11 facts about Catherine Howard

So how much do you know about Catherine Howard ? We bring you the facts about Henry VIII's fifth wife – and the truth about her adultery and death...

When was Catherine Howard born?

Catherine Howard is thought to have been born sometime between 1518 and 1524, but the exact date is unknown.

Catherine Howard’s birth date is unknown

Born into an aristocratic family, Catherine Howard was the daughter of a younger brother of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk and was first cousin to Anne Boleyn. Little is known about Catherine’s early life, but historian David Starkey describes it as “a scrabbled childhood, with a dominant, providing mother, and a weak debt-ridden and… hen-pecked father”.

Catherine’s mother died when she was a child, so at the age of around 10 or 12 Catherine was sent to live with her step-grandmother, Agnes, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in the countryside near Horsham in West Sussex. The young Catherine “had few prospects”, says historian Josephine Wilkinson.

What was Catherine of Howard's childhood like?

Historical novelist Philippa Gregory describes the Dowager Duchess’s household as being “full of her young wards and companions” and says “they received little supervision”. Catherine and her friends were allowed to entertain male admirers in their large shared dormitory – Catherine herself was “young, merry and vivacious” and “was not scholarly or devout”.

The household has been likened by David Starkey to “a slackly run boarding school”.

Was Catherine Howard sexually abused?

When Catherine was around 13 years old, she is said to have had a relationship with her music teacher, Henry Mannock (aka Manox or Mannox), who had been employed to teach her to play the virginals, a keyboard instrument. When later questioned about it (in 1541, when Catherine was charged with treason), both denied ever having had intercourse.

Catherine had a longer, sexual relationship with a young noble, Francis Dereham, who was a secretary in her grandmother’s household, between 1537 and 1539. The pair “almost certainly became lovers, addressing each other as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’; Francis even entrusted her with his money whilst he was travelling,” says Philippa Gregory. But the jealous Mannock informed the Dowager Duchess, who quickly put an end to the relationship.

• Read more | Did Catherine Howard commit adultery?

Writing for BBC History Magazine in 2016, the academic historian Josephine Wilkinson claimed that Catherine Howard’s relationships with Mannock and Dereham had been non-consensual.

“While living with the duchess [of Norfolk], Catherine was sexually exploited by two men of the household,” she said. “Both men took advantage of their position of authority in the household – and Catherine had no means of defending herself.”

The historian Lucy Worsley echoed Wilkinson’s claims. Writing in The Telegraph, Worsley highlighted the “queasy fact that the girl at the centre of [this] was quite possibly still in her early teens.”

She added: “It’s all very well to describe [Catherine’s] ‘easy charm’ and her ‘abundant store of good nature’, but it is questionable to do so about a girl who, from the age of 11 or 12 onwards, had older men coming into her bedroom. Especially when Mannock was placed in a position of responsibility towards Catherine as her music teacher.”

• Read more | Catherine Howard: The death of innocence

How did Henry and Catherine meet, and why did Henry marry her?

Catherine met Henry through his wife, Anne of Cleves. The young and reportedly beautiful Catherine Howard was maid of honour to Henry’s new queen, Anne of Cleves. Henry and Anne were married for just six months, making her the shortest reigning of all his queens. Henry had only entertained the idea of a match with Anne because “he desperately needed new allies,” says Tracy Borman. “An alliance with Cleves would provide a major boost to the Reformation in England, and it was for this reason that Henry’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, championed it so enthusiastically.”

• