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“Life is very beautiful”
Catherine Howard's last words; before her death[src]

Catherine Howard, sometimes spelled as Katheryn Howard, was the fifth wife of Henry Tudor VIII, as well as the lover of Thomas Culpepper.  Like her cousins, Anne Boleyn, George Boleyn and Mary Boleyn, she was a niece of Thomas Howard, the patriarch of the powerful Howard family. Being young, enslaved to her passions, and not very smart, Catherine was easy for Henry Howard to manipulate; in order to gain favor with the king.

Henry thought that Catherine was pure; before taking her to his bed; but unknown to him, she had several other lovers. She appointed her childhood friend, Joan Bulmer as a lady-in-waiting to help keep her secret; who was one of the very few people who knew about her past. Catherine's relationship with Henry was initially seemed happy, but Henry's crippling jousting injury at the hands of Sir Henry Norris years ago had prevented him from keeping up with her sex drive, which frustrated her.

Later on, through the machinations of Catherine's chief lady-in-waiting, Lady Jane Rochford, she began to have a secret yet intensely sexual affair with the king's personal groom, Thomas Culpepper. But all of her secrets were eventually discovered and she was stripped of her rank, her various gifts and all other privileges, and she was subsequently executed for adultery.

Season 3[]

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Charles Brandon (left) presents Catherine Howard (right) to King Henry as a "distraction".

Catherine appears in Season 3's finale, having been selected by Sir Francis Bryan and Charles Brandon to find the increasingly jaded King a new sexual distraction. Francis picked her out of a group of young women; who were the wards of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk - a noblewoman with loose morals. Catherine was revealed to be a cousin of the Earl of Surrey as well as a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, and hence a first cousin of Anne Boleyn and her siblings, despite the considerable difference in their ages.

Although Catherine is young enough to be Henry's daughter, maybe even his granddaughter, he is intrigued by Catherine's youth, beauty and vitality, and quickly becomes infatuated with her when she becomes his secret mistress, even taking her horseback riding to the still-unfinished Nonsuch Palace for a tryst. The combination of her seeming innocence and insatiable sensuality brought him a powerful sense of rejuvenation that his marriage with Anne of Cleves sorely lacked in. This new attraction was also what motivated him to divorce his fourth wife, with whom he had never been happy.

Season 4[]

Henry has married Catherine in a private ceremony and presented her to his court at the start of season 4; during a grand banquet. The reactions of the court are widely dispersed; some hope that; she would; make the king happy, some hope to gain elevation through manipulating her like; with the previous queens, while some; such as princess Mary - think she is a completely unworthy queen. The Spanish are exasperated; with Henry's many marriages, while the French are amused by the youth and beauty of his new bride.

Henry's obsessive; but amorous spoiling of Catherine becomes an irritating feature to the court; especially; when he bestows upon her all of Jane Seymour's former lands and properties, as well as much of the confiscated wealth of the executed Thomas Cromwell - even while taking her on the Northern Progress he promises her to take her on a shopping spree for even more dresses and jewels. In one instance, among the properties that; he bestows upon his queen is Baynards Castle, a large castle on the bank of the Thames; he gives it to her as a jointure. He also gives her a jeweled necklace as a much smaller gift. Though Catherine initially loves Henry and the same with her, it is mainly because of his sexual appetites and his showering her with an endless supply of extravagant gifts; such as dresses, jewels and lands. But his old leg wound soon becomes infected again, this; makes him more irritable, prone to exhaustion and unable to engage in frequent sexual intercourse. This in turn leads Catherine to become increasingly unsatisfied with her marital life.

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Queen Catherine argues; with lady Mary.

Catherine also encounters other problems; such as interaction with the other members of Henry's family. She initially tries to befriend both of the king's daughters; but with no success - Mary again displays her open contempt and while Elizabeth is flawlessly polite to her first cousin once removed/step-mother, she prefers to spend time with the better educated and more genteel Anne of Cleves and truthfully despises Catherine as much as her sister, not realizing that they are related by blood through Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn.

