- Katherine Howard was a teenager when she married the king
- She was petite, pert, and pretty
- She liked men and men liked her – the king thought he was her first and only and that she loved him as much as he loved her
- Katherine’s problems began when Henry found out that she had a past
- From age 10 Katherine was raised in the household of the dowager duchess of Norfolk
- Katherine’s mother was dead and her father constantly in debt
- Katherine’s behaviour was anything but conventional even if her upbringing was
- She enjoyed the attentions of several men, her favourite being Francis Dereham
- Katherine and Dereham were caught kissing and given a hiding by the dowager duchess
- The unmarried women slept together in a dormitory
- In theory the maiden’s chamber was out of bounds to the men of the household and the door locked at night
- In reality, the key was stolen, and the men came and went as they pleased
- Katherine was a member of the second most powerful family in England – the Howards – who married well, into power and wealth
- Katherine’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk was head of the house, and a Catholic
- Katherine was cousin to Anne Boleyn
- Mary Norris and Katherine Howard were granted places at court in 1539
- Katherine left the duchess’s household to become lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves
- It was a dream come true for Katherine – music, dancing, clothes, banquets, and men
- The king began to lavish Katherine with gifts and attention – for him it was love at first sight but nothing of the sort for Katherine
- Norfolk and his conservative allies wanted to use Katherine as a pawn in a political game to get rid of Anne of Cleves
- Under Anne of Cleves the Catholics had been attacked and they wanted to restore their fortunes
- Katherine was given advice on how often to see the king, what to wear and what to do
- The king sent Anne away to court and Katherine withdrew to Lambeth
- The king visited Katherine and his boat was routinely seen going down the Thames
- In mid-July 1540 Henry and Anne’s marriage was annulled and 2 weeks later at Oaklands the king married Katherine
- The honeymoon lasted 10 days and Henry was infatuated, wanting time alone with her
- Henry suspected Anne of Cleves wasn’t a virgin and was unable to have sex with her
- He thought Katherine Howard was pure
- Katherine was cheerful and loving towards Henry and he was satisfied with her
- Katherine saw Henry as old – he wasn’t like the men she was used to
- Henry had been the youngest king in Europe when he came to the throne
- At Hampton Court the celebrations continued with banquets and hunts, but Henry was slowed down by an abscess on his leg
- Katherine was in the prime of life and loved to dance – Henry indulged her, but sometimes could only watch her
- For Katherine, every day was her birthday as Henry lavished gifts on her – landed estates, magnificent dresses
- New Year’s Day 1541 the king gave her a treasure house of jewels
- Katherine saw this as her right and it never occurred to her that someone arrayed like a queen was expected to act as a queen
- Katherine was closely watched, and the Howards were dependent on her not letting them down
- Howard enemies were ready to exploit any problems
- Spring 1541 Henry was frequently ill and disappointed that Katherine wasn’t pregnant
- Henry withdrew from court life and looked to Katherine to divert him, but she lacked patience and wit
- For a couple of weeks Henry left Katherine to her own devices
- Almost a year to the day after their wedding Henry and Katherine travelled on progress to the north of England
- Katherine played her ceremonial role perfectly
- Henry was delighted to show off his pretty young queen, and she acted the great lady
- Behind closed doors wherever the royal party stayed Katherine stayed shut away in her apartments and her ladies were turned away
- Francis Dereham had been appointed to Katherine’s household
- Even the king was kept at a distance
- At Pontefract, the king sent a message to the queen, but when the messenger tried to deliver it the door was locked
- Late autumn 1541 Thomas Cranmer was waiting for the return of the progress
- Cranmer was a religious reformer and opposed to the influence of the Howards
- He could do something about it, as he had received information about Katherine’s past
- At the end of October 1541, the court returned to Hampton Court and Henry was still besotted with Katherine
- 1st November 1541 (All Saint’s Day) Henry shared his happiness in the chapel royal, ordering his confessor to offer up prayers on his behalf towards his wife
- Henry was short-sighted and saw nothing peculiar in Katherine’s behaviour – perhaps he was blinded by love
- The following day Cranmer left a letter for Henry
- The letter detailed accusations from John Lascelles, whose sister, Mary, had been with Katherine in the dowager duchess’s household
- Cranmer had received intelligence about Katherine’s relationships with 2 men
- The king believed the accusations to be false but ordered them investigated
- Henry Manox admitted he fell in love with Katherine, and he had groped her, but Katherine allowed him no more
- Francis Dereham and Katherine were more socially equal, so she allowed him to go all the way, and Dereham even claimed the pair had agreed to marry
- Katherine was oblivious to the investigation into her past
- 5th November 1541 Katherine was practising dance steps when the king’s men burst in and stopped them – she was confined to her apartments
