Royal Tabloid Tales in Bewdley

Henry VII was the first Tudor King. He had taken the crown from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Prince Arthur, born in 1486 at Winchester had not been given this name by accident. This was a time when 'histories' of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were popular with the ruling classes. After the long 'Wars of the Roses' the new King could do no better than to name his first son after a legendary King who had united a divided country. And to marry him to the daughter of the powerful Spanish rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella. This legally binding proxy marriage was held at Tickenhill, a manor given to Prince Arthur, just outside Bewdley in May 1499. The crowning and 'wedding' was at Old St Paul's cathedral in London on 14th November 1501.

But Prince Arthur was never to be King. In 1502, less than 5 months after the St Paul's service, he died at Ludlow Castle. Thence, in his coffin, he once again came to Bewdley, crossing the river at Redstone Hermitage, on his way to Worcester Cathedral. Here the prince lies to this day in 'Prince Arthur's Chantry' within a plain tomb chest modelled upon the supposed tomb of King Arthur at Glastonbury. Even in his son's death Henry VII was not to let a propaganda opportunity pass him by.

And the young Princess Katherine? To preserve the alliance and to retain her dowry, Henry VII, claiming her still to be a virgin, had her married to Arthur's younger brother who was to take the throne as King Henry VIII. The rest......is history.