was loth to lose the gold of Catherine's dower; it was of the utmost importance to strengthen at once the royal line; and a full-blooded youth of Henry's temperament was not likely to repel a comely (p.

046) wife ready to his hand, when the dictates of his father's policy no longer stood between them.

So on 11th June, barely a month after Henry VII.'s obsequies, the marriage, big with destinies, of Henry VIII.

and Catherine of Aragon was privately solemnised by Archbishop Warham "in the Queen's closet" at Greenwich.[84] On the same day the commission of claims was appointed for the King's and Queen's coronation.

A week then sufficed for its business, and on Sunday, 24th June, the Abbey was the scene of a second State function within three months.