Alison Weir

Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir brings her Tudor Queens series to a close with the remarkable story of Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, who manages to survive him and remarry, only to be thrown into a romantic intrigue that threatens the very throne of England. "A detailed and convincing portrait of an extraordinary life. Taken as a whole, this series is a serious achievement."--The Times (London) Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman, thirty-year-old, twice-widowed Katharine Parr. She, however, is in love with Sir Thomas Seymour, brother to the late Queen Jane. Aware of his rival, Henry sends him abroad, leaving Katharine no choice but to become Henry's sixth queen in 1543. The king is no longer in any condition to father a child, but Katharine is content to mother his three children, Mary, Elizabeth, and the longed-for male heir, Edward. Four years into the marriage, Henry dies, leaving England's throne to nine-year-old Edward--a puppet in the hands of ruthlessly ambitious royal courtiers--and Katharine's life takes a more complicated turn. Thrilled at this renewed opportunity to wed her first love, Katharine doesn't realize that Sir Thomas now sees her as a mere stepping stone to the throne, his eye actually set on bedding and wedding fourteen-year-old Elizabeth. The princess is innocently flattered by his attentions, allowing him into her bedroom, to the shock of her household. The result is a tangled tale of love and a struggle for power, bringing to a close the dramatic and violent reign of Henry VIII.

A Novel

Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife

Holly 

It did not matter to her that her father had been rich and important; it was the debonair man with laughter lines about his eyes whom she would remember and grieve for, a good father who had prized and loved his children.

"Girls are as intelligent as boys, Mother declared. "They are not as weak as some would have us believe." 

She had turned eleven in August and was not yet stirred by thoughts of young men or romance. Marriage, she was fast learning, was a hard-headed business, with little account taken of young hearts.

They [her cousin’s letters]had made Katharine realize that it was the one who was left behind who did most of the missing 

Yes, Katharine reflected, but a man cannot serve two masters. People were having to make a choice between king and pope. For some, it must be a dreadful moral dilemma, one that might jeopardize the salvation of their souls. For others, like John, Uncle William, Will, and Father Cuthbert, it was a matter of pragmatism. 

“It's far more meritorious to have earned one's preferment than to inherit it!" she declared."It's what you do in this life. rather than who you are, that matters.”

Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife quotes

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