Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr was the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII, a role that often came with occupational hazards like annulment, exile, or decapitation. She survived the king, which, considering his track record, is a kvell-worthy achievement in itself, though not particularly from a Jewish perspective.

Parr was a devout Protestant who, after Henry’s death, quickly married Thomas Seymour, brother of Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour. Her religious leanings were quite advanced for the time, though firmly within the Christian tradition. There is no historical evidence, nor even the faintest whisper of a rumor, suggesting any Jewish ancestry or connection.

While her survival strategy and intellectual pursuits were certainly notable, Catherine Parr’s life and legacy are firmly rooted in English royal history and Protestant theology, making her as Jewish as a Tudor rose in full bloom. A fascinating historical figure, to be sure, but not one for our tribe.