As wife of King Henry VIII, Catherine was Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533. After many years of marriage, Henry became frustrated with the failure of the union to produce a male heir to the throne and sought to have the marriage annulled so he could marry Anne Boleyn. When the Pope refused the annulment, Henry established himself as the head of the Church of England and instituted divorce proceedings. Because Catherine refused to acknowledge the divorce, he banished her from the court for the duration of her life. Before her marriage, as ambassador to England for Aragon, Catherine was the first European woman ambassador.