Royal Genealolgy buffs: who had the more senior claim to the throne of England?

Question

Henry Tudor duke of Richmond, later King Henry VII or Catherine of Aragon, later Queen of Tudor's son Henry VIII?

In that era, of course an English-born male was deemed automatically senior to any female. But purely theoretically and by the standards in force in modern times, whose claim was senior?

Answer 1

Henry sewed up all loose ends when he came to the throne.  He got rid of the Del La Poles, He married the daughter of Edward IV and had his sons marry his other rival Catherine of Aragon.  Catherine of course was also Aunt to the King of France, who had the pope under house arrest.  This is one of the reasons why Henry VIII was not given his divorce.  Henry VII also gained loyalty by taking back lands given to nobles that would not support him.

Answer 2

I'd say its his wife, Elizabeth of York who is the eldest daughter of Edward IV. She was born as Princess of England and Henry Tudor only got the throne because her mother, Elizabeth Woodville promised her daugher's hand in marriage, if he could win back the English throne from her uncle, Richard III. Elizabeth of York is in fact, heiress to the English throne after her father, Edward V of England.

Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth Woodville's marriage to Edward IV was declared to have been valid, and thus their children were once again legitimised (because Henry wanted his wife to be the Yorkist heir to the throne, to cement his hold on it).

Catherine of Aragon was descended from the English royal house through her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster, both daughters of John of Gaunt. She was thus a third cousin of her father-in-law and mother-in-law, Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York.