She was destined, however, to bear a living child. A fifth pregnancy was confirmed in the summer of 1515, and at four o’clock in the morning of 18 February 1516, Katherine gave birth to a healthy daughter. Although the baby was the wrong sex, the King was delighted with her, for she was ‘a right lusty princess’, and he named her Mary. Katherine’s emotions when she beheld her ‘beauteous babe’ may well be imagined – even the news of the death of her father, King Ferdinand, which had been kept from her until after her confinement, could not dampen her joy.
