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Catherine would urge Mary to "speak few words and meddle nothing." It would prove a recipe for survival.
On January 7, 1536, Catherine finally died at the age of 51. At the time, rumors ran rampant that the king had poisoned his former wife. An autopsy performed on her body, however, found a "completely black and hideous" tumor grown around her heart, believed today to be related to the cancer melanotic sarcoma.
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The king refused to spend more than "was requisite or needful" on Catherine's funeral and had her buried at Peterborough Abbey (now Cathedral), not far from Kimbolton Castle. Apart from the king's niece, Lady Eleanor Brandon, no representative from the royal family was present. Only in the 20th century would the markings on Catherine's grave be changed to read "Queen of England."
Anne Boleyn's witticism that Catherine of Aragon "is my death and I am hers" would prove correct. Four months after Catherine's death, Henry would execute his second wife.
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