Catherine Howard
| Catherine Howard | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Queen consort of England | |
| Tenure | 28 July 1540 – 23 November 1541 |
| Born |
c. 1523 Lambeth, London |
| Died | 13 February 1542 (aged 18–19) Tower of London |
| Burial | Church of St Peter ad Vincula |
| Spouse | Henry VIII of England (m. 1540; her execution 1542) |
| House | Howard |
| Father | Lord Edmund Howard |
| Mother | Joyce Culpeper |
| Religion |
Church of England prev. Roman Catholic |
| Signature |  |
Catherine Howard (c. 1523 – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541, as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Catherine (then 16 or 17) married Henry VIII (then 49) on 28 July 1540, at Oatlands Palace, in Surrey, almost immediately after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged.
Catherine was stripped of her title as queen within 16 months, in November 1541. She was beheaded three months later, on the grounds of treason for committing adultery while married to the King.
Catherine was one of the daughters of Lord Edmund Howard (c. 1478 – 1539) and Joyce Culpeper (c. 1480 – c. 1528). Her father's sister, Elizabeth Howard, was the mother of Anne Boleyn. Therefore, Catherine Howard was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, and the first cousin once removed of Lady Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I), King Henry VIII and Anne's daughter. As a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443–1524), Catherine had an pedigree. Her father was not wealthy, being a younger son among 21 children and disfavoured in the custom of primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherits all his father's estate.
When Catherine's parents married, her mother already had five children from her first husband, Ralph Leigh (c. 1476 – 1509); she went on to have another six with Catherine's father, Catherine being about her mother's tenth child. With little to sustain the family, her father was often reduced to begging for handouts from his more affluent relatives. After Catherine's mother died in 1528, her father married twice more. In 1531 he was appointed Controller of Calais. He was dismissed from his post in 1539, and died in March 1539. Catherine was the third of Henry VIII's wives to have been a member of the English nobility or gentry; Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves were of Continental royalty.
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