Why the royals' marriage was not consummated?

Question

Prince Arthur---eldest son of England's King Henry the Seventh and Queen Elizabeth---married Princess Catherine of Aragon. The princess claimed that their marriage was not consummated.

Why was the royals' marriage not consummated?

Answer 1

She and Arthur were both very young, and it is possible that Arthur was in poor health, so it is possible that the marriage remained unconsummated.



However, when Catherine married Henry VIII, the Pope granted them a dispensation that was valid even if the marriage had been consummated, so Catherine really had no reason to lie about it at the time. She always maintained that the marriage had not been consummated, and I am inclined to think she was telling the truth.

Answer 2

This is often, or was, used as an excuse to be able to marry elsewhere - the woman is still a virgin. In that case clearly the poor woman wanted the safety of being married to Henry VIII. Big mistake!



ps Clearly there was the issue of marrying the brother and given Arthur was only 15, it could have been quite possible this was true. It was thought she had loved Arthur however.

Answer 3

Arthur was 15 years old when he married and was not in good health,he died after 6 months of marriage probably from TB, its possible that catherine was kept away from him when he started to become ill.Catherine swore to her dying day that she never slept with arthur,to her priest,on pain of losing her soul, she never wavered from that statement,that she came to henry a virgin,only those two really know don't they? Its just funny that henry was not bothered about it until he was falling in love with anne boleyn.

Answer 4

It could have been a lie told by her to explain why she hadn't gotten pregnant by Arthur and to put her in line to marry Henry the Eighth

Answer 5

He was in poor health and died soon after their marriage. The marriage was in name only.