- She wasn’t told the reason but feared the worst
- The following morning, she was said to have made a desperate attempt to try and reach the king, screaming
- She wouldn’t see the king again
- Cranmer questioned Katherine several times and her story kept changing as her mood changed between confident and suicidal
- Katherine sent a letter to the king confessing her faults – full and explicit as far as it went
- So far Katherine admitted only to premarital sex
- This was humiliating to Henry as it destroyed his love for her but might not have been grounds for an annulment
- Katherine always refused to admit that her and Dereham were betrothed or married, which would have invalidated her marriage to the king
- Cranmer dug up more dirt
- Another man was put into the mix – Thomas Culpeper – who was a trusted servant to the king, dressed and undressing him, sleeping at the foot of his bed
- Culpeper was a distant relative to Katherine and it was rumoured they had courted
- Culpeper admitted he had fallen in love with Katherine and she with him
- The two had met in private on the summer progress
- Culpeper insisted the relationship had not passed beyond words
- Jane Rochford had a different story and believed the relationship between Katherine and Culpeper had begun earlier than they said and that the pair had slept together
- A search of Culpeper’s rooms revealed a letter written by Katherine to Culpeper
- Katherine denied any sexual relationship
- The letter was signed “yours as long as life endures”
- Henry knew the worst and Katherine had cuckolded him with a man he trusted and favoured
- Henry burst into tears once and on another occasion called for a sword to kill Katherine himself
- Dereham and Culpeper were tried for presumptive treason
- Culpeper was also tried for having criminal intercourse with the queen at Pontefract
- Both were found guilty and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered
- 12 days after Culpeper and Dereham were executed members of the Howard family were arrested
- It was said that there were so many arrests that the Tower couldn’t hold them all
- Norfolk distanced himself from Katherine as she fell, and she was left alone
- When Katherine was informed of her death sentence, she requested a private execution as Anne Boleyn had before her
- The night before the execution Katherine requested the block brought to her room and practised her death
- 13th February 1542 Katherine was led to her execution on Tower Green
- She was weak and had to be helped up the steps of the scaffold
- She made a short speech, asking for forgiveness for her offences
- She was beheaded with a single stroke – she displayed more dignity in her death than she had ever displayed as queen
- 12th July 1543 at Hampton Court Henry VIII married Katherine Parr
- Katherine Parr was almost twice as old as Katherine Howard
- Katherine seemed the perfect wife but under the calm exterior she was passionate – she was in love with another man and devoted to her god
- In the year after Katherine Howard’s execution Henry showed no signs of remarrying
- A law was passed which made it treason for a woman to conceal her premarital history
- In early 1543 Katherine was a 32-year-old widow
- She had been married twice and her second husband had recently died of a chronic illness
- Katherine was independently wealthy with no parents or children
- She was free to marry whom she wished, perhaps even for love
- Katherine fell in love with Thomas Seymour, brother to Jane Seymour
- He was known as something of an adventurer, and ambitious
- Katherine encouraged him as a suitor, perhaps a last chance for a love match and children and the pair discussed marriage
- Around spring 1543 Henry fell in love with Katherine
- He gave her clothes and her brother became a Knight of the Garter, he also introduced her to his daughters
- The position of queen had no attraction for her – Henry had divorced two wives and beheaded two more, and was fat and invalid
- Katherine had also fallen hopelessly in love
- She faced the biggest choice of her life and decided to fulfil her duty
- In May 1543 Henry sent Thomas Seymour to be resident ambassador in Brussels
- Henry proposed marriage and Katherine accepted his offer, marrying him 2 weeks later
- Other women had married the king for dynastic or personal ambition
- Katherine married the king because god had told her to
- Katherine married the king aged 52 and having had one invalid husband knew how to look after her
- Katherine engaged Henry in discussions on his favourite subject – religion
- She made the best of the present, putting the past behind her
- Henry already had good relations with all of his children, and they were all present at Henry and Katherine’s marriage
- Katherine became particularly close to Elizabeth
- Prince Edward sent Katherine chatty letters
- Katherine took a particular interest in the education of the royal children
- Katherine’s own education was limited as her gender allowed
- The royal children learnt Latin and Greek as well as French and Italian
- Katherine Parr decided to learn alongside the royal children
- She impressed people at court
- Catholics suspected Katherine of harbouring reformist sympathies
- A year after her marriage Henry decided to lead an English army in France and during his absence Katherine was made regent and given guardianship of the royal children
