June 10, 2016 is the 95th birthday of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, born a Prince of Greece, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. He is the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria (through her daughter Princess Alice). Here is a selection of articles about Prince Philip here, at Unofficial Royalty, in honor of this milestone.
by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016
Queen Mary I of England; Credit – Wikipedia
Excluding the disputed reigns of Empress Matilda in the 12th century and Lady Jane Grey, Mary’s predecessor, Queen Mary I was the first queen regnant of England. Mary was born on February 18, 1516, at the Palace of Placentia (Greenwich Palace), the only child of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife Catherine of Aragon to survive infancy. Mary had two much younger half-siblings from two of her father’s other marriages: Queen Elizabeth I of England and King Edward VI of England.
On February 21, 1516, Mary was christened at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich, London. Her godparents were:
Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury was appointed Mary’s governess in 1520 and played an important role in Mary’s upbringing. Margaret Pole was one of the few surviving members of the Plantagenet dynasty after the Wars of the Roses. Her father was George, Duke of Clarence, third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the York claimant during the Wars of Roses until his death at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. Margaret’s paternal uncles were the Yorkist monarchs King Edward IV and King Richard III. Margaret’s mother was Lady Isabel Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (the Kingmaker of the Wars of the Roses) who was also killed at the Battle of Wakefield. Margaret’s maternal aunt was Anne Neville who was married to King Henry VI’s only child, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales until his death at the Battle of Tewkesbury, and then Anne Neville married King Richard III. At the command of King Henry VIII, Margaret Pole was beheaded in a horrific manner when she was 67. Her son Cardinal Reginald Pole was the Archbishop of Canterbury during Mary’s reign.
Mary resembled both her parents, who had blue eyes, fair complexions, and reddish-golden hair. Like her father King Henry VIII, Mary’s mother Catherine of Aragon was descended from the House of Plantagenet. Catherine’s great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal were daughters of John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III of England.
Queen Mary I, attributed to Lucas Horenbout (or Hornebolte), watercolour on vellum, circa 1525, NPG 6453 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Mary was well educated and studied Greek, Latin, French, Italian, science, and music. Henry VIII was disappointed that Mary was not a male, however in 1525, he sent her for three years to Ludlow Castle on the border of Wales to preside, presumably in name only, over the Council of Wales and the Marches. This was the same castle that Catherine of Aragon and her first husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales (Henry VIII’s elder brother) were sent to after their marriage, and it is where Arthur died. Mary received many of the dignities of a Prince of Wales and there is evidence that she was sometimes referred to as Princess of Wales, despite never being invested with the title. During Mary’s childhood, there were some tentative marriage plans to King François I of France and her first cousin, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (also King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy) but nothing ever came of these plans.
By the time Catherine of Aragon turned 40 in 1525, it was unlikely that she would produce the male heir that Henry yearned for. Henry had three options. He could legitimize his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy. He could marry his daughter Mary and hope for a grandson. He could reject Catherine and marry someone of childbearing age. Henry became convinced that his marriage was cursed because Leviticus 20:21 says, “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” Around the same time, Henry became enamored of Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting to Catherine, and Henry began pursuing her.
Henry instructed Cardinal Wolsey to start negotiations with the Vatican to have his marriage to Catherine annulled. Catherine put up a valiant fight to save her marriage and was supported by her nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. After several long years of negotiations, Cardinal Wolsey failed to obtain the annulment incurring the anger of Anne Boleyn, who brought about Wolsey’s dismissal as Chancellor. A far more reaching consequence was Henry’s break with Rome which was to lead to the Reformation in England and the establishment of the Church of England. In 1533, Henry nominated Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury and in May 1533, Cranmer declared that because Henry and Catherine’s marriage was against the law of God, it was null and void. Catherine had testified that she and Arthur had never had physical relations.
Catherine of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine was banished from the court and Henry refused her the right to any title but “Dowager Princess of Wales” in recognition of her position as his brother’s widow. She was forbidden to see her daughter Mary. Catherine suffered these indignities with patience and told her women not to curse the new queen, Anne Boleyn. She spent most of her time doing needlework and praying. Catherine refused to accept the 1533 Act of Succession which made her daughter Mary illegitimate and made Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth Henry’s successor. Mary was sent to Hatfield House to live in her infant half-sister’s household. She seems to have no grudge against Elizabeth and had genuine sisterly feelings. By 1535, with no hope of ever seeing her daughter Mary, who suffered great humiliation at the court of Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon’s health deteriorated and she was taken to Kimbolton Castle, where she died on January 7, 1536, at the age of 50.
