Costuming in "The Tudors": Catherine Parr

My last official "Tudors" costume analysis.

Although I should point out that this may not actually be my last "Tudors" post; it's just definitely the last one I will do on a specific character. I was thinking that I might do an utterly self-indulgent post of just my personal favorite outfits and hats throughout the show for my own amusement (and possibly someone else's if they would like to judge the hell out of my taste).

So, of course, we end things on Catherine Parr who is . . . fine. She's more interesting than Jane Seymour and after Catherine Howard it's nice to see him back with a smart woman. It's just that she kind of doesn't do much in the show. I was personally just waiting for the heresy accusations to happen since that's really the most notable thing that happens to her. It's true that she was also kind of responsible for the act that put Mary and Elizabeth back into the line of succession but the show pretty much had that happen independent of Henry's marriage to her so she pretty much just writes books, rants about the church, and has to endure having some fellow reformist getting tortured/killed.

As for her style, it's . . . fine. Her clothes don't really change much between not being queen and being queen and she mostly dresses in simple shapes with occasional puffed sleeves (and I really mean sleeves, not shoulders) or shoulder rolls. For color, she mostly dresses in darker blues, metallics (often gold), and browns. Her style is probably best thought of as the combining of Catherine of Aragon's clothes with Jane Seymour's but in her own color palette.


Season 4, Episode 6

Thomas Seymour goes to see the dying Lord Latimer and encounters Catherine Parr. Latimer talks about how he was captured during the rebellion and wants Seymour to make it clear to the king that he is loyal to him. Seymour and Parr talk privately about how they will be married when Latimer dies (it's kind of odd that they never had a moment earlier in the show when Parr is a lady-in-waiting to one of the queens and she actually meets Seymour but whatever). Later on, after meeting King Henry she wears this dress at home as she opens a package from Henry that has fabric for dresses. Latimer says she can't return them and says he feels like he is dead already, knowing as well as she does why he sent them.

This dress is her home dress and also her "already moved on" dress. Although she is trying to be a good wife and nurse to her dying husband both the man she wishes to marry and the king who wishes to marry her are counting down the days until she is free from him.

This is Catherine's Christmas dress and probably the only really gold Christmas dress since most of them have been red with a few exceptions. She goes to see Mary Tudor who is a friend of hers (historically, their mothers were friends and so were they) and to petition the suspicion of treason against her husband. Seymour says he is speaking on his behalf as well but Henry can sense that it is because he likes Catherine and he agrees that she is "still a very handsome woman."

This dress starts a trend for her of wearing metallic fabrics every time she is in court, especially gold. It also helps that the gold really sticks out among the sea of red clothes so Henry's eye is really drawn to her.

Henry invites Catherine to visit him privately to talk about her husband. He says there are no suspicions against him and asks about her husband's health and her previous marriage and asks if she thinks a happy marriage can exists and she says she really does believe it so.

More metallic in gold and silver/possibly light blue. Clearly, both these dresses had an impact on the next thing she wore.

Catherine goes to visit Seymour in the dress that Henry gave her. She insists that she did not invite these advances and says she is terrified of Henry's affections because of what happens to his queens and wants to marry Seymour, not Henry. She then wears it to dine with Henry, both Seymour brothers, Brandon, Mary, Eustace, and the rest of the usual crew and thanks him for the gifts. Henry says he gave it to her to cheer her up and later they cheerfully play cards and he gives her another gift that she doesn't want to accept while Seymour looks on sadly. Henry sends Seymour away to Brussels, clearly to get him out of the picture.

Henry saw her in metallic gold dresses twice so it is no surprise that he sends her a metallic gold dress. I'm guessing the shoulder roll just really came into fashion because I feel like it wasn't much of a thing before Catherine Howard started wearing them. Anne Boleyn had only one or two dresses with them and Jane never wore them. Anne of Cleves did once at the time Catherine Howard was wearing them. Either way, shoulder rolls are a thing with Parr.

Lord Latimer dies, telling Catherine to go to hell.

Catherine puts on what I'm guessing is her most matronly outfit (it certainly is the most matronly thing we see her wear) to watch over her dying husband. Even though he is mad at her, she is trying to look the wife part and be as respectful as possible to him.

