Catherine of Aragon's Ghost Castle Lodge Ludlow

Following her November 1501 marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales, Catherine of Aragon was sent to live in Ludlow, it is said she resided, with her Spanish entourage, in the medieval Castle Lodge until after Arthur's death in 1502 when she returned to London.

The ghost of a teenage girl, said to be Catherine of Aragon, has been seen in the attic rooms and nursery of the Elizabethan Tudor mansion house that occupies the site of Catherine's Ludlow home. Visitors to Castle Lodge have also commented on cold spots and a disturbing feeling of being watched.

Historically we know very little about Catherine's time in Ludlow but it can be assumed that it was a difficult and unhappy time for the sixteen year old Princess of Wales.

For a start Catherine was not supposed to accompany her husband to Ludlow at all.

The plan, agreed with Catherine's parents, Ferdinand and Isabel of Spain, had been for her to remain at court in London where she would learn the English language and customs. But all this changed when her dowry was not paid in full. Catherine did not want to go to Ludlow, she refused Arthur when he requested that she go with him and only agreed to do so when ordered by her father-in-law Henry VII.

She was also unwell. During her journey from Spain to England Catherine had suffered from an illness described as "low fever" and things did not improve after her marriage. She is reported to have complained of hot and cold sweats, fevers, coughs, colds and a "derangement of the stomach." Today she would have probably been diagnosed as suffering from depression. Hardly surprising in a teenage bride who was unable to converse with her husband as neither could understand the other's pronunciation of Latin, the only language they had in common.

By March 1502 both Catherine and Arthur were seriously ill, possibly with the much feared and often fatal "sweating sickness." Catherine survived, Arthur did not, on 2nd April 1502 Catherine of Aragon was widowed and became the Dowager Princess of Wales.

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The privately owned Castle Lodge in Ludlow stands on a corner plot near the castle

Address:
Castle Lodge
Castle Square
Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 1AY

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