After the execution of her father’s second wife Anne Boleyn, Mary was reconciled to her father with the help of his third wife Jane Seymour. However, Mary was forced into acknowledging that her parents’ marriage had been unlawful and that therefore, she was illegitimate. In addition, she was forced into acknowledging, at least outwardly, that her father was the Head of the Church of England. Mary remained true to the Roman Catholic Church. When her half-brother the future King Edward VI was born to Jane Seymour in 1537, Mary was one of his godparents and then acted as the chief mourner at the funeral of Jane Seymour, who died as a result of childbirth complications.
Mary in 1544; Credit – Wikipedia
Through the influence of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, the family became closer. Catherine Parr, a kind stepmother to Henry’s three children, was influential in Henry’s passing of the Third Succession Act in 1543 that restored both his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth (who had been removed from the succession after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn), to the line of succession to the throne. King Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by his 9-year-old son King Edward VI. Henry’s three children remained on friendly terms despite their great differences in age and religious belief. When the 1549 Act of Uniformity made the use of the new Book of Common Prayer mandatory, Mary refused to comply and continued to have the Roman Catholic Latin Mass said in her household.
As 15-year-old King Edward VI lay dying, probably of tuberculosis, in the late spring and early summer of 1553, many feared that the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would spell trouble for the English Reformation. At that time, the succession to the throne according to the Third Succession Act looked like this:
1) Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
2) Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
3) Duchess of Suffolk (Lady Frances Brandon), daughter of Mary Tudor (daughter of King Henry VII)
4) Lady Jane Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
5) Lady Catherine Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
6) Lady Mary Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
7) Lady Margaret Clifford, daughter of Countess of Cumberland (born Lady Eleanor Brandon, daughter of Mary Tudor)
Earlier in 1553, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and Lord Protector of the Realm had arranged the marriage of his son Guildford and Lady Jane Grey, number four in the line of succession. What role the Duke of Northumberland played in what followed is still debated, but surely he played a big part in the unfolding of what happened. King Edward VI composed a document “My devise for the succession” in which he passed over his half-sisters and the Duchess of Suffolk (Frances Brandon). Edward meant for the throne to go to the Duchess’ daughters and their male heirs. The Duke and Duchess of Suffolk were outraged at the Duchess’ removal from the succession, but after a meeting with the ailing king, the Duchess renounced her rights in favor of her daughter Jane. Many contemporary legal experts believed the king could not contravene an Act of Parliament without passing a new one that would have established the altered succession. Therefore, many thought that Jane’s claim to the throne was weak. Apparently, Jane did not have any idea of what was occurring.
After great suffering, King Edward VI died on July 6, 1553, at Greenwich Palace. On July 9, Lady Jane Grey was told she was Queen of England, and reluctantly accepted the fact. However, the Privy Council switched their allegiance from Jane to Edward’s sister Mary and proclaimed her Queen on July 19, 1553. Mary arrived triumphantly in London on August 3, 1553, accompanied by her half-sister Elizabeth and a procession of over 800 nobles and gentlemen. Ultimately, Lady Jane, her husband, her father, and her father-in-law would all lose their heads.
On October 1, 1553, Queen Mary I of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, whom she had released from the Tower of London upon her accession to the throne. Gardiner also was appointed Lord Chancellor and held that position until he died in 1555.
Queen Mary I after Anthonis Mor, oil on panel, 1555, NPG 4174 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Mary was 37 and needed to marry and produce an heir to supplant her Protestant sister Elizabeth. Edward Courtney, 1st Earl of Devon, a Plantagenet descendant was suggested. However, Mary had her heart set on marrying Prince Philip of Spain (later King Philip II of Spain), the only son of Mary’s first cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Philip was a widower and was eleven years younger than Mary. Parliament, backed by Gardiner, begged her to reconsider fearing the threat a marriage to a foreign royal might have for English independence. When Mary insisted on marrying Philip, a rebellion broke out, led by Thomas Wyatt, to depose Mary in favor of her half-sister Elizabeth. Wyatt marched on London but was defeated and executed.
