William Carey (courtier)

William Carey
William Carey, attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger. From a private Irish collection.
Born	c. 1500
Died	22 June 1528 (aged 28)
Spouse(s)	Mary Boleyn (m.1520–1528)
Children	Catherine Carey Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon
Parent(s)	Thomas Carey Margaret Spencer

William Carey, of Aldenham, in Hertfordshire (c. 1500 – 22 June 1528) was a courtier and favourite of King Henry VIII of England. He served the king as a Gentleman of the Privy chamber, and Esquire of the Body to the King. His wife, Mary Boleyn, is known to history as a mistress of King Henry VIII and the sister of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

William Carey was the second son of Sir Thomas Carey (1455–1500), of Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire, and his wife, Margaret Spencer, daughter of Sir Robert Spencer and Eleanor Beaufort, and grandson of Sir William Cary of Cockington, Devon, an eminent Lancastrian. This Cary family were anciently recorded in Devon, and originally held the manors at Cockington and Clovelly in that county. Eleanor was the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, whose brother John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, was the father of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, grandmother of King Henry VIII; thus William and Henry VIII were third cousins. William's maternal aunt was Catherine Spencer, Countess of Northumberland, and through her, he was first cousin to Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, the former suitor of his sister-in-law Anne Boleyn.

On 4 February 1520, he was married to Mary Boleyn, the elder daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard. They resided at Aldenham in Hertfordshire.