JUSTICE caught up with King Henry VIII finally yesterday, a mere 450 years
late. The six wives of the philandering king, betrayed, beheaded and
humiliated, were given the opportunity for redress in the shadow of the Palace
of Westminster.
Unfortunately for the English legal establishment, it was their American cousins
who took up the torch of justice for Henry's wives, although England's most
senior family court judge helped to officiate over the proceedings, with a
colleague from Florida. Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, president of the High
Court Family Division, presided over the court at the Queen Elizabeth II
Conference Centre with Justice Peggy Quince, a judge of the Florida
Supreme Court.
In front of a public gallery packed with senior members of the American Bar
Association, 3,000 of whose members are in London for their annual meeting,
actresses portraying the king's six wives appealed for divorces and financial
settlements from their husband. Assisted by eminent British and American
lawyers, the wives took to the witness box to make their case against the
monarch in an attempt to compare English and American law in determining
divorce agreements.
First to take the stand was Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who had been brought up from a little
girl to be Queen of England under a pact between Britain and Spain. She told
the court that she had left for England when she was 15. She had married
King Henry's elder brother, Arthur, in 1501, but he died less than six months
later. Following Arthur's death she had remained in England, and two years
later a dispensation was sought to permit her to marry Henry. The marriage
took place in 1509, following the death of Henry VII.
Catherine said that only one child survived infancy, their daughter Mary.
Henry was desperate for a male heir and the king began to show an interest in
Anne Boleyn, one of her ladies-in-waiting, in 1526. From 1527 to 1532
Henry and his advisers laboured to obtain an annulment from Pope Julius II.
Unable to get one, Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of
England and divorced himself.
Catherine told the court that she lived in "unimaginable luxury" and Stephen
Kolodny, her American counsel, argued that under US law she was entitled to
25 per cent of the king's current assets, a further 25 per cent for her "pain and
suffering" and another 25 per cent for punitive damages.
Next to give evidence was Anne Boleyn, who was already pregnant when
Henry married her in 1533. Their daughter, who later became Elizabeth I,
was born later that year. She said she had been almost continuously pregnant
during her marriage, but in each case the child was either stillborn or died
shortly after birth. Henry, still desperate for a male child, had her arrested on
a charge of treason and she was beheaded in the Tower of London.
The queen asked for a divorce because of Henry's "outrageous conduct".
Jane Seymour, one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, said she had married Henry
within days of her predecessor's execution. The following year she produced
the son, Edward, that the king had craved. She asked the judges for an order
of residence with her for Edward and Elizabeth.
Anne of Cleves, wife number four, wanted a quick divorce and she agreed to
a generous settlement and a title: she was to be known as the king's sister.
Her American counsel, Samuel V Schoonmaker III, sought suitable estates
and the return of her dowry.
Katherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, complained she had a life without any
romance and began an illicit affair with Tom Culpepper. She asked the judges
for a divorce. The king's last wife, Katharine Parr, looked after his children
until he died and Paul Coleridge, her British QC, asked the judges to
acknowledge her pre-marriage contract to keep her in a regal style.
In separate judgments, Dame Elizabeth ruled that under current English
legislation, Catherine of Aragon would have been entitled to "proper housing,
a proper palace and at least one country estate," but her claim for 75 per cent
of Henry's assets was "excessive". She granted Anne Boleyn a decree nisi,
and agreed to make it absolute within the day "because of the urgency of the
matter".
She granted a residence order to Jane Seymour for Edward, her son, but
wanted to hear a further application for Elizabeth, her step-daughter. Turning
to Anne of Cleves, Dame Elizabeth said she wanted more details of her
financial assets before deciding her claim.
He refused a decree nisi for Katherine Howard because of her adultery and
ruled that Katharine Parr's pre-marital agreement was not enforceable. Justice
Peggy Quince ruled that under Florida law, Catherine of Aragon would have
been entitled to 50 per cent of the king's property and enough support to
keep her and their child in the style to which they had become accustomed.
The judge said she could "give no relief" to Anne Boleyn and ruled Jane
Seymour should have custody of Edward, but Henry would retain custody of
Elizabeth. She acknowledged that Henry and Anne of Cleves had agreed a
"proper marriage settlement," but said she could not get the return of her
dowry.
Katherine Howard was not entitled to a divorce because of her adultery and,
in a major departure from English law, she said she would uphold Katharine
Parr's pre-marital agreement. After the mock trial, the delegates filed out,
thinking ruefully of the fees they could have charged for handling the king's
divorces in real life.
~*~
I am not marrying Camilla, insists
Prince (UK Times)
BY ANDREW PIERCE
THE Prince of Wales yesterday gave his clearest public
indication so far that he has no intention of marrying
Camilla Parker Bowles.
