Juana of Castile and Catherine of Aragon
Raised together at the brilliant court of their parents, Juana and Catherine received an education exceptional even by royal standards. Both were instructed in languages, theology, philosophy, and the arts, and nurtured in the devout piety that defined Queen Isabel’s household. Despite the six-year age difference, they were close during childhood, forming an affectionate bond rooted in the intellectual and religious atmosphere of their mother’s court.
The political designs of their parents soon separated them. Juana was married to Philip the Handsome, heir to the Holy Roman Empire, securing the Habsburg alliance; Catherine was wed to Arthur of Wales and later to his brother Henry VIII, binding Spain to England.
In 1501, Juana reportedly sent greetings and best wishes for her sister’s new life via ambassadors and secretaries from the courts of Castile and Flanders. Letters from Luis Caroz, the Spanish ambassador in England, which note that Juana wished Catherine happiness and well-being. Reports by Fuensalida to King Fernando and to Juana herself, which mention that these congratulatory messages were delivered.
In 1502, Arthur of Wales died just five months after the marriage. Juana expressed her sorrow over her sister’s loss, again using official messengers, as recorded in ambassadorial reports.
A chronicler notes a happy encounter at Guitres between Juana and a group of Spanish musicians and trumpeters who had just returned from England. These men had been part of the entourage that served Catherine at the English court. Juana was delighted to hear news of her sister and listened with great interest as the trumpeters described Catherine’s honorable reception by King Henry VII and the English people.
In 1504, Catherine was a young widow living in relative isolation in England, a period during which her future marriage was being negotiated with Prince Henry. She received distressing news about her mother's health during this time. Juana wrote to inform her of Queen Isabel’s recurring agues and fevers. On 26 November, their mother passed away, and Juana succeeded to the throne of Castile by right of inheritance. From that moment onward, Catherine was only Infanta of Aragon, daughter of King Fernando II.
Juana and her husband unexpectedly arrived in England in early 1506 due to a storm during their voyage from Flanders to Castile. They were received by Henry VII at Windsor Castle. This unexpected sojourn afforded Juana a rare opportunity to see Catherine, whom she had not met since departing Castile for Flanders nearly a decade earlier. Yet their long-awaited reunion proved constrained and unsatisfactory.
Contemporary accounts and later historians agree that the sisters’ meeting at Windsor was formal and closely supervised, allowing them little privacy in which to speak freely. The reasons for the brevity of their encounter remain uncertain: Juana herself brought the visit to an abrupt close, perhaps owing to political caution, her husband’s influence, or the emotional strain of her circumstances. Catherine later expressed her conflicting emotions in a letter to her sister
‘’I must express the joy that I felt when I saw you in this Kingdom, and the distress that filled my soul only a few hours afterwards because of the sudden and hasty departure you made from here."
Catherine was appointed ambassador of Aragon to England in 1507, a groundbreaking and empowering moment that, for the first time, allowed her to take charge of her own political fate. After Philip the Handsome's death, Henry VII of England wanted to marry the young and beautiful queen of Castile. Juana seems to have bewitched him during her short stay at Windsor.
Catherine, under pressure from her father and the king of England, encouraged Juana toward the match with Henry VII. Juana's unwillingness to remarry—combined with her confinement in Tordesillas—put an end to Henry VII’s hopes of acquiring a wealthy and politically advantageous bride.
A few months after her husband’s death, and while in a state of profound distress and isolation, Juana gave birth to her youngest child, whom she named Catalina—perhaps as a gesture of sisterly affection toward her sister, the princess of Wales.
After Juana’s confinement at Tordesillas began in the aftermath of Philip the Handsome’s death, her correspondence became increasingly irregular and tightly controlled. Every letter she attempted to send or receive had to pass through her keepers and the royal council, who routinely intercepted, censored, or destroyed much of her mail to prevent unauthorized communication and potential political maneuvering. Guards and officials reported all of her words and writings to the king’s representatives, ensuring that her activities were closely monitored.
The confinement not only curtailed Juana’s political agency but also severed her from almost all contact with her family, including her younger sister. Catherine is believed to have sought news of Juana through diplomatic intermediaries—a faint thread of sisterly concern that endured despite the walls of Tordesillas.
In his correspondence with secretaries and agents of state, Fernando of Aragon makes reference to letters received from his daughter Catherine, in which she inquired after the welfare of her sister Juana. The king’s responses, offering reassurance of Juana’s health and safety, attest to Catherine’s enduring solicitude for her sister during the years of her seclusion (1).
Several dispatches from Spanish envoys in England mention Catherine’s expressions of sorrow for her sister’s confinement. For instance, Chapuys’s dispatch of 1531 notes Catherine’s “pious compassion toward the Queen of Castile, her sister, whose misfortunes she bears as her own.” (2)
Catherine of Aragon died on 7 January 1536 at Kimbolton Castle, after years of isolation imposed by her husband, King Henry VIII, who had repudiated her in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Conscious of the potential impact of such news on his mother, whose mental state remained fragile, Charles V instructed his officials to inform her “with moderation and piety.” Juana, long confined in Tordesillas, had maintained a profound affection for her sister, and Charles feared that the announcement might aggravate her condition.(3)
According to reports from her household, the news of her sister’s death was communicated to her with great prudence. Her confessor, Fray Luis Ferrer, wrote that upon hearing the news,
“She showed great sorrow, withdrawing from everyone and remaining in silence for a long time.”
At first, Juana reportedly refused to believe that Catherine was dead. One of her attendants, Doña María de Ulloa, later testified that the Queen said,
“The Queen of England cannot be dead; God would not allow it.”
When she was finally persuaded that her sister had indeed passed away, Juana ordered masses to be celebrated for Catherine’s soul and spent the evening in vigils and prayer, refusing food and speaking little.
Among the portraits of her family members that Juana kept at her residence in Tordesillas were those of Catherine. Some historians have suggested that Juana may have received these portraits directly from her sister in 1506, when she and her husband, Philip the Handsome, stopped in England. Although inventories of Juana’s possessions confirm the existence of these portraits, they provide no information regarding the artist or the appearance of the images, leaving their exact likeness unknown.
(1) Cartas de Fernando el Católico (edited by José Sancho Rayón, Madrid, 1872)
(2) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, vol. 5
(3 )Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, Volume 5, Part 2: 1536–1538, ed. Pascual de Gayangos (London: Longman, Green, Longman, & Roberts, 1888), no. 4.
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