Alicia Vikander Looks Regal as Katherine Parr In 'Firebrand'

Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived. Such runs the infamous rhyme detailing the fates of the six women married to England's King Henry VIII. But, overall, our pop culture only focuses on a handful of them. We're still fascinated by the fall of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who pushed boundaries and triumphed from beyond the grave when her daughter became one of her country's greatest rulers. Catherine of Aragon has also been having something of a moment lately as we evaluate the woman beyond the staid, religious figure history often most likes to remember her as.

But, for whatever reason, Henry's final wife, Katherine Parr, is often given short shrift in our collective cultural consciousness, seemingly only remarkable because she outlived a monstrous man. Hopefully, however, that will change with the arrival of the upcoming historical film Firebrand. A deserved reckoning, if only because the real Katherine was a genuinely remarkable woman.

Childless, and already twice-widowed at 31, she was still 23 years her husband's junior when she and Henry wed. Almost certainly, she had no interest in marrying the elderly and, at this point, ailing king, but it's not like she would have been given the option to refuse. A radical and deeply devout Protestant, she was also vivacious, intelligent, and an accomplished scholar in her own right. (She was the first woman to publish under her own name in the English language in England.) She was instrumental in passing the Succession Act, which restored the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to their rights — and eventual thrones — and was named the younger girl's guardian following Henry's death.