Mary and Philip were married at Winchester Cathedral on July 25, 1554. Mary insisted that Philip receive the title of King and that all official documents were to be in both their names. The marriage was not successful. Although Mary was in love with Philip, he found her repugnant. In September 1554, Mary thought she was pregnant and continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen returned to normal. There was no baby. After 14 months of marriage, Philip returned to Spain in August 1555. Mary was heartbroken and went into a deep depression. Philip did return to England in 1557 and was happily received by Mary. Philip wanted England to join Spain in a war against France. Mary agreed and the result was the loss of Calais, England’s last possession in continental Europe. Philip left England in July 1557, never to return. Mary said of these losses, “When I am dead, you will find the words ‘Philip’ and ‘Calais’ engraved upon my heart.”
Mary and her husband Philip, Bedford Collection, Woburn Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia
Throughout her reign, Mary was steadfast in her determination to restore the Roman Catholic religion to England. Edward VI’s religious laws were abolished during Mary’s reign, and her legitimacy was asserted. During Mary’s reign, nearly 300 Protestants were burned at the stake for heresy. Included in this number were the famous three Oxford Martyrs: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester; and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London. They were burned at the stake outside Balliol College in Oxford. There is a marker on the street marking the site of the executions. In addition, their names are on a plaque in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, where they were tried, along with names of both Protestant and Catholic victims of the Reformation who lived in Oxfordshire, taught at the University of Oxford, or were brought to Oxford for execution.
Plaque in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer
In the latter part of her reign, Mary relied heavily on Cardinal Reginald Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury and the son of her governess Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury. Pole acted as the Pope’s legate in Mary’s attempted reconciliation of the Church of England with Rome. In November 1558, Mary and Pole fell ill during an influenza outbreak. Mary had become weak and ill in May 1558, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer. Both Mary and Cardinal Pole died on November 17, 1558. Mary wanted to be buried with her mother but was buried in Westminster Abbey in a vault she would eventually share with her Protestant sister Elizabeth. The tomb erected above only has Elizabeth’s effigy, but King James I, Elizabeth’s successor, ordered this to be inscribed upon the tomb in Latin: Regno consortes et urna, Hic obdorminus Elizabetha et Maria sonores in spe resurrectionis – Partners both in throne and grave, here we, Elizabeth and Mary, rest as sisters, in hope of our resurrection.
Tomb of Mary I and Elizabeth I; Photo Credit – Wikipedia
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England: House of Tudor Resources at Unofficial Royalty
by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2015
King Edward VI of England; Credit – Wikipedia
Twenty-six years into his reign, King Henry VIII of England was still without a male heir. His first two wives were displaced because they did not provide a male heir, but each did provide a daughter (Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I). Catherine of Aragon‘s marriage was annulled and Anne Boleyn was beheaded on trumped-up charges. Henry VIII married his third wife Jane Seymour eleven days after Anne Boleyn’s execution. Jane was pregnant before her first wedding anniversary, which would be her only wedding anniversary.
Prince Edward (future Edward VI), Henry VIII, Jane Seymour painted in 1545, eight years after Jane’s death; Credit: Wikipedia
The joyous king fulfilled Jane’s every desire and ensured that the best doctors and midwives attended her. As was tradition, Jane went into confinement a month before the baby’s due date. At 2:00 AM, on October 12, 1537, the long-awaited male heir was born at Hampton Court Palace. Jane’s labor had been long, two days and three nights.
Edward had two elder half-sisters:
by Catherine of Aragon, his father’s first wife:
by Anne Boleyn, his father’s second wife:
Three days after his birth, the baby was christened Edward after Edward the Confessor whose feast day is October 13. His half-sisters 21-year-old Mary and four-year-old Elizabeth attended the ceremony along with his mother who was carried on a litter. Henry’s joy soon turned into grief. On October 17, 1537, Jane’s condition deteriorated and she was given the last rites. She died at Hampton Court Palace on October 24, 1537, most likely from puerperal fever (also called childbed fever), a bacterial infection. The birth attendants often caused puerperal fever. With no knowledge of germs, it was believed that hand washing was unnecessary.
