On the 28th July 1540, Henry VIII married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, the woman he called his “rose without a thorn”, at Oatlands Palace.
The King had only just had his marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled so the wedding was private and low key, and therefore is not mentioned by the chroniclers Edward Hall, Charles Wriothesley and Raphael Holinshed. They do, however, mention Catherine’s first public appearance as Queen on 8th August at Hampton Court Palace. Hall wrote:
“The eight day of August, was the Lady Katheryn Haward, nece to the duke of Norfolk and daughter to the lord Edmond Haward, shewed openly as Quene at Hampton Court, whiche dignitie she enyoyed not long, as after ye shall here.”
Yes, she did not enjoy the position of Queen for very long as she was taken by armed guard to Syon Abbey on 4th November 1541, lost her title of Queen on 22nd November 1541 and was executed for treason on 13th February 1542.
You can find out more about Catherine Howard in the following articles:
- The Marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine Howard
- Catherine Howard – The Material Girl?
- The Fall of Catherine Howard
Wasn’t this also the day that Henry chose to have Cromwell executed? Yikes, that was a grim foreshadowing of Kathryn’s marriage!
Marrying on the day of Cromwell’s execution showed a certain sense of irony. Or maybe he just thought it would make a good distraction for the nervous attendant courtiers :).
was looking up kathryn howard the other day and came across the warwick castle website and seen the wax work model of kathryn i thought she looked very grown up for a teenager and very pretty all the wives were and too good for henry they have all been drawn from the portraites so life like . makes me sad what happend to poor kathryn and anne boleyn shame all the wives were tiny apart from anne of cleeves who was a bit bigger.