![]() As David Loades points out: "The marriage of a ruler was the highest level of the matrimonial game, and carried the biggest stakes, but it was not the only level. However, the marriage was not guaranteed. The English also still controlled the port of Calais in northern France. Ferdinand's motivation was that Spanish merchants wishing to reach the Netherlands, needed the protection of English ports if France was barred to them. At this time, England and Wales had a combined population of only two and a half million, compared to the seven and a half million of Castile and Aragon, and the fifteen million of France. By this treaty Henry agreed that his eldest son, Arthur, should marry Catherine. In 1488 Henry signed a treaty with Ferdinand. Henry VII was worried that England might be invaded by stronger European countries. In 1487 King Ferdinand agreed to send ambassadors to England to discuss political and economic relations and to negotiate the marriage of Catherine and Arthur. She was named after Isabella's grandmother Catalina of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. ![]() She was therefore the daughter of not one but two reigning monarchs. Catherine was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon (1452–1516) and Isabella of Castile (1451–1504). ![]() ![]() It has been claimed that Henry VII first suggested that Catherine of Aragon might be a good wife for his son when the princess was only two. His first step was to marry Elizabeth, the eldest child of Edward IV. To do this he needed to protect himself from those who had the power to overthrow him. His father, who had become king in 1485, was determined that the Tudor family should rule England and Wales for a long time. ![]() Henry, the second surviving son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was born in Greenwich Palace, on 28 June 1491. ![]()
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