Prince Edward in 1539, by Hans Holbein the Younger; Credit – Wikipedia
The motherless infant was placed under the care of Margaret Bryan, Baroness Bryan, the Lady Governess to all three of Henry VIII’s children. In 1539, Lady Bryan wrote to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister, “My lord Prince is in good health and merry. Would to God the King and your Lordship had seen him last night. The minstrels played, and his Grace danced and played so wantonly that he could not stand still ..”
On July 1, 1543, representatives of England and Scotland signed the Treaty of Greenwich which established peace between the two kingdoms and arranged for the betrothal of Edward and the seven-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots, which would unite both kingdoms. However, the Treaty of Greenwich was ultimately rejected by the Scottish Parliament on December 11, 1543, leading to eight years of conflict between England and Scotland known as the Rough Wooing.
When Edward was six years old, he had his first taste of family life when his stepmother Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, gathered all three of Henry’s children together for Christmas 1543. Catherine Parr’s efforts in reconciling Henry’s family resulted in the 1544 Third Succession Act restoring Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession after Edward. Both had been declared illegitimate and disinherited. Catherine Parr also played a role in Edward’s education, helping to select his tutors, who were among the greatest scholars in England: Sir John Cheke, Professor of Greek at Cambridge; Richard Cox, a clergyman and Headmaster of Eton; Sir Anthony Cooke, a politician and humanist scholar; and Roger Ascham, Cambridge classical scholar. In addition, Jean Belmain, a French Huguenot scholar, taught Edward French. These tutors not only gave Edward a strong education, but they also imparted to him the tenets of the Protestant Reformation that had swept through Germany and the Netherlands.
Prince Edward in 1546; Credit – Wikipedia
King Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, at the age of 55 and Henry’s nine-year-old son succeeded him as King Edward VI. Edward’s coronation occurred on February 20, 1547, at Westminster Abbey. The coronation was shortened because of the new king’s young age. Henry VIII’s will named sixteen executors, who were to act as Edward’s Council until he reached the age of 18. Henry VIII’s will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector but rather gave the government during his son’s minority to a Regency Council that would rule collectively, by majority decision. However, a few days after Henry’s death, the executors decide to make King Edward VI’s maternal uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, Lord Protector of the Realm, Governor of the King’s Person, and Duke of Somerset. With this new position, Edward Seymour had almost regal power.
King Edward VI with his uncles Edward Seymour and Thomas Seymour and Thomas Cranmer, 1547; Credit – Wikipedia
Edward Seymour’s younger brother Thomas Seymour, who had married Henry VIII’s widow Catherine Parr (who died after childbirth in 1548), was embittered by his elder brother’s power and demanded he share the power. In March 1549, Thomas was arrested on various charges and beheaded for treason.
Seven months later, Edward Seymour became aware that his rule as Protector was being threatened. Seymour took possession of his nephew, and then went to the safety of the fortified Windsor Castle, where Edward VI wrote, “Me thinks I am in prison.” The Regency Council made it clear that Seymour’s power as Protector and leader of the Council came from them and not Henry VIII’s will. Seymour was arrested on October 11, 1549. The charges against Seymour were stated in King Edward VI’s chronicle: “ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc.” Seymour was sent to the Tower of London and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (later 1st Duke of Northumberland and Lady Jane Grey‘s father-in-law (who would lose his head due to his involvement in Lady Jane’s succession to the throne) became the leader of the Regency Council and Lord Protector. In 1550, Seymour was released from the Tower of London and restored to the Regency Council, however, he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow John Dudley.
During the reign of King Edward VI, the English Protestant Reformation advanced with the approval and encouragement of Edward, who began to exert more personal influence in his role as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (who was to be burned for heresy under the reign of Queen Mary I) wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church which is still used. Cranmer also revised canon law and prepared a doctrinal statement, the Thirty-Nine Articles, to clarify the practice of the reformed religion
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; Credit – Wikipedia
In January 1553, King Edward became ill with a fever and cough that gradually worsened. He likely had tuberculosis. By May 1553, the royal doctors had no hope that the king would recover and John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and Lord Protector, began to scheme for a succession that would benefit him. The powerful Duke of Northumberland thought marrying one of his sons to Lady Jane Grey would be a good idea. On May 25, 1553, three weddings were celebrated at Durham Place, the Duke of Northumberland’s London home. Lord Guildford Dudley, the fifth surviving son of the Duke of Northumberland married Lady Jane Grey, Guildford’s sister Lady Katherine Dudley married Henry Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon’s heir, and Jane’s sister Lady Catherine Grey married Henry Herbert, the heir of the Earl of Pembroke.
As King Edward VI lay dying in the late spring and early summer of 1553, the succession to the throne according to the Third Succession Act looked like this, and note that number four in the succession was the Duke of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law.
1) Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
2) Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
3) Duchess of Suffolk (Lady Frances Brandon), daughter of Mary Tudor
4) Lady Jane Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
5) Lady Catherine Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
6) Lady Mary Grey, daughter of Frances Brandon
7) Lady Margaret Clifford, daughter of Countess of Cumberland (born Lady Eleanor Brandon, daughter of Mary Tudor)
King Edward VI’s death and the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would cause trouble for the English Reformation. Many on Edward’s Council feared this, including the Duke of Northumberland. The exact role the Duke of Northumberland had in what followed is still debated, but surely he played a big part in the unfolding of what happened. King Edward VI opposed Mary’s succession for religious reasons but also because of her illegitimacy and his belief in male succession. Both Mary and Elizabeth were still considered to be legally illegitimate.
“My devise for the Succession” by King Edward VI; Credit – Wikipedia
King Edward composed a document “My devise for the succession” in which he passed over his half-sisters and the Duchess of Suffolk (Frances Brandon). Edward meant for the throne to go to the Duchess of Suffolk’s daughters and their male heirs. The Duke and Duchess of Suffolk were outraged at the Duchess’ removal from the succession, but after a meeting with the ailing king, the Duchess renounced her rights in favor of her daughter Jane. Many contemporary legal experts believed the king could not contravene an Act of Parliament without passing a new one that would have established the altered succession. Therefore, many thought that Jane’s claim to the throne was weak. Jane did not have any idea of what was occurring.
After great suffering, fifteen-year-old King Edward VI died on July 6, 1553, at Greenwich Palace. On July 9, 1553, Lady Jane Grey was told she was Queen of England and reluctantly accepted the crown. However, the Privy Council switched their allegiance from Jane to Edward’s sister Mary and proclaimed her Queen on July 19, 1553. Mary arrived triumphantly in London on August 3, 1553, accompanied by her half-sister Elizabeth and a procession of over 800 nobles and gentlemen. Ultimately, Lady Jane, her husband, her father, and her father-in-law would all lose their heads.
King Edward VI had a Protestant funeral conducted by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey on August 8, 1553.
Tomb of Edward VI; Credit – findagrave.com
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England: House of Tudor Resources at Unofficial Royalty
by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016
Catherine Parr, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine Parr was the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She is the “survived” in the saying about Henry’s wives, “Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived,” although she survived for only a year, and Anne of Cleves, Henry’s fourth wife, was the last of his wives to die (in 1557). Catherine was probably born in 1512 at her family’s townhouse in Blackfriars, London, England. She was the eldest child of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green. Sir Thomas was a descendant of King Edward III of England through Edward’s son John of Gaunt.
Catherine had two surviving siblings:
William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton; Credit – Wikipedia
Thought to be Anne Parr; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine’s father, Sir Thomas Parr was a courtier and served as Master of the Wards, Master of the Guards, and Comptroller of the Household of King Henry VIII. He also was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire and then High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Catherine’s mother was a lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon, and it is thought that she named her daughter after the queen. Catherine’s father died in 1517 of sweating sickness, leaving a 25-year-old widow with three children under the age of five. Maud Parr did not marry again, fearing that the large inheritance from her deceased first husband would go to a second husband instead of her children. She carefully supervised her children’s education and just as carefully arranged their marriages.
At the age of 17, Catherine married Sir Edward Burgh, who was about four years older than his bride. Edward was the eldest son of Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh, but he was in poor health and predeceased his father, dying just four years after a childless marriage to Catherine.