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Catherine with Henry at Christmas (4.02)

Catherine eventually becomes fed-up with Mary's contempt and flat-out lack of respect and obeisance, and immaturely punishes Mary for her impertinence; by taking two of her maids away, deepening the hatred from the princess and her household. She is also jealous by how much the people of England love Mary more than her and concerned that Henry will not like her if she does not conceive a child, she undergoes one false pregnancy, interrupting a meeting with the king's council to tell him the initial good news; but never bears any children "despite all the king's attentions"; making him feel like she had let him down. She does apologize to him later; but Catherine forms a surprisingly good friendship with the king's ex-wife, Anne of Cleves, generously sharing Henry's Christmas gifts to her with Anne in episode 4.02. In addition, she and Henry go on Northern Progress together. When she asks him if he would like to come to her bedchamber that night, Henry refuses to engage in sex; with her because he felt it was "too dangerous"; due to her carrying children.

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Queen Catherine Howard dances; with Lady Anne of Cleves.

Catherine turns away from Henry at the end of 4.02; when she falls in love; with Thomas Culpepper, the arrogant groom (right-hand man) of the king; who has lusted after her; since episode 4.01. They have sex several times on the arrangement of her chief lady-in-waiting, Lady Jane Rochford - the abused widow of George Boleyn, the brother of queen Anne Boleyn. As with Anne, Rochford secretly despises the current queen and hopes to discredit her; having learned of Catherine's past from Joan Bulmer, she revealed it to Culpepper, then informed the queen that Culpepper was in love with her. But unfortunately, in episode 4.04, Catherine's former lover, Francis Dereham arrives at court blackmailing her; with knowledge of her sexual history. Having paper from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk to recommend him for a position, she is forced to give him a position in her household to keep him silent on the matter which raises the suspicions of Lord Edward Seymour.

Henry continues to dote on his unfaithful wife; without knowing of her infidelity; but she is eventually investigated in episode 4.05 and her fate is easily predictable. He receives an anonymous letter from Archbishop Cranmer, claiming that; Catherine has lied to him about her sexual history, ironically; during a church service in which Bishop Gardiner declares that; Catherine is the perfect companion for Henry. Henry is not convinced she has deceived him at first; but nonetheless orders her confined to her apartments until the matter is investigated; with only Jane Rochford to attend to her needs, as stated by the sergeant of the guards. All of the other maids; including Joan Bulmer, are forced out of the room; by the guards. This immediately causes Catherine to panic; Dereham, now her private secretary, has been loudly boasting of his past sexual relationship; with her while drunk and under threat of torture and later torture itself, he gives away full details of their history to Henry's shock, sadness and fury.

Catherine's household is immediately discharged; by Sir Thomas Seymour and two of the guards formerly in her service; all of her coffers and chests are sealed and placed under guard, and all of her jewelry is returned to Henry. For her offenses against Henry, the king and his council have also ordained that; she also has forfeited the title of queen and must therefore; be known as "Lady Catherine Howard". Upon hearing all of this, Catherine briefly breaks out of her confinement and runs through Whitehall pleading to talk; with Henry, the Sergeant continually ordering her to stop moving before the other two guards restrain her; but he simply gives her a cold stare and allows the guards to drag her back to her apartments and later to Syon Abbey. Presumably, all of her other gifts were taken away from her as well.

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Catherine is put under house arrest on her husband's orders.

After Catherine is stripped of her goods and titles, and confined to a church and her marriage to Henry annulled because of her deceit to the king on her prior sexual encounters, despite this, she is grateful to be alive. Bishop Gardiner tells her that; she should simply admit to being guilty of a pre-contract; with Dereham and the king will place her in a nunnery for her spiritual protection; but she unwisely insists she was raped and there was no pre-contract between them, hoping to retain some shred of her dignity. Although Gardiner seems to feel sorry for her; but he knows immediately that; she isn't telling the truth and the investigation continues. Catherine's ex-lover, Dereham names Culpepper under torture and with the revelation of her adultery against the king that she is sentenced to death and taken against her will to the Tower of London, where her cousins are buried. Lady Rochford, after being interrogated; but not tortured; since she is a noblewoman is likewise thrown in the tower after it is revealed from Culpepper that she arranged Catherine trysts in the first place.

