Catherine, Lady Knollys

Catherine Carey
Lady Knollys
Portrait thought to be Lady Knollys, by Steven van der Meulen, 1562
Born	c. 1524 England
Died	15 January 1569 Hampton Court Palace
Buried	St Edmund's Chapel, Westminster Abbey
Noble family	Carey (by birth) Knollys (by marriage)
Spouse(s)	Sir Francis Knollys
Issue Mary Stalker Sir Henry Knollys Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury Edward Knollys, MP Sir Robert Knollys, MP Richard Knollys, MP Elizabeth Leighton, Lady Leighton Sir Thomas Knollys Sir Francis Knollys, MP Anne West, Lady De La Warr Catherine, Baroness Offaly, Lady Butler Maud Knollys Dudley Knollys
Father	William Carey
Mother	Mary Boleyn

Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later Lady Knollys (c. 1524 – 15 January 1569), was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.

Catherine's mother was Mary Boleyn, a mistress of Henry VIII before he courted and later married her sister, Anne Boleyn. Catherine is believed by some authors to be an illegitimate child of Henry VIII. She was the wife of Sir Francis Knollys, with whom she had 14 children.

Catherine Carey was born in about 1524, the daughter of William Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king. Catherine was Elizabeth I's first cousin. Some contemporaries also asserted that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII, which would make her Elizabeth's half-sister. Although this was never acknowledged by the King, Catherine was given deference by the Court as she aged and came to resemble Henry.

Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleyn, in 1536. But according to a biographer of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir, claims that a young Catherine stayed overnight to entertain and distract her aunt Anne in the Tower the morning before the execution are not correct.

Catherine went on to become Maid of Honour to both Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard, the fourth and fifth wives of Henry VIII. On 26 April 1540 she married Sir Francis Knollys. Her husband was named a Knight of the Garter in 1593, although he had already been knighted in 1547. He was also Treasurer of the Royal Household. From the time of her marriage, Catherine became known as Mistress Knollys, and from 1547 as Lady Knollys. When not in London, the couple lived at Reading in Berkshire and Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire, and because they were staunch Protestants, they fled to Germany during the reign of Queen Mary I.