.jpeg)
Pre-Festival Activities.jpg)
Saturday 18th January 2025
Katharine Papercraft Workshop for Families
10.00-11.30
Create a fun 3D papercraft sculpture of Katharine of Aragon with contemporary papercraft illustrator Shobhna Patel. A fast-paced and creative workshop for children and parents to enjoy together.
Tickets £8 per child + booking fee (one free place for an accompanying adult)
Katharine Papercraft Workshop for Adults
Create your own ornate paper portrait of Katharine of Aragon with contemporary papercraft illustrator Shobhna Patel.
13.00 (duration 2-3hrs)
Tickets £27pp + booking fee
The Katharine of Aragon Festival
Wednesday 22nd January 2025
Cathedral Tudor Tour
A costumed tour with a Tudor focus including the tombs of Katharine or Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots, the gravedigger who inspired Shakespeare, the Tudor 'New Building' and much more
14.30-16.00
Tickets £10pp + booking fee
Thursday 23rd January 2025
Tudor Day for Schools
10.00-15.00
Meet Katharine of Aragon, learn Tudor etiquette, visit a barber surgeon and get hands-on with an immersive carousel of activities including quill writing, fingerguard making and crafting
A day of celebration and fun for all things Tudor with Peterborough Museum, History off the Page and Marvellous History
Aimed at KS2
FREE to all schools in Peterborough. To book or for more infomation, please email the school visits' team
Friday 24th January 2025
8.30am Roman Catholic Mass
Conducted by the clergy of St Peter and All Souls Church, Peterborough.
All welcome
11am Commemoration Service and wreath laying
The Very Revd Chris Dalliston, Dean of Peterborough, will lead a short service of commemoration with readings and prayers. During the service wreaths will be laid on Katharine’s tomb by school pupils and visiting dignitaries.
All welcome.
Cathedral Tudor Tour
A costumed tour with a Tudor focus including the tombs of Katharine or Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots, the gravedigger who inspired Shakespeare, the Tudor 'New Building' and much more
12.00-13.30
Tickets £10pp + booking fee
14.00 Katharine of Aragon Embroidery Workshop for beginners
Katharine of Aragon was a skilled embroiderer who was known for her blackwork and popularised this form of embroidery. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to learn how
blackwork was applied to garments using simple running stitches to create complex motifs and borders. Using these stitches and following a printed chart you will be able to produce a piece of work inspired from designs 600 years ago
14.00 (duration 2-3 hrs)
Tickets: £35 pp + booking fee
Vespers 17.30
The daily evening service at the Cathedral, this time in the form of Vespers, a form familiar in Tudor times, sung by the Cathedral Choir.
■ All welcome.
.jpg)
Son et Lumiere
An exclusive, atmospheric and beautiful evening; experience the Cathedral at night as stories will be spun and tales told. Each story will explore a period in the Cathedral’s history, accompanied by music of that period. The experience will end with mulled wine in the Tudor New Building and visitors are warmly invited to join with the service of Compline afterwards. Limited places.
19.30-21.00
Tickets £35pp + booking fee.
Compline 21.30
A service at the close of the day, sung by adult members of the Cathedral Choir. Like Vespers, Compline would have been part of the daily Divine Office observed by the monks of Peterborough Abbey.
■ All welcome.
Saturday 25th January
At Court with the Tudors 10.00-16.00 - Drop in Family Fun
A drop-in event for families celebrating all things Tudor. We will be joined once more by the amazing Regal Rose Historical Portrayal – Katharine, Henry and the whole Court will arrive at 11.00 for visitors to pay homage, ask questions and take selfies. Impromptu dancing and game playing will be in store as well as a Tudor storytelling, dressing a Tudor Queen talks and craft makes for children and adults alike
Monks, Mischief and Marauders Family Tours 10.30, 12.00, 13.30, 15.00
A costumed, guided tour aimed at a family audience. A unique and light-hearted ta(2).jpg)
ke on the Cathedral’s history. Complete with keys, spade and skull, our guide, dressed as Tudor gravedigger Robert ‘Old’ Scarlett, will try not to scare you with his ‘grim visage’ and 'mighty voice’ as he takes you round the building. Just keep up – he hates dawdlers!
Children receive his personal guide and activity book to complete after the tour!
Price £6pp + booking fee or £24 per family (two adults + up to 3 children)
Tudor Talks
Join renowned Tudor experts for a captivating series of talks held in the historic setting of the Knight’s Chamber. Each session offers a deep dive into the intriguing world of the Tudors, bringing history to life through engaging stories and insights..jpg)
£12per talk or £30 if booking all 3
Henry and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Made the Tudors by Nathen Amin - 11.00
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the parents of Henry VIII, had an extraordinary marriage: politically, strategically and personally. It was an alliance that both cemented the power of the Tudor dynasty and made their younger son, Henry, the King of England. Leading Tudor historian Nathen Amin explores this remarkable union from their background and their marriage in 1486 to the crowning of Elizabeth in 1487. Nathen Amin, a Welsh author and historian, specializes in the 15th century and Henry VII’s reign. Notable works include The House of Beaufort (2017), Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders (2021), and Son of Prophecy (2024). He’s a Henry Tudor Trust founder and a Royal Historical Society fellow.