St James's Palace has taken the unprecedented step of
writing to the press watchdog objecting to a newspaper
report that the Prince was in secret discussions with the
Church of Scotland about a wedding north of the border.
The decision to send the letter has been prompted not just
by irritation at one story, but by a wider desire to signal
that marriage is not in the couple's minds. One courtier
said last night: "We have to demonstrate once and for all
that marriage is not on the agenda and stamp out the
endless speculation that it is."
This is the first time that the Prince of Wales has lodged a
formal protest with the Press Complaints Commission on
his own behalf, although there have been several
complaints about intrusions into the privacy of his sons.
The decision to go to the PCC was described last night by
a courtier as "the nuclear option". It was also intended to
squash the suggestion that Mrs Parker Bowles could one
day be Queen. Opinion polls consistently show massive
public opposition to a Queen Camilla.
The letter was sent to the PCC by Stephen Lamport - the
Prince's private secretary and the most powerful figure
among the St James's Palace staff - with the full backing
of the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles. The Queen was
also informed in advance.
Mr Lamport wrote: "I am writing to complain about the
story in The Sunday Times 'Charles explores Scottish
wedding with Camilla'. I should like to make clear that
there is no truth whatsoever to the story and I should be
very grateful if you would investigate this misleading
report."
The courtier added: "Decisions like this are not taken
lightly. We have got to the end of our tether. There is no
intention of remarrying. We keep saying it, but it is ignored
or dismissed as dissembling.
"This is not just about the Prince of Wales. He is
concerned for the feelings of his children, the children of
Mrs Parker Bowles, the memory of his late wife, and his
public role. By making this complaint we hope it will
formally lay down, on St James's Palace headed
notepaper, that there is to be no wedding and so it is
pointless speculating otherwise."
In December 1995, after the Queen wrote to the Prince
and Princess of Wales urging them to divorce, seven
words were uttered by a St James's Palace official who
said that Prince Charles had "no intention of remarrying
after a divorce".
But since the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles stepped out
in public together at the Ritz last year, those words have
been forgotten or ignored, and there has been endless
wedding speculation.
The courtier added: "It is not nice for William and Harry, it
is not nice for her children or her family. It is distressing.
We are fed up with the endless speculation. We hope this
will be the end of it."
The Church of England discourages the remarriage of
divorcees, but the Church of Scotland permits marriage in
church. The Princess Royal was married to then Captain
Tim Laurence in 1992 in Crathie Parish Church near the
Balmoral Estate.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, has
said that remarriage would create a crisis for the Church
of England, as the Prince would become its Supreme
Governor on ascending the Throne. Constitutionalists and
the clergy are divided over whether the two are mutually
exclusive.
The St James's Palace complaint referred to an article in
The Sunday Times last month, which followed the
surprise appearance of Mrs Parker Bowles at a dinner in
Holyroodhouse attended by a number of senior clergy.
A spokeswoman for the Church of Scotland said: "We
made clear then there have never been any talks with us
about a wedding between Prince Charles and Mrs Parker
Bowles."
Richard Caseby, managing editor of The Sunday Times,
said: "We will consider the complaint fully and prepare a
response."
~*~
City's Sinn Fein mayor boycotts
Princess Royal(UK Times)
BY AUDREY MAGEE, IRELAND CORRESPONDENT
THE Sinn Fein Mayor of Londonderry is boycotting
today's visit by the Princess Royal to the city.
Cathal Crumley, a former IRA prisoner sentenced to nine
life terms and 300 years in prison, is refusing to meet the
Princess during her one-day visit to Northern Ireland and
is instead sending his Unionist deputy to greet her. He
denies that his boycott is based on prejudice.
He said: "I considered this particular event and decided
that the Unionist community and Unionist tradition in this
city would be better served by the Deputy Mayor who is
a Unionist. I made those arrangements for that to happen
and I think the Unionist community will have their day with
the royal visitor."
Mr Crumley, 41, pledged on taking office last month to
put political divisions behind him and to serve the entire
community in Londonderry. But Unionists accused him
last night of falling at the first hurdle and of putting party
politics before local people.
Richard Dallas, a former Democratic Unionist Mayor of
Londonderry, who was stripped of his title for
participating in a Drumcree-linked protest in 1996,
condemned Mr Crumley's boycott and accused him of
failing to interact with the city's Protestant community. He
said: "He is refusing to wear the mayoral chain, he's been
wearing green ribbons [the emblem for republican
prisoners]. Quite simply, he is not a good mayor."
Mr Crumley was twice jailed for terrorist-related offences
and spent four years in the 1970s as a "blanket" protester
in the Maze prison, when IRA detainees demanding the
status of political prisoners refused to wear prison-issue
uniforms.
In 1984 he was found guilty of a number of offences,
including attempted murder and conspiracy to murder, on
the word of a "supergrass" informer. The convictions were
overturned.