
Which of Henry VIII's wives are you? this quiz was made by Lori Fury
(via Philobiblon.)
I have a special fondness for Katherine Parr, mainly because she was the foster mother for Lady Jane Grey, who I've been fascinated with ever since I read her biography as a child. (I mean, when I was a child—she never made it out of childhood, you know, which I didn't before I read her biography.) But we were talking about Katherine, who ought to be an honorary Chatty Kathy even though she never thought to have a blog. I'm sure she would have had plenty to say, since she was the smartest of Henry's wives and the only one who really thought of him as a friend.
You can see her house and final resting place at Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds. There's a fascinating exhibit on her, with a piece of cloth from her burial dress that is strangely evocative.
By the way, our current queen is having her official birthday today. Since in the days before global warming it was unsuitable to celebrate a monarch's birthday in the winter, there's a special provision for an official birthday in June. I have a feeling Katherine Parr would not have insisted on this double celebration.