The Tudor's Brangelina

Whether we admit it or not, most of us like to read about the divorces and break-ups of Hollywood’s stars. It’s a guilty pleasure. It’s also part of our star-crazed culture, this fascination with movie, rock/pop, and sports celebrities. But we shouldn’t think of their divorces and relationship failures as products of our contemporary society. The famous, it seems, have always been like this.

Take Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of the infamous King Henry VIII of England. Her story resembles that of modern castaway, Jennifer Aniston, replaced by Angelina Jolie as Brad Pitt’s lover. A daughter of the king and queen of Spain, Katherine was used as a pawn for Anglo-Spanish relations. She was married to Arthur, heir to the English crown, for just one year before his death caused chaos in the court. Katherine was driven into poverty and neglected by both Spain and England. She lived that way for 8 years before catching the eye of the young Henry, Arthur’s brother. After receiving an official annulment for her first marriage, they were married. The royal marriage was rife with affairs and miscarriages, producing only one daughter. After 24 years, Henry divorced poor, innocent Katherine on the grounds that the Bible warns of never marrying a brother’s widow. For Henry, however, the break-up occurred because Katherine did not produce a male heir and because another woman, Anne Boleyn, was waiting in the wing.

A Medieval Angelina Jolie, Boleyn became known for her own affairs and love of witchcraft; the punishment for which was decapitation. One can only hope that Jolie’s fate is less bloody.