This talk is kindly sponsored by: Simply Tudor Tours.
(1).png)
Walking a tightrope: Catherine of Aragon's ladies in waiting by Dr. Nicola Clark - 13.00
Every queen had ladies-in-waiting, but they are rarely placed under the spotlight. This talk asks who Katharine of Aragon's women were, what they did, and what difficult choices they faced as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn altered the course of Katharine's life. Who came with Katharine from Spain, and what did they think of England? Dr Nicola Clark is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Chichester. Her work has been featured in History Today and History Extra among others. She has spoken about her research at events for Historic Royal Palaces, the National Archives, various schools, and academic institutions, and was the historical research specialist for the 2016 BBC1 docu-drama Six Wives, presented by Lucy Worsley.
Maiden, Mother Majesty: The Imagery of Mary I by Dr. Peter Stiffell - 16.00
This talk shall explore several images of the Queen; from portraiture to legal documents, coins to medals, the queen is even present on windows. Mary was not the villain often portrayed, but an innovator and a woman who understood the power of imagery. Peter Stiffell is a Tudor historian who recently completed his PhD at the University of Kent. Peter’s research explores the iconography of Mary I via her portraiture and material culture. He examines the many portraits of the Tudor queen as well as exploring imagery surrounding Marian coins, medals and seals.
Tudor Banquet - 19.30
Ladies and gentlemen, wear your finest Tudor gown or dust off your codpiece and step back in time to immerse thyselves in the grandeur of a Tudor banquet!
.png)
Partake in a sumptuous feast, fit for the noblest of courtiers, whilst enjoying lively performances from skilled players and merry minstrels. Laugh, gasp, and groan as a jester brings fun and frolics before The King, and Defender of the Faith, Henry VIII.
Bask in the presence of Regal Rose royalty, as the magnificence of Peterborough Cathedral transports thee into a realm of magnificence, elegance and awe.
Tickets: £70pp + booking fee or £400 for a table of 6
Sunday 26th January 2025
Tudor Talks
Join renowned Tudor experts for a captivating series of talks held in the historic setting of the Knight’s Chamber. Each session offers a deep dive into the intriguing world of the Tudors, bringing history to life through engaging stories and insights.
Tickets are £12 per talk, or enjoy the full series for just £30 when you book all three.
Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort by Dr Nicola Tallis - 12.00
Join Dr Nicola Tallis as she reveals the life of an extraordinarily ambitious and devoted woman who risked everything to ultimately found the Tudor dynasty. Nicola Tallis is a well-renowned Tudor Historian who has written Elizabeth’s Rival: The Tumultuous Tale of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester in 2017, Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriarch, in 2019, All the Queen’s Jewels, 1445-1548: Power, Majesty and Display in 2022. Her newest book, Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen was released in 2024.
Queen-Making: Catherine of Aragon, Princess Mary and the Reigning Queens of Spain by Dr. Elizabeth Norton- 14.00
Dr Elizabeth Norton is a London-based historian specialising in the queens of England and the Tudor period. She has a double first-class degree from the University of Cambridge, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a PhD from King’s College London. She has taught History at King’s College London and RADA. Her academic research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. Elizabeth’s most recent books are the critically acclaimed ‘The Lives of Tudor Women’ and ‘The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor’. She is also the author of a biography of Margaret Beaufort and four of Henry VIII’s wives, amongst other titles.
Katharine of Aragon and the Tyranny of Henry VIII by Jackson Van Uden-16.00
Katharine of Aragon is a Queen that looms large in the consciousness of many Tudor history fans, particularly in the minds of us from Peterborough. In this talk, Peterborough-based and raised historian Jackson van Uden looks at the life of Katharine of Aragon and the tyranny of her second husband, Henry VIII, that she experienced and witnessed throughout their 24 years of marriage and beyond. A Peterborough local who is at the early stages of his history career, having recently been named in the 2024 Cohort of BBC History Extra’s 30 Under 30 Historians, and has written several works on the tyranny of world leaders. His work has appeared on several major history podcasts.
This talk is kindly sponsored by: Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club.
.jpg)
Wednesday 29th January 2025
Cathedral Tudor Tour
A costumed tour with a Tudor focus including the tombs of Katharine or Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots, the gravedigger who inspired Shakespeare, the Tudor 'New Building' and much more
14.30
Tickets £10pp + booking fee
An online reflection to mark the date of Katharine's burial on 29th January 1536 - led by Canon Tim Alban Jones
Available soon
For events at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery click here