ANNIVERSARIES
2 OCTOBER 1501
A Spanish princess joins the Tudor dynasty
Catherine of Aragon battles storms and bad omens before landing in England
In the spring of 1501, Catherine of Aragon took a last look at the minarets of Granada. For years she had been betrothed to Arthur Tudor, heir to the throne of England. And now that she was almost 16, her parents had run out of excuses to delay the inevitable.
It took Catherine’s travelling party three months to reach the port of La Coruña. But when her ship cast off, a ferocious storm blew up in the Bay of Biscay. Thrown off course, the captain was forced to put in at Laredo, further along the coast.
Later, people said this had been an omen. Even Catherine, they claimed, had wondered
