Sir George Howard (courtier)

Sir George Howard (c.1525–1580) was an English courtier, politician, author and diplomat, and the brother of King Henry VIII's fifth queen, Catherine Howard. Howard held offices at court under four monarchs, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, most notably the office of Master of the Armoury, and undertook several diplomatic missions. A masque written by Howard was produced at court during the reign of Edward VI, and he is mentioned by name in the Langham letter, which describes the Earl of Leicester's entertainment of Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in July 1575.

Howard was the third son of Lord Edmund Howard (c.1478 – 19 March 1539), the third son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney. Lord Edmund Howard was reputed a spendthrift who wasted the lands he obtained through his first marriage to Joyce Culpeper, the daughter and coheir of Sir Richard Culpeper of Oxen Hoath, Kent, and 'fled abroad to avoid his creditors', leaving his children by her to be brought up by relatives. It thus seems likely that Sir George, like his sister Katherine, later Queen Katherine Howard, spent part of his early life in the household of his step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

Howard's father died on 19 March 1539, 'overwhelmed by debts'. However Howard's financial situation was alleviated in 1540 when his sister, Katherine, married King Henry VIII as his fifth wife. The King granted Howard a pension of 100 marks, several manors, and, together with his brother Charles, a licence to import Gascon wine. On 13 February 1542, however, Howard's sister Katherine was executed for treason, and Howard turned to soldiering, serving as a captain at Boulogne in 1546, and as a standard-bearer at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547, for which latter service his 'forward courage' was noted and he was knighted by Somerset on 28 September 1547. Howard campaigned again in Scotland in 1548, and was sent on a diplomatic mission to King Henry II of France in May 1551.

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