King Arthur's Bones

While reading an article about how mitochondrial DNA, extracted from skeletal bones, can determine matrilineal decadence, I was intrigued by how this method was used to ascertain, beyond reasonable doubt, that the skeleton found under a parking lot in Leicester was that of Richard III. Further, I learned that Richard was the last king from York representing the Tudor dynasty that ruled England from 1485 to 1603.

I am not an expert in royal genealogy, so all this means little to me. But, then there was a paragraph about Catherine and Arthur, married in 1501 to establish a diplomatic alliance, binding the Tudor regime to the Spanish family of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. Aha! I had heard about the famous debate if Catherine and Arthur ever consumed their marriage, since after a few months of marriage Arthur died and Catherine convinced that she was still a virgin, allowing the church to accept her marry Arthur’s brother! Hmm…

So I read a bit more. It seems that it was customary for select members of the Court to accompany the just married couple to their bedroom and put them to bed together on their wedding night. Consequently it is said that the courts of England and Spain assumed that they had sexual relations, consumed the marriage, and that the diplomatic alliance was officially established. But, Catherine had another story to tell….

…This story made me think about a couple of pictures I had taken in Kruger Reserve, South Africa. We were driving in the park when a splendidly male lion came out of the forest making all of us very uncomfortable. He walked slowly behind our car and seemed totally uninterested in our presence.

Then a roar and a lioness came out of the woods. It was at this moment when I became convinced that a king can "consume" anytime he wants, in front of many people holding cameras to their face albeit with shaking hands.

It all lasted a few seconds (really!), then a short “cat nap”!

The pictures are of bad technical quality, but I think appropriate to prove that if Catherine and Arthur did not consummate their marriage, this king I met on the paths of Kruger Reserve, absolutely did.
Beyond reasonable doubt!

August 16, 2014

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2014