American Toby Jug Museum 

Catherine of Aragon candle snuffer produced by Royal Worcester of Worcester, England, in 1999. Although not considered a great beauty, Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) was reputedly a dignified, intelligent and accomplished Queen. In a political marriage calculated to unite England and Spain, Catherine was the first of Henry VIII's six wives. Her prime duty as Queen was to provide a male successor. Of her six pregnancies, however, the only child to survive was a daughter, the future Queen Mary I. Desiring a younger wife to give him a son and heir, Henry requested that Rome void the marriage on the grounds that Catherine had formerly been wed to his elder brother, Arthur. After six years of delaying, the Pope finally refused to grant this wish. Henry subsequently rejected the authority of the Holy See and obtained a decree of nullity from his own archbishop, a move that led to his excommunication by the Pope and, eventually, to the English Reformation.