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Hi everyone,

Catherine of Aragon was pregnant six times over the course of eight years. Mary was her fifth child (and the only one who lived more than a couple months). What sort of changes would we have if Catherine had died during/immediately after the birth of Mary's younger sister, who only lived a few hours?

I don't think this is too much of a stretch, given OB/GYN care of the 1500s. I know at least one historian suspects Jane Seymour's death after childbirth was due to her male doctors not knowing to make sure all the placenta came out.

The obvious first change is that Anne Boleyn probably would not have been Wife #2. If Catherine dies in November 1518, Anne was still in the French court as a maid of honor. In OTL, she doesn't return to England until 1522, and there's no way Henry would have remained single for four years when he was desperate to get a legitimate son and heir. We'd have to throw in a state visit, either to or from Claude of France, for Henry and Anne to meet before some other lady gets a royal proposal.

(We also need to hope the earliest date given for Anne's birth is the correct one. If she was born in 1501, she would have been 17 when Catherine died. If the 1507 date is correct, Henry sniffing around an 11-year old Anne is a bit squicky.)

Another obvious change is that since Mary's parents' wedding was never annulled, Mary herself would never have been declared illegitimate. This would have given Mary a much more secure upbringing.

England wouldn't have needed to split with Rome over Henry's remarriage, since a widower would be free to marry (with the usual disclaimers). I suspect there would have been a split at some point, since Henry doesn't strike me as the sort to let any outside power have too much say in how he ran England. But that's just a guess, it's just as likely that Henry and England would have stayed in communion with Rome.

Does anyone have a candidate for Henry's second wife, or any other ideas on how this would play out?
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