In 1534, Catherine became the third wife to 41-year-old John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, her father’s second cousin and a first cousin of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, an important player during the Wars of the Roses. 22-year-old Catherine became stepmother to his two children from his first marriage, 14-year-old John Neville, the future 4th Baron Latimer, and 9-year-old Margaret Neville. Lord Latimer was a supporter of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1536 he was implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace, an uprising in Yorkshire, England in 1536 against King Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the policies of Henry’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell. Although no charges were brought against him, Lord Latimer’s reputation was tarnished. Catherine’s strong reaction against the uprising strengthened her belief in the reformed Church of England. Lord Latimer’s health began to go quickly downhill in 1542 and Catherine served as a good nurse to her ailing husband. He died in 1543 after a nine-year childless marriage to Catherine.
Catherine used her friendship with the late Catherine of Aragon to renew her friendship with Catherine’s daughter Mary (later Queen Mary I) to obtain a place in Mary’s household. A widow for the second time, 31-year-old Catherine fell in love with Thomas Seymour, brother of Henry VIII’s late third wife Jane Seymour, and the two hoped to marry. However, Henry VIII began to show an interest in Catherine and she felt it was her duty to choose Henry’s proposal of marriage over Thomas Seymour’s. Seymour was appointed an ambassador to the Netherlands to get him out of England.
King Henry VIII in 1542; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine and King Henry VIII were married on July 12, 1543, at Hampton Court Palace. King Henry VIII now required a nurse rather than a wife. He had become obese and needed to be moved around with the help of mechanical devices. He was covered with painful, pus-filled boils and probably suffered from gout. His obesity and other medical problems can be traced from the jousting accident in 1536, in which he suffered a leg wound that never healed. The jousting accident is believed to have caused Henry’s mood swings, which may have had a dramatic effect on his personality and temperament. Catherine proved to be a good nurse to Henry and a kind stepmother to his three children. She was influential in Henry’s passing of the Third Succession Act in 1543 which restored both his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession to the throne.
Catherine’s religious views were reform Protestant, in the sense of the definition of the word Protestant today. Her religious views incited a pro-Catholic/anti-Reform Protestant faction led by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, to bring a charge of heresy against her in 1546. Catherine found out about this and eloquently pleaded her case successfully to Henry.
After Henry died in 1547, Catherine finally married Thomas Seymour, the uncle of King Edward VI. Catherine invited Elizabeth, King Henry VIII’s younger daughter, and her cousin Lady Jane Grey, to stay in the couple’s household at Sudeley Castle, located in the Cotswolds near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. In early 1548, Catherine became pregnant, which was quite a surprise because she had failed to become pregnant during her first two marriages. During this time, Seymour began to take an interest in Elizabeth. Seymour had reportedly plotted to marry Elizabeth before marrying Catherine, and it was reported later that Catherine discovered the two in an embrace. Kat Ashley, Elizabeth’s governess later testified that not only did Catherine not mind the episodes of horseplay but that she actually assisted her husband. Whatever actually happened, Elizabeth was sent away from Sudeley Castle in May 1548 and never saw her beloved stepmother again.
Thomas Seymour; Credit – Wikipedia
In August 1548, Catherine and Seymour had a daughter, but tragically Catherine died on September 5, 1548, of puerperal fever (childbed fever). Her daughter Mary Seymour appears to have died young. Six months after Catherine’s death, Thomas Seymour was beheaded for treason. Catherine was buried in the chapel at Sudeley Castle. Lady Jane Grey, who lived with Catherine until her death, was the chief mourner at her funeral. Catherine’s grave was discovered in 1728 after the castle and the chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War. She was later re-interred by the Rector of Sudeley in 1817 and an elaborate tomb was built in her honor.
Tomb of Catherine Parr; Credit – Wikipedia
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England: House of Tudor Resources at Unofficial Royalty
by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016
Catherine Howard, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine Howard was the fifth of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England and the second of his two beheaded wives. She was born around 1523, the fifth of the six children of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpepper. Catherine’s father, Lord Edmund Howard, was the third son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Edmund’s eldest brother was Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, a prominent Tudor politician, and one of his younger sisters was Elizabeth Howard, mother of King Henry VIII’s other beheaded wife, Anne Boleyn. Therefore, Catherine and Anne were first cousins.
