PLACE NAME
Catherine of Aragon (December 16, 1485 – January 7, 1536) was Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII. Before that, the fiercely intelligent, thoughtful and popular Catherine, daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, served as the ambassador of the Aragonese Crown to England making her the first female ambassador in Europe. Following the death of her first husband Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne, it is said that her brother in law, the new king, Henry VIII would visit her while she was staying at nearby Croydon Palace, now a school on Old Palace Road. The pair were married and had one daughter, Mary, but the lack of a male heir infuriated her husband. By 1525 Henry had fallen for Anne Boleyn. He used to own a hunting lodge on the grounds of Addington Palace, which according to Addington Palace’s website, is where, the pair are rumoured to have held clandestine meetings, during which time he taught her to hunt. Henry sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled marking the start of the English reformation. This is one of a cluster of New Addington streets with Tudor connections.
