Turn the clock back to Tudor times at the 2020 Katharine of Aragon Festival
November 25, 2019
Peterborough turns the clock back to Tudor times at the end of January when it hosts an action-packed, Tudor-themed festival to commemorate the day when Katharine of Aragon was buried at Peterborough Abbey (now the Cathedral) in 1536.
The Festival programme features the first ever performance of a Katharine of Aragon monologue by Lesley Smith, Curator of Tutbury Castle, who will wear an authentic costume commissioned especially for the occasion. There will also be a talk about Katharine’s daughter Princess Mary and her upbringing by Melita Thomas, the co-founder and editor of the Tudor Times website Spanish artists will present A Homage to Katharine of Aragon from Spain, with music, drama and dance performances (supported by the Spanish Embassy).
There are numerous activities for families too: At Home with the Tudors living history days at Peterborough Museum and tours led by ‘Old Scarlett the Tudor gravedigger’, at the Cathedral. In addition, there will be a Family Audience with Queen Katharine in the Cathedral Visitor Centre, at which Lesley Smith will meet children and their families, in costume and character as Katharine of Aragon.
The Festival begins with a Service of Commemoration which anyone can attend, when wreaths will be laid on Katharine’s tomb. Before that, schoolchildren, many of them in Tudor costume, accompanied by civic dignitaries and period musician Gareth Williams, will proceed across Cathedral Square from St John’s Church to attend the service at the Cathedral.
Full information about the programme, with details of how to book tickets, are on the Cathedral website here www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/katharine.aspx or call 01733 355315 (for Museum tickets call 01733 864663). A special accommodation deal is available for Festival goers at Park Inn Peterborough and details are available via the Cathedral website.
For full details of the programme visit www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk