Dr. Micheline White Lectures at the National Library of Australia

Dr. Micheline White (Department of English Language and Literature and College of the Humanities) was invited to give a public lecture on Katherine Parr and Henry VIII.

What did Katherine Parr and Henry VIII write in their books? We stepped into the private libraries of one of history’s most infamous royal couples and discovered how ink, margins, and manuscript flourishes reveal more than meets the eye.

In this illuminating lecture, scholar Professor Micheline White dug into the marginalia left by King Henry VIII and his last wife, Katherine Parr, in their personal books. These deluxe volumes, often adorned with handwritten notes, decorative trefoils, and curious little pointing hands called manicules, told a compelling story of public image-making and personal survival in the Tudor court.

Were these annotations simply personal reflections, or were they calculated messages written for a watchful audience of courtiers? Professor White guided us through a close reading of these royal markings to reveal how Henry and Katherine used their books not just for learning or devotion, but as tools of self-fashion in crafting images of piety, wisdom, and authority. For Katherine in particular, this wasn’t merely academic: her very survival may have depended on how successfully she performed the role of the ideal Tudor queen.