Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr

Catherine Howard

Katherine Parr

Catherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII after he peacefully annulled his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Likely she had already caught his eye before the marriage had been annulled.

1. Catherine Howard was in her teens when she wed the King, more than 30 years her senior. The king called Catherine his “rose without a thorn”.....but maybe he spoke too soon. (https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/catherine-howard/)

2. Catherine was related to both Anne Boleyn (first cousin, same fate) and Jane Seymour (second cousin).

3. Although it is said now that Catherine had a “scandalous” past, but in my unprofessional opinion this is not entirely her fault. It is said she could have been “as young as 12” when her music teacher, Henry Manox, took sexual advantage of her. In my mind (although it is quite a different age) this meant sexual assault. Although mere children were engaged at this point in history, it breaks my heart that Catherine may have been blamed for this. “When the Dowager Duchess found the couple embracing, she struck Catherine, even though she herself had been at fault for failing to guard Catherine’s honour as custom dictated”

4. At fourteen Catherine embarked on a relationship with Francis Dereham. There is strong evidence the couple was sexually active with Catherine even stating that she knew how to be intimate without conceiving a child, which is something girls knew then and still do today.

5. Since no portraits of Catherine still exist, we cannot know exactly what she looked like but a French ambassador described her as “short and graceful”. Not exactly a striking beauty but since men seemed to be attracted to her we can assume she was pleasant looking.

6. Catherine’s motto that she adapted for her role as Queen was “Non autre volonte que la sienne” which means “No other will but his” Sadly, for her, this meant a disastrous ending.

7. As a stepmother Catherine did not get along with Mary who was actually older than her (imagine being older than your stepmother. Shudder). She did get along with Elizabeth (one reason probably being because they were related by blood) and even gifted her jewels. She also had a good relationship with Edward. However, Catherine did not produce any children of her own, likely because by now the King was impotent. However, I don’t think anyone who didn’t want to get killed would say  that to his face or around him.

8. After the King turned 50, Catherine began an affair with Thomas Culpeper. Aside from being extremely goodlooking, he also has a reputation as a rapist and murderer. Not exactly the kind of person, you want hanging around your court but he got away with it because the King favoured him. 

9. Some say Catherine was forced into this affair in some way- that she was victim rather than a participant, that Culpeper was a “sexual predator”. He certainly had to think highly of himself/ love danger to go after a Queen, whose husband had already executed a number of people for similar reasons. We will never know. There exists a letter where Catherine expresses “It makes my heart die that I cannot always be in your company” which makes it sound like the affair was consensual.

10. When the news reached the King, he opened an inquiry and Catherine confessed to sexual relations with Francis Dureham (that he had “used” her “in such sort as a man doth use his wife many and sundry times”), Henry Manox and Thomas Culpepper. King Henry became depressed and for the second time, sent his wife to Tower. After Francis Dureham and Thomas Culpeper were executed, Catherine Howard felt the blade of the axe at age eighteen. The King passed a bill that “any future queen who failed to reveal her unchaste past would be guilty of treason”

                                        Katherine Parr

1. Katherine, the only Queen to survive King VIII, was about thirty when she married the King. The King hadn’t produced any children with his last two wives (likely impotence on his part, not the fault of the Queens). “Therefore, to accept the royal proposal Katherine Parr would have to match up to the sexual fantasies of an overweight invalid whose nights were often plagued by anguished insomnia.” (https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/katherine-parr-marriage-henry-viii-husbands-death-writing/)

2. Katherine spoke several languages (French, Italian, Latin, Spanish) and she also held an interest in medicine (https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/katherine-parr/)

3. Katherine was a widow, she had two previous marriages. When her second husband passed away, she was in love with Thomas Seymour. However, like  many women, she put her feelings aside to make a better match. In this case it also might have been a safer match as turning down the King (who wasn’t used to hearing “no”) might have been dangerous. Katherine married Thomas Seymour after the King passed away.

4. It is interesting to note the King married her even though she had not produced any children through previous marriages and the King, somehow, still felt hopeful for another heir. 

5. Katherine tried to bring Henry the VIII closer to his three children (all by different mothers). The girls (“bastardised”) were exiled from Court and his precious son Edward VI had to be kept away from court lest he fall ill (the plague was rampant). Katherine even tried to arrange visits between the King and his children.

6. Katherine was the first and only wife to place her writings into print. She was a pious woman and her first writings were about “prayers and reflections on the psalms” In 1546, she wrote  The Lamentation of a Sinner, chronicling her personal faith journey. It was not published until after Henry’s death.

7. As it was, Katherine Parr was almost executed for her faith anyway. At this point Henry was reaching the end of his days. The court took a woman (Anne Askew), a heretic, and began to interrogate her hoping she’d incriminate the queen. If the King had gone through the Queen’s  belonging, he probably would have found banned books that deemed her guilty. But Anne refused to give up her Queen, even though the men of the court most likely tortured her at the tower. (https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/tower-of-london-prison/) 

8. Katherine found out what the court planned on doing to her and wisely “hastened to Henry’s chamber and threw herself at his mercy, thus enabling him to make a great show of support and affection” Henry still frequently liked playing the hero.

9. After Henry passed and Katherine married Thomas Seymour, things swiftly went south for the couple. Thomas Seymour began engaging in a “horseplay” with Katherine’s stepdaughter Princess Elizabeth 1 even while Katherine was pregnant.

10. Katherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary, but died soon after of puerperal fever. She even accused Thomas of poisoning her, which still remains a mystery.