ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor, gouache and gold ink, July 2007. Katharine Parr was the last of Henry VIII six wives. She had been married and widowed twice before and was 31 when she married Henry. She had already begun a relationship with Thomas Seymour (brother of Jane) but once the King proposed she was unable to refuse him. Henry was in his 50's by this time, hugely fat, bad tempered and suffering from gout, a leg ulcer and possibly syphillis. They were married in 1543. Katharine was an intelligent and religious woman, though her views and ideas were more radical than Henry's. They often argued about theology and her enemies tried to use this against her and have her arrested - however, she managed to convince the king that her arguments were only to take his mind off his illnesses. She was on good terms with all the King's children and helped fix relations between the King and his two female children Mary and Elizabeth. She was widowed again when Henry died in 1547. She married her previous suitor, Thomas Seymour soon after. She died a year later, age 35, after giving birth to a daughter.