- Katherine led prayers for the king’s safety and success in France – she wrote the prayer herself in English rather than the traditional Latin
- It was a declaration of intent
- Archbishop Cranmer may well have helped Katherine and was undoubtedly delighted
- Katherine’s sympathies seemed to lie with Cranmer’s own
- Cranmer and Katherine were in daily contact during the king’s absence, so he had ample opportunity to enlist her to his cause
- Katherine’s mother had been one of Katherine of Aragon’s ladies – she looked back on this with horror, worshipping false idols
- Cranmer probably reprised the role he played for Anne Boleyn, becoming Katherine’s tutor
- Katherine believed god had given her a task to complete the reformation in England
- Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, hated women with opinions, especially anti-Catholic opinions
- At first Gardiner’s relationship with Katherine was good
- By 1545 Gardiner’s hunt for heretics began to close in on Katherine
- Henry’s return from France didn’t stop Katherine’s religious education
- She invited clerics and scholars to court and was ready to change the role of student to that of teacher
- Katherine was also a published writer – ‘Prayers and Meditations’ was printed in 1545 in a small version to mimic the books that hung at ladies’ girdles
- The book was a great public success
- Cambridge University wrote, asking for her patronage and protection
- Katherine was following the trail of Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn
- Katherine’s apartments were more like a revivalist meeting than a courtly household
- Her ladies also adopted Katherine’s stance and tried to win others over
- Henry trod a fine line in religion, tramping on those too radical and too traditional
- Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk, dressed her dog in clerical robes and named him Gardiner
- Katherine was working on a second book, more radical than the first
- She wouldn’t publish ‘Lamentations of a Sinner’ until after Henry’s death as it showed that she had become a Lutheran, a heretic
- Autumn 1545 Henry suffered a new attack of thrombosis in his leg, spending many weeks in bed
- Katherine tried to divert him with theological discussion
- She seems to have gone further and tried to convert the king to her faith
- There was a court faction to discredit and supplant Katherine Parr
- Gardiner overheard an altercation between Katherine and the king and Gardiner took advantage
- Henry seemed to have become sick of Katherine’s preaching
- Gardiner tried to persuade the king that Katherine was at the centre of a heretical conspiracy
- Henry gave permission for an investigation of Katherine
- Gardiner questioned courtiers and their wives who were close to Katherine
- They were questioned on what they believed and what books they read
- Anne Askew, a Lutheran, was interrogated in the Tower and racked to try and get her to implicate Katherine
- Henry signed a warrant for Katherine’s arrest
- Before it could be delivered officially it found its way to Katherine
- Katherine was pushed over the edge and broke down
- She needed to make a decision – subdue her conscience and survive, or follow her conscience and face death
- Katherine chose to subdue her conscience and she made a plea to Henry that she was only trying to distract him from his pain with debate
- She blamed the imperfections of her sex, only wanting to learn from the king
- Henry’s anger and suspicions ebbed and became convinced of Katherine’s innocence
- The next day Henry and Katherine were walking in the gardens when the guard arrived to arrest Katherine
- The councillor in charge hadn’t been told of the reconciliation and Henry drove him away
- Katherine begged the king to forgive the conspirators against her
- Her life had been in danger but now she was safe
- Katherine’s triumph marked the beginning of the end for her enemies at court
- In November 1546 Gardiner was dismissed from the king’s privy council and the following month the Duke of Norfolk was sent to the Tower
- A death warrant was drawn up, but Henry was in no condition to sign anything
- At Christmas 1546 Henry became dangerously ill and Katherine wasn’t allowed to see him
- A month later Henry was dead
- Katherine witnessed the funeral but wasn’t allowed to attend
- Katherine’s mind had already turned back to before her royal marriage
- Katherine had married the king because of a sign from god
- She saw Henry’s death as a sign that she could marry for love
- She threw herself immediately into the delights of a passionate love affair
- Katherine married Thomas Seymour in May 1547 and Princess Elizabeth joined their household
- A year after Henry’s death Katherine was pregnant with Seymour’s child
- Her joy was short-lived
- Katherine discovered that Seymour was planning to replace her with Princess Elizabeth
- Katherine was heart-broken
- In June 1548 Katherine travelled to Sudeley Castle for the birth of her child and was reconciled with Elizabeth
- Childbirth proved Katherine’s undoing as with so many of Henry’s wives
- Born 30th August the child was a daughter
- Katherine fell ill with puerperal fever and she was delirious
- On 5th September 1548 Katherine died, and was buried as Henry’s widow
- Katherine’s was the first protestant royal funeral
- Henry’s six wives were each expected to be queen, lover, companion and mother to a Tudor dynasty
- Only Jane Seymour succeeded and she died giving birth to the longed-for son
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