2006 letter from Peterborough: We left Boston the next morning to drive to Peterborough. There is a cathedral there, of course, and it is known as one of the most beautiful Norman cathedrals in England. We couldn’t leave without seeing that, could we?

As advertised, it was beautiful, with huge round pilings and rounded arches. Among its other "sights" was the tomb of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon to whom he had been married for 20 years. You may remember that the brouhaha over his trying to get a divorce from her is what set in motion England’s break with the Roman Catholic Church. When she died he couldn’t ignore her death, and he certainly didn’t want to bring her to Westminster for burial, but he figured out a face-saving move. He ordered that "the Princess Dowager, widow of Prince Arthur" (Henry’s older brother to whom she had been married first) should be buried at the cathedral at Peterborough.