In mourning for her husband, she gets Henry's marriage proposal. Worst. Day. Ever. Mourning clothes and veil in a dress shape you will see a lot of later on. No more explanation needed here.


Episode 4, Episode 7

Catherine's wedding dress is gold, of course, and has a funny shoulder treatment. I have a feeling this gold thing is going to replace Catherine Howard's blue thing.

Catherine wears this first over dinner with Henry when she asks that Edward and Elizabeth be invited to court more often so they may see him and that she may get to know them. Then she is in court entertaining the Spanish general guy. And later she is helping Henry with his leg like a nurse.

Blue is a color Catherine wears often and almost always in relation to important moments directly involving Henry. Here, she wears it during three important daily activities relating to the new roles she plays as Henry's wife: stepmother, queen, and nurse.

Catherine meets Prince Edward for the first time who thanks her for the gifts she sent. Catherine has to convince him that Henry really does love him.

This is Catherine's stepmom outfit. She wears it whenever she is playing the concerned maternal role for Edward. It's gold with shoulder roles like a lot of her clothes but there is something about the front detail that makes the dress look kind of matronly. Also, see what I mean about the shape of the mourning dress returning? A lot of her non-court clothes have this seam down the front of the bodice too.

Henry says goodbye to Catherine and his kids before he leaves to go to war with France leaving her as their guardian and as the regent.

It was impossible to get a good picture of this dress but it's dark blue with yellow/gold shoulder rolls and on the front of the bodice and skirt. The color scheme is similar but not identical to the dress she was wearing at the beginning of the episode when she first takes on her roles and is very similar to a dress she wears later on.

Catherine appoints a Mr. Latimer to be court chaplain. They agree that reading the Bible should be allowed by anyone when some think reading it can lead to heresy. She asks him to conceal his mind from Mary because of her strict Catholicism. Her lady expresses her concern that people might hear about her protestantism.

This is Catherine's business suit. It's probably the most suitable dress for the task because it is a dark color and not overly detailed or feminine. Also, the sleeves add width which gives a sort of modern-day shoulder pad comparison. As regent in her husband's absence, she makes a bunch of decisions for him and in the two cases she wears her "suit," they are both religion based matters.


Season 4, Episode 8

Catherine meets with Bishop Gardiner who says that he has found heretics among the king's men and asks that she sign a warrent for their arrest. She says that she would feel uncomfortable arresting men so close to the king without his permission in order to avoid having to do it and also asks that Edward be moved there because of a plague outbreak.

Business suit again. She's sitting behind the desk making the decisions.

Mary comes to visit Catherine with a Bible translation she did and dedicated to her saying that she knows how important "our faith" is to her. Catherine changes the subject to be about how happy she is that all three of Henry's children are together in the same house. Then she tells Edward that she thinks he's old enough to go to school. Mary leaves and Catherine tells Elizabeth that she expects great things from her and asks her lady to find people to bring Elizabeth up in the Lutheran faith of her mother.

Catherine is in her mother dress again because although the scene starts off being about hiding her religion, it ultimately ends up being about Edward and a decision she has made regarding his education.

Catherine gets a letter from Henry saying that he has taken Bologna and tells the kids, hopeful he will return home soon.

Blue involves important events directly related to Henry and finishing the campaign is definitely one such event. Shoulder rolls.

Catherine greets Henry upon his return home.

She greets him still in her business brown, especially with the large fur sash, although not the same suit but an outdoor outfit. It has the same gold detail he associates with her so in this scene she is between the regent and the wife.

Bishop Gardiner discuss how they are out of money after the wars with Scotland and France and how the queen is a heretic.

Catherine breaks away from her usual colors for a special celebration of Henry's return in a shiny purple dress. This is one of the first times I can really recall another character other than Henry referring to Catherine as the queen so it kind of makes sense that she is in purple.

Henry and Catherine meet with Eustace who thanks her for her treatment of Mary and she says that she will continue to foster the friendship between England and Spain. He also says he has applied for a recall back to Spain as he is very ill. Henry flips out at him because he heard about a treaty with Spain and France and dismisses him permanently from court.

