190: Catherine Howard
English Queen and the Fifth Wife of Henry VIII
Born: c.1522, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)
Died: 13 February 1542, Tower Green, Tower of London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)
She was Henry’s second of three Catherines and served as Queen Consort for one year.
Henry first started to consider her for marriage after he decided to end his marriage to Anne of Cleves—Catherine was one of her maids of honor.
She lost everything when the king realized she’d had relations before he married her and though unproven to this day—that she might have had a relationship with another man while they were married.
The king was so angry he had Parliament pass a new edict saying it was illegal for an “unchaste” woman to marry the king and had her beheaded two days later. Sickeningly enough Catherine was the cousin of Anne Boleyn and twenty-five years younger than the king—he was forty-three and she was eighteen-ish when they wed.
Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked
Located In My Personal Library:
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier
Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman
The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte
Sources: