The youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the joint rulers of Spain, the princess Catherine was fated to marry the the future king of Britain, sealing an alliance and ushering in a new era in history — though not in the way that she thought. After a betrothal to Arthur, King Henry VII’s son and Henry VIII’s brother, she married, but Arthur died from sickness just days after. Henry VII, still interested in forging a Spanish alliance and the generous dowry that came with Catherine, decided to marry her to his younger son, Henry VIII. That marriage changed history forever.

On this day, June 11, in 1509, Henry VIII married what would become the first of his six wives. A special dispensation from the Pope was needed as Catherine was technically already previously married. That extra effort was the likely reason for the Vatican refusing the request for annulment after Catherine was not able to produce a surviving male heir.

Catherine was pregnant a number of times, but all but miscarried or could not survive long after birth. The one surviving child was a female, named Mary. After she became too old to conceive, Henry lost his remaining interest, and instead began an affair with her servant Ann Boleyn. Things came to a head when Anne became pregnant and Henry, flouting the Church’s decree, forced the legislature to annul his marriage to Catherine and exile her from the court.