“Five down, I’m the final wife. I saw him to the end of his life. I’m the survivor: Catherine Parr. I bet you wanna know how I got this far…” Catherine Parr was born in Blackfriars, London to Maud Green and Sir Thomas Parr, both distantly related to the royal family. She too was named after Catherine of Aragon, to whom her mother was a lady-in-waiting. Catherine was educated in French, Italian, and Latin. She enjoyed writing books, debating Reformation thought, and was an independent intellectual and land owner. Catherine was married four times. The first three were arranged and the last was for love. By 1543, she was twice widowed. That year she became part of Princess Mary’s household. Catherine married Henry VIII on July 12, 1543. She was 31 and he was 52. She was in love with Thomas Seymour, Jane’s brother, but kept it a secret when she became the object of Henry’s desire. Before meeting Henry, she had her own home in which she held frequent meetings for Reformists. She was loved by Henry for her great mind and debates, as they disagreed on most things. Catherine loved and cared for Henry’s children. As Henry was dying, she took great care of him. She was the only one who could soothe him, so he made her his sole nurse. She cared for him until his death on January 28, 1547. Catherine secretly married Thomas Seymour in May of that same year. She died giving birth to their only child. DID YOU KNOW? Catherine was the first woman in England to publish books under her own name in English. In SIX, Catherine Parr’s song, “I Don’t Need Your Love,” “queenspired” by Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé, exposes the lack of agency she possessed to refuse the king’s proposal. She then flips the script to highlight her own accomplishments. WomensActivism.NYC honors Catherine Parr in partnership with SIX The Musical written by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss. "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the mic to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an exuberant celebration of 21st century girl power! This new original musical is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over. The New York Times says SIX is “pure entertainment!” and Evening Standard hails SIX as “the most uplifting new British musical I have ever had the privilege to watch.”

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