Marriage
For two years, Arthur wrote numerous letters in Latin to his bride-to-be, and she would formally reply. However, as the young couple had never met, the letters were written as instructed by their tutors and were more polite than passionate. When Arthur was 14, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promised to send their daughter Catalina (later known as Catherine) to England, but it was not until after Arthur turned 15 that Catherine and her retinue finally started their journey. The Spanish Infanta finally landed in the autumn, and on 4 November 1501, the couple met at last at Dogmersfield in Hampshire.
Little is known about their first impressions of each other, but Arthur did write to his parents-in-law that he would be "a true and loving husband" and he later told his parents that he was immensely happy to behold the face of his lovely bride. Ten days later, on 14 November 1501, they were married at Old St Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the festive day came the bedding ceremony, in which most of the court put the young couple to bed.
Read more about this topic: Arthur, Prince Of Wales
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Why don’t you go home to your wife? I’ll tell you what. I’ll go home to your wife and outside of the improvements, you’ll never know the difference. Pull over to the side of the road there and let me see your marriage license.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, a wisecrack made to Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)
“Thrift, thrift, Horatio, the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Every relationship that does not raise us up pulls us down, and vice versa; this is why men usually sink down somewhat when they take wives while women are usually somewhat raised up. Overly spiritual men require marriage every bit as much as they resist it as bitter medicine.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)