A dowry usually consisted of anything from land to money and was often given by a bride's parents to the kingdom in which the bride would live. Katherine's dowry would therefore be given into England's treasury, controlled by Henry VII at this time.
Katherine was just two years old when she was betrothed to Arthur. Can you imagine being engaged to be married at two years of age? This is often how things were done back then and Katherine would have been prepared well in advance to accept the future role of a queen. At fifteen, she was sent off to England where her marriage to Arthur was celebrated with delight all over the country.
It seemed though that the love bug was lacking between Arthur and Katherine. It is said that they never lived together and behaved more like a brother and sister than a husband and wife. Perhaps they might have grown closer, had they been given longer together, but just six months after their marriage in the year 1502, Arthur died.
Katherine, once married to the future King of England was now a widow and Henry VIII, Arthur's brother became the heir to the throne. He was eleven years of age.
Just one year later in 1503, Katherine was betrothed to Henry. There were some doubts as to whether this marriage would actually be right, after all, Katherine had been married to the future king's brother. However the Pope of the Catholic church - Julius II, blessed the marriage that would take place two years later in 1505.
Henry's father was keen to keep the alliance alive between Spain and England. He liked having Spain's powerful nation as a friend and it is also possible that he wanted to keep the huge dowry that Katherine had brought with her. However, when Henry was due to marry Katherine in 1505, his father told him to lodge a protest against the marriage. We think that Henry wasn't too keen to do this because unlike Katherine's relationship with Arthur, Henry and Katherine did actually love one another.
Henry followed his father's orders and did lodge the complaint that put the marriage on hold, but when Henry's father died four years later in 1509, Henry was crowned Henry VIII - King of England, and went ahead and married Katherine anyway.
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