Arthur, Prince of Wales - Moving The Court

Moving The Court

Henry moved the court to Winchester for the birth of his unborn child, no doubt taking a huge gamble that the baby was in fact a boy. It was there that the first Tudor Prince of Wales, Arthur, was born. His christening took place at Winchester Cathedral, his godfathers were Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford who was late for the ceremony. Elizabeth Woodville, his maternal grandmother, was his godmother and carried him during the ceremony. He was made a Knight of the Bath at his christening. It is not known if Arthur was a robust child when born. In Arthur's Church History it says: ". . . yet vital and vigorous", while Francis Bacon describes him as, "Born in the eighth month, as the physicians do prejudge," yet "strong and able". Some historians suggest that his death resulted from a lifelong weakness, but others disagree. Philipa Jones has pointed out that there was never any discussion of Arthur being ill or weak during his lifetime. She argues that Arthur was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon from the age of two: if he had been weak and sickly it would have been reported to Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, Catherine's parents.

Arthur's earliest surviving portrait, painted in his early or pre-teens, shows him with red Tudor hair, small eyes, and a high-bridged nose.