HISTORY was made at Sudeley Castle when the funeral of Queen Katherine Parr was recreated – four centuries on from when it occurred.

Guests donned period costume and took on the role of dignitaries and aristocrats as the funeral cortège made its way through the gardens.

The mourners were led by Lady Jane Grey, played by 13- year-old Francesca Deverell- Jones, to the haunting backdrop of a solitary drummer.

Francesca, who goes to Winchcombe School, was following in her ancestors’ footsteps as she is distantly related to the ill-fated noblewoman who was known as The Nine Days’ Queen.

Historian Dr David Starkey, who provided commentary for the re-enactment, said “You are witnessing something that is absolutely fundamental to being English. Consider this as a dry run for the future Church of England. This is the moment in history when things change.”

The service was the highlight of the Queen Katherine Parr Quincentenary Festival, which has been running all year to mark the 500th anniversary of her birth.

Reverend John Partington, rector of Winchcombe and Sudeley, led the service in a plain black cassock and Canterbury cap as the Queen’s chaplain and almoner, Miles Coverdale.

“Miles Coverdale’s sermon was a naked attack on the existing church and the importance of the Reformation. Katherine Parr would have loved it,” he said.

Guest Ann Hutton-Potts said the re-enactment was a great occasion. “It was very moving and the choir were magnificent,”

she said.

Queen Katherine Parr was the last wife of Henry VIII. She went on to marry Thomas Seymour and died in 1548 after childbirth at Sudeley, aged 36.