Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr was Henry VIII's sixth and last wife, a friend to future Queen Elizabeth I, and one of the best educated women of her time.

Catherine Parr was one of the few women in the 16th century to publish a book. She also married four times. The first three were marriages of obligation to older men - the third of these being to Henry VIII, becoming his sixth and last wife.

After Henry's death in 1547, Catherine married - this time for love, to handsome and dashing Sir Thomas Seymour. The couple also took in a very special houseguest - Henry VIII' daughter by Anne Boleyn, Princess Elizabeth, then a girl of thirteen. For Catherine and Elizabeth it was a meeting of minds, but Catherine's husband took too much liking to the redheaded teenager, and she had to bundle Elizabeth off. A few months later Catherine died in childbirth.