Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife

Written by Alison Weir

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir brings her Tudor Queens series to a close with the remarkable story of Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, who manages to survive him and remarry, only to be thrown into a romantic intrigue that threatens the very throne of England.

Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman, thirty-year-old, twice-widowed Katharine Parr. She, however, is in love with Sir Thomas Seymour, brother
to the late Queen Jane. Aware of his rival, Henry sends him abroad, leaving Katharine no choice but to become his sixth Queen in 1543. Fearing that she is unlikely to bear the King a child, Katharine gladly mothers his three children, Mary, Elizabeth, and the longed-for male heir, Edward.

Four years into the marriage, Henry dies, leaving England’s throne to nine-year-old Edward—a puppet in the hands of ruthlessly ambitious royal councilors—and Katharine’s life takes a more complicated turn. Thrilled at this renewed opportunity to wed her first
love, she doesn’t realize that Sir Thomas now sees her as a mere stepping stone to power and riches, his eye actually set on bedding and wedding fourteen-year-old Elizabeth. The young princess is innocently flattered by his attentions, but then he persistently invades
her bedchamber, to the shock of her household. The result is a tangled tale of love and a struggle for power, bringing to a close the dramatic and violent story of Henry VIII’s six wives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781980085669

Reviews for Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife

[underwaterlily · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m reading Alison Weir’s Tudor Queens series out of order. (I started with Katheryn Howard, The Scandalous Queen.) Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife was published in 2020; as a result, I see parallels between depicted outbreaks of sweating sickness and the COVID-19 pandemic. Katharine’s story is a sad one, losing her father early on to the sweat. She then loses two husbands, her mother, and a beloved stepdaughter, all to various sixteenth century illnesses. Katharine mourns the children she fears she’ll never have, along with her first real love, the rakish Thomas Seymour, whom she gives up in order to marry Henry VIII. The tyrant-king is surprisingly kind to Katharine, and she grows fond of him, though she's aware he could execute her at any moment—for her past romance, for her secret Protestant faith, or because it's Tuesday. She has enemies at court, including a powerful Catholic bishop, Stephen Gardiner. When Henry VIII dies, Katharine isn't informed for several days. She realizes she's lost the opportunity to take charge of young King Edward's education, but she delights in the freedom to finally marry her great love. Alas, Katharine gains even more enemies (including the Princess Mary) for remarrying so soon after Henry VIII's death. Thomas Seymour cheats on her, of course (with Princess Elizabeth, no less), and Katharine ultimately dies giving birth to her longed-for first child, a daughter, Mary, now lost to history. My heart aches for this long-dead queen. Weir’s portrait of Katharine Parr is as tragic as the account of any other consort of Henry VIII—all six wives knew so little happiness.