Catherine had five half-siblings from her mother’s first marriage to Ralph Leigh:
Catherine had five full siblings:
Catherine’s mother died when she was a young child, and she was sent off with some siblings to be raised by her step-grandmother Agnes Howard (née Tilney), Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, the second wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. It was common for aristocratic children to be raised in other aristocratic households, but the supervision in the Dowager Duchess’ household was quite lax. Catherine and the Dowager Duchess’ other wards were often left to their own devices and the care of servants. Young Catherine had an affair with the music master Henry Manox and then with Francis Dereham, a secretary of the Dowager Duchess. The Dowager Duchess eventually found out about Catherine and Dereham. Dereham was sent away to Ireland but it is possible that they had intentions to marry upon his return from Ireland, agreeing to a pre-contract of marriage.
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine’s uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, also the uncle of Anne Boleyn and as Lord High Steward, had presided at Anne’s trial, found a position for Catherine at court. Through the influence of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s chief minister, Henry married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Henry immediately disliked Anne of Cleves and the marriage was never consummated. Catherine became one of Anne’s maids-of-honor and immediately caught Henry’s attention. Catherine was well aware of Henry’s interest in her and aided by his extreme distaste for Anne, set out to captivate the king. Catherine’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, saw this as an opportunity to regain the influence they had before the disastrous fall of Anne Boleyn. Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled on July 9, 1540. Thomas Cromwell, the scapegoat for the failed marriage to Anne of Cleves, was arrested on June 10, 1540, under a bill of attainder and executed for treason and heresy on Tower Hill on July 28, 1540. Henry secretly married Catherine Howard that same day at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, England.
King Henry VIII in the early 1540s; Credit – Wikipedia
Henry called his teenage bride his “rose without a thorn.” Delighted with her, Henry gave her the lands of the executed Cromwell and showered her with jewelry. Catherine adopted the motto Non autre volonte que la sienne (No other will but his), which would soon prove quite ironic.
In 1540, Thomas Culpeper, a Gentleman to the King’s Privy Chamber, caught Catherine’s attention. By 1541, they were spending time together, often alone and late at night, aided and abetted by Catherine’s lady-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, the widow of George Boleyn, who had been accused, convicted, and executed for adultery with his sister Anne Boleyn. The affair would cause the downfall of all involved.
Catherine also employed her previous lover Francis Dereham, first as her Private Secretary and then as a Gentleman Usher of the Queen’s Chamber. Dereham’s bragging about being Catherine’s former lover was brought to the attention of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who brought evidence of Catherine’s previous affair with Dereham to the king’s attention. Though Henry originally refused to believe the allegations, Dereham confessed. It took another council meeting before Henry believed the accusations against Dereham and then went into a rage, blaming the council before consoling himself in hunting. When questioned, Catherine could have admitted a prior contract to marry Dereham, which would have made her subsequent marriage to Henry invalid. Instead, she claimed that Dereham had forced her to enter into an adulterous relationship. Dereham, meanwhile, exposed Catherine’s relationship with Thomas Culpeper.
On November 1, 1541, Catherine was imprisoned at Syon House. She had been brought there from Hampton Court Palace after running through the palace, shrieking denials of her guilt, unsuccessfully trying to get to Henry as he was at prayer in the Chapel Royal. The gallery she ran through is known as the Haunted Gallery and her ghost is reputedly said to haunt it.
On December 1, 1541, Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper were executed at Tyburn, the principal place of execution of London criminals and convicted traitors. Both men were to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. However, Henry VIII had mercy on his Gentleman to the King’s Privy Chamber and commuted Thomas Culpeper’s execution to a beheading. Francis Dereham was not as lucky and was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Both their heads were placed on spikes on top of London Bridge.
Site of the scaffold on Tower Green; Credit – Wikipedia
Catherine was brought to the Tower of London on February 10, 1542, by barge, passing under London Bridge where Dereham and Culpepper’s heads remained displayed until 1546. Her execution by beheading was to take place on February 13, 1542, at 7:00 AM. The night before her execution, Catherine is believed to have practiced how to lay her head upon the block, which had been brought to her at her request. Catherine was beheaded with one stroke on Tower Green within the Tower of London. Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, was executed immediately afterward. Catherine Howard was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London.
Catherine Howard’s memorial on the floor of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula; Credit – findagrave.com
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