Arthur Tudor (September 20, 1486 – April 2, 1502) is Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester and Duke of Cornwall as the eldest son and heir apparent of Henry VII of England.
Arthur is viewed by contemporaries as the great hope of the newly established House of Tudor.
His mother, Elizabeth of York, is the daughter of Edward IV, and his birth cements the union between the House of Tudor and the House of York.
Plans for Arthur's marriage begin before his third birthday; he is installed as Prince of Wales two years later.
He grows especially close to his siblings Margaret and Henry, Duke of York, with the latter of whom he shares some tutors.
At the age of eleven, Arthur is formally betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, a daughter of the powerful Catholic Monarchs in Spain, in an effort to forge an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France.
Arthur is well educated and, contrary to modern belief, is in good health for the majority of his life.
Soon after his marriage to Catherine in 1501, the couple takes up residence at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, where Arthur dies six months later of an unknown ailment.
Catherine wil later firmly state that the marriage had not been consummated.
One year after Arthur's death, Henry VII renewshis efforts of sealing a marital alliance with Spain by arranging for Catherine to marry Arthur's brother Henry, who had by then become Prince of Wales.
Arthur's untimely death paves the way for Henry's accession as Henry VIII in 1509.
The question of the consummation of Arthur and Catherine's marriage casts doubt on the validity of Catherine's union with Henry, eventually leading to the separation between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.
