WI: Arthur Tudor King of England

Arthur died at the age of 15 in 1502 historically due to unknown causes. In my understanding at least Arthur was being groomed for the throne far more then Henry was. As well as being married to Catherine of Aragon at the time. What if Arthur didn't die in 1502 and lived to be King?
 
Arthur died at the age of 15 in 1502 historically due to unknown causes. In my understanding at least Arthur was being groomed for the throne far more then Henry was. As well as being married to Catherine of Aragon at the time. What if Arthur didn't die in 1502 and lived to be King?

England might stay Catholic.
 
Or become Protestant some other way than the Church of England.

Will Arthur have any better luck than Henry having sons from Catherine?

I'm not hopeful, but its a possibility. And if he doesn't, what will he do about it? He's in the same position (barring butterflies) as Henry relative to the Pope.
 
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There's also the factor that even if Arthur doesn't quickly have a son he's got a younger brother in vigorous good health as an heir so the dynasty is still reasonably secure, so he probably sticks with Catherine rather longer. Which in turn means that Henry marries someone else, probably a minor French or Portuguese princess. If she produces sons as well, then the Tudor dynasty is secure and England probably never goes protestant (at least not in any recognisably familiar way to OTL, Henry's Caesaropapist style was somewhat sui generis).
 
There's also the factor that even if Arthur doesn't quickly have a son he's got a younger brother in vigorous good health as an heir so the dynasty is still reasonably secure, so he probably sticks with Catherine rather longer. Which in turn means that Henry marries someone else, probably a minor French or Portuguese princess. If she produces sons as well, then the Tudor dynasty is secure and England probably never goes protestant (at least not in any recognisably familiar way to OTL, Henry's Caesaropapist style was somewhat sui generis).

This was what I was about to say, having an adult heir (Henry) really makes a massive amount of difference.

My gut check would that England would stay (largely) Catholic if Catholicism can hold on long enough to implement the Counter-Reformation although it would probably be a near thing.

An interesting side-effect of England staying Catholic would be a lot of English Protestant immigration to Protestant countries (especially the United Provinces if things happen similarly, although England acting differently could butterfly a lot there...).

Perhaps a Spanish/English alliance against the French giving continental Protestants some breathing room?
 
This was what I was about to say, having an adult heir (Henry) really makes a massive amount of difference.

My gut check would that England would stay (largely) Catholic if Catholicism can hold on long enough to implement the Counter-Reformation although it would probably be a near thing.

An interesting side-effect of England staying Catholic would be a lot of English Protestant immigration to Protestant countries (especially the United Provinces if things happen similarly, although England acting differently could butterfly a lot there...).

Perhaps a Spanish/English alliance against the French giving continental Protestants some breathing room?

Yep - a butterfly resulting from Arthur staying alive and married to Catherine (in OTL they weren't exactly opposed to each other) means good relations between England and Spain.

France is going on a different path from OTL...
 
There's also the factor that even if Arthur doesn't quickly have a son he's got a younger brother in vigorous good health as an heir so the dynasty is still reasonably secure, so he probably sticks with Catherine rather longer. Which in turn means that Henry marries someone else, probably a minor French or Portuguese princess. If she produces sons as well, then the Tudor dynasty is secure and England probably never goes protestant (at least not in any recognisably familiar way to OTL, Henry's Caesaropapist style was somewhat sui generis).

Agreed on the son side.
Even if Catherine proves incapable of delivering a healthy boy it's likely Henry will produce a son at least.

England never going protestant...
I don't know...it kind of fits the model of a country set to go protestant. It may even be with a more extreme form of protestantism than the CoE's protestantism-lite.

Really it could go anyway the author wants. Who knows what the personality of future kings will be like.
It seems certain though that there will be at least a significant interest in protestantism from the cities even if the king is firmly catholic alligned.
 
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