend this biography. It's well written and well researched and easy to read. You'll come away with a better appreciation of Catherine and her world for reading this.