This is the dress Catherine wore when she and Henry discussed the accusations against her husband. In that scene Catherine had proven how good she was at arguing her case and speaking eloquently and here she is doing that again, contrasting with Henry who is letting his passions drive his speech. It's also clear that she has been knocked back into her former place behind Henry instead of next to him.


Season 4, Episode 9

Over dinner Catherine shows Henry her book "Lamentations of a Sinner" which she devoted to him. Then Bishop Gardiner comes in to tell him that he will arrest Anne Askew.

This dress is really difficult to see in the show but it appears to be a metallic brown like her business suit. It calls back to all the religious decisions she made as regent that furthered her own thought and here she has written a book about those thoughts. Of course, like in the second scene of her in the business suit, Gardiner comes in to burst her bubble and challenge her not to stick up for punished reformists. I also am amused by this headpiece. She wore it on Christmas too but here I can't help but think of it as some kind of radio tower for her brain because she's one of the smarter wives.

Catherine asks Thomas (Seymour?) how the trial went and he says that he is mad about the divisions in the church. She says that it is not the end of religion but the beginning.

This dress is blue but as of right now doesn't have anything to do with Henry. This dress is the exception to that rule because it is a dress to call back to during an important Henry moment. However, it is the same shape as the business suit and this conversation she is having resembles the ones she had while in the brown dress except she is just talking to her powerful friends instead of powerful clergy.

Catherine goes to court and tells Lord and Lady Hertford that the bishop has arrested two of her ladies and her sister on suspicion of heresy.

Shiny metallic gold in court, as usual. It actually looks like a pimped out version of the dress she wore when she and Henry were meeting with Eustace.

Catherine comforts her crying lady saying that everything is going to be okay and they will not be found out.

Black, but not all black, as a subtle mourning of the death of Anne Askew and the arresting of some of her ladies. She also has big motherly sleeves to play the role for her lady-in-waiting.

Catherine's clothes are really all about roles and she really does play many roles.

Mary tells Catherine lies about Henry looking for a new wife and Catherine realizes that something between her and Mary has changed. Later, Catherine and Henry talk about the religious books she has gotten and Catherine goes on a rant about how he can make the Church of England better by "purging it of its dregs."

Although Catherine does not know what has changed between her and Mary, the fact that this scene is the middle scene of her wearing this dress and the other two relate to her religion, the answer is a given. Blue is her important moments with Henry color and what she says definitely constitutes an important moment as it is the last straw to having a warrant for her arrest written up.


Season 4, Episode 10

Catherine wears the metallic court dress of the last episode at the beginning of this one while meeting with the admiral of France. She really does have a pattern for court visits that she doesn't often deviate from.

Catherine asks Henry if he is displeased with her and he says no. She tells her women nervously to clear all their books out and not speak of religion anymore.

This is almost a color flip on her gold and silver court dresses although I think the sleeves are more grey or green than silver. Regardless, she has on gold as she often does. 

Catherine goes to explain to Henry and his crew that when she went against Henry about religion, she did so to be corrected and to distract him from his leg pain.

The importance here is more clear than with just the dress itself. In the last scene while wearing this dress she told Henry that he had nothing to worry about, which was a lie. Here she is concealing her lie and her true nature with the dark cloak around the dress.

Although Henry said to get rid of Catherine Parr's arrest warrant, they still came to arrest her while they were in the garden together. Henry screamed at them to go away and stop disrespecting him and his wife.

She may not be in court but outside with some of her crew is good enough for a gold dress. Gold really is her default color when it isn't an important event involving Henry or a regent outfit. The shape resembles her other outdoor dress greatly but here she is in the queen role and not stuck between queen and regent.

Henry gives his official goodbyes to his wife and daughters.

This dress she has on and the crown of gold and turquoise is very similar but not actually the same as the dress she wears when Henry says goodbye to her before leaving to go to his campaign against the French. It is even kind of similar to the dress she wears on her first day as queen. Here she is ending her official reign as queen and saying goodbye to Henry, this time for the last time.


Done (unless/until I write the post of my favorites).


I totally watched the very end of "The Tudors" when writing this and got a little misty-eyed again.


Life is beautiful, Catherine Howard.