Unlike Anne Boleyn; who was held in the royal apartments and was; allowed to keep three of her handmaidens while she was in the Tower, Catherine is shut away alone in a small windblown cell with a wood-framed bed and chair. She is offered a confessor by her kind-hearted warden; when told; by him that; she is going to die; but declines, saying, "i've spoken to god so rarely, i do not think he'd know; who i was". Culpepper is beheaded on Henry's orders, while Dereham is brutally hanged, drawn and quartered; Catherine is horrified to see their heads displayed on spikes; when she first enters the Tower. She spends the night; before her execution practicing the process of laying her head on the chopping block; which she asked to have bought to her cell. Lady Rochford had been declared insane after suffering a breakdown in the Tower; as such things were considered a form of insanity in those days; but Henry ordered the drafting of a bill; allowing for mad people to be executed and it became a law very quickly.

Catherine and Rochford are both brought to the scaffold at Tyburn, rather than on the Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn was executed at the end of episode 4.05, where first Rochford is executed after giving a farewell speech. The blood is not even wiped off from the execution block and Catherine already has blood on her; before she is beheaded. Just before she is, she glimpses her former friend Joan in the crowd and realizes that; she had sold her out under threat of torture. Goaded to a single spark of defiance despite her fear and misery, she shouts out "i have come here to die!. I die a queen; but i would rather die the wife of Culpepper!" and then lays her head on the blood-slicked slab. Henry reacts to Catherine's death; even more indifferently than he did to Anne Boleyn's, hosting a party consisting of 26 beautiful women.

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Catherine Howard at her execution.

Catherine does not appear in the series finale; with the illusions of the other deceased queen consorts, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour; but she is mentioned. Anne Boleyn indicates that they were actually first cousins, Catherine was the youngest niece of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; who was also Anne's maternal uncle and that; she empathizes; with and pities Catherine. Like Anne, she was drawn; into unfortunate circumstances through her love for the king and like Anne, she was beheaded on suspicion of adultery, although in Anne's case the charges were false; when Henry has multiple flashbacks of his past; during the final scene, one of them; includes Catherine smiling and dancing.

Henry then breaks down in tears, this; proves that; despite being enraged; by Catherine's betrayal, he still loved Catherine in a way and felt genuine remorse for having her executed, similar to what happened to Anne.

Personality[]

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Katheryn at Christmas

Catherine was extremely childish and immature. She also lacked both her cousin, Anne Boleyn's education and Catherine of Aragon's political experience; instead being fanciful and open hearted like the young child she was. She was easy to use and her own staff and family members; including her cousin, the Earl of Surrey - remorselessly used her as the Boleyns and the Seymours had used their daughters. Catherine never really had what it took to be queen; when she felt unloved by Henry Tudor VIII, she fell out of love with him and became Thomas Culpepper's lover.

Katheryn had no real malice towards anyone; except her step-daughter, Mary due to the fact that Mary was extremely rude and disrespectful towards for no clear reason at all. She had been pampered and spoiled by Henry and as she was unaccustomed to these things, she was very grateful. She enjoyed being treated more fairly than others and loved attention. She was taught overall well but was not much of a scholar. She hated being treated with disdain, especially by her step-daughter, Mary who she considers herself to be her better.

Although Catherine did have a good side to her personality; she was generous to her friends, like Anne of Cleves and her other step-daughter, Elizabeth. Like Anne, she was being used as a piece in the political game of chess played by the Howard family. But unlike Anne; Catherine never understood anything about politics, she was neither intelligent nor bold enough to be a player in her own right, making her ultimately a victim of Surrey and Norfolk's ruthless plots.

Physical appearance[]

Catherine had long golden blonde hair and green-blue eyes. Like all of Henry's queens, she wore beautiful jewelry and crowns, and Henry himself spoiled Catherine rotten; with jewels, dresses and dogs - he did dote on his young queen.

Trivia[]

  • Catherine was the youngest wife of Henry Tudor VIII.
  • Catherine was the second/final wife of of Henry who did not come from an upper-class family. But in history, she was from an aristocratic family.
  • Catherine was the second/final wife of Henry to be executed; the first being her cousin, Anne Boleyn.
    • But unlike Anne, Catherine was executed for a crime (adultery) that she did actually commit. But she did not deserve the death that she had received. Therefore, Catherine was an immature and naive teenager who didn't know any better.

Gallery[]

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