Like many medieval monarchs, Henry VIII was not without hypocrisy. While he found no fault with himself for keeping mistresses on the side of his many wives, he did not tolerate such behavior, even in the form of rumors, from his queens. Enter Kathryn Howard. Married for not even two years, Queen Kathryn met her demise at the mercy of rumors of infidelity and freed the queen’s throne for yet another wife.
The fifth wife of Henry VIII was born around 1521. Kathryn was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and the niece of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. She was also first cousin to Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Marriage of Henry VIII to Kathryn Howard
Kathryn came to Henry’s attention in much the same way his other wives had. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves at the age of nineteen. She was a lively and pretty young lady. The Duke of Norfolk, always ready to exploit a convenient attraction, discredited Thomas Cromwell with the failed marriage of Henry to Anne of Cleves and probably simultaneously encouraged Kathryn to respond positively to Henry’s advances.
When the marriage to Anne was annulled and Cromwell executed, Henry could turn more attention to Kathryn. She seemed to bring happiness and life back to Henry in a way which had been greatly diminished with his unconsummated marriage to the second Anne. The two were married 28 July 1540 and Henry found himself very happy with his pretty, young wife.
Rumors of Kathryn’s Infidelity Circulate King Henry’s Court
Kathryn was not as pure as Henry undoubtedly would have liked to believe her to be. As a youth, his new wife had lived with her step-grandmother, Agnes Tilney the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who ran a very relaxed household and in which Kathryn was free to carry on affairs with staff and teachers at a very young age. Reports would have one believe that she was the type woman to welcome flirtations from any man, let alone the king.
Within the first year of their marriage, rumors of Kathryn’s infidelity spread around court. In reality, she probably was faithful to her husband, if flirty with other men. In November 1541, Archbishop Cranmer informed the king of Kathryn’s improper behavior, especially with men around her own age. Henry, thirty years her senior, refused to believe such rumors, but put Cranmer on the hunt for evidence against the queen, just in case.
Kathryn sealed her fate by her own hand. She courted a romance with Thomas Culpepper one of Henry’s courtiers and with Francis Dereham, her private secretary. Love letters to one or both of these men, from Kathryn, were found and held in evidence against the queen.
Both Culpepper and Dereham confessed to illicit relationships with the queen, though it is unknown how much torture was employed to garner such statements, or what exactly was said in the confessions. Obviously, the evidence was weighty enough for Henry. Kathryn was executed 13 February 1542, following the same fate of her cousin, Anne Boleyn.
The fifth wife of Henry VIII, Kathryn Howard, was the kind of woman that made for a good mistress, though Henry mistakenly took her for a wife. One is reminded of Henry’s own exploits and the irony of his fifth wife’s demise.
Sources:
Eakins, Lara E. “Kathryn Howard,” from The Six Wives of Henry VIII. 1995-2009.
“Kathryn Howard” from Tudor-Tastic.
Starkey, David. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. Harper Perennial, 2004.
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