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| 9 | <title>Primary Sources - Letter of Katharine Parr to her husband, King Henry
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| 10 | VIII, July 1544 </title>
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| 30 | <td valign="top" width="70%" height="610" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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| 31 | <p align="center"><b><FONT size=+1>Letter of Katharine Parr to her husband, King
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| 32 | Henry VIII<br>July 1544</FONT></b></p>
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| 33 | <p>
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| 34 | <FONT size=-1><b>Background<br></b>Katharine Parr wed King Henry VIII on 12 July 1543
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| 35 | at Hampton Court Palace. Henry was her third husband and not her
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| 36 | personal choice. She was in love with Thomas Seymour, the brother of
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| 37 | Henry's third wife, Jane; he eventually became her fourth husband just a few
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| 38 | months after Henry's death in 1547. Once the marriage to Henry was
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| 39 | settled upon, Katharine worked to make it successful. She was, in all
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| 40 | respects, admirably suited to the task. She had experience managing
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| 41 | temperamental elderly men and nursing their various ailments. She was
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| 42 | very intelligent and committed to scholarship, but she also participated fully
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| 43 | in the life of Henry's court. She grew as fond of finery as any of his
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| 44 | wives and dressed magnificently.</FONT> </p>
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| 45 | <p>
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| 46 | <FONT size=-1>She and Henry grew
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| 47 | close. He refused to allow anyone else to wrap his badly ulcered leg; he
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| 48 | also made her Queen-Regent while he attended the siege of Boulogne in
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| 49 | 1544. This letter was written during that six-week absence and its tone
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| 50 | is loving and respectful. In it, Katharine mentions the King of
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| 51 | Scotland's widow, Marie de Guise, as well as Henry's three children. In
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| 52 | addition to her success as a sixth wife, Katharine was an admirable stepmother
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| 53 | who genuinely loved the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth and Prince
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| 54 | Edward.</FONT> <br></p>
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| 55 | <hr>
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| 56 | <p>Although the distance of time and account of days neither is
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| 57 | long nor many of your majesty's absence, yet the want of your presence, so
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| 58 | much desired and beloved by me, maketh me that I cannot quietly pleasure in
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| 59 | anything until I hear from your majesty. The time, therefore, seemeth
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| 60 | to me very long, with a great desire to know how your highness hath done
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| 61 | since your departing hence, whose prosperity and health I prefer and desire
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| 62 | more than mine own. And whereas I know your majesty's absence is never
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| 63 | without great need, yet love and affection compel me to desire your
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| 64 | presence. <BR>Again, the same zeal and affection force me to be best content
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| 65 | with that which is your will and pleasure. Thus love maketh me in all
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| 66 | things to set apart mine own convenience and pleasure, and to embrace most
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| 67 | joyfully his will and pleasure whom I love. God, the knower of
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| 68 | secrets, can judge these words not to be written only with ink, but most
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| 69 | truly impressed on the heart. Much more I omit, lest it be thought I
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| 70 | go about to praise myself, or crave a thank; which thing to do I mind
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| 71 | nothing less, but a plain, simple relation of the love and zeal I bear your
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| 72 | majesty, proceeding from the abundance of the heart. Wherein I must
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| 73 | confess I desire no commendation, having such just occasion to do the same.
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| 74 | <BR>I make like account with your majesty as I do with God for his benefits
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| 75 | and gifts heaped upon me daily, acknowledging myself a great debtor to him,
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| 76 | not being able to recompense the least of his benefits; in which state I am
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| 77 | certain and sure to die, yet I hope in His gracious acceptation of my
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| 78 | goodwill. Even such confidence have I in your majesty's gentleness,
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| 79 | knowing myself never to have done my duty as were requisite and meet for
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| 80 | such a noble prince, at whose hands I have found and received so much love
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| 81 | and goodness, that with words I cannot express it. Lest I should be
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| 82 | too tedious to your majesty, I finish this my scribbled letter, committing
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| 83 | you to the governance of the Lord with long and prosperous life here, and
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| 84 | after this life to enjoy the kingdom of his elect. <BR>From Greenwich, by
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| 85 | your majesty's humble and obedient servant, <BR>Katharine the
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| 86 | Queen.</p>
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| 87 | <p> </p>
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| 88 |
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| 89 | <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| 90 | <P>
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| 91 | <HR width="100%">
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| 92 | </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| 93 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
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| 94 | href="letters.html">to Letters of the Six Wives
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| 95 | of Henry VIII</A></FONT></p>
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| 96 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A href="primary.html">to
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| 97 | Primary Sources</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1><A
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| 98 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor England</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1>
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| 99 | <a href="monarchs/parr.html">to Katharine
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| 100 | Parr website</a></FONT></p>
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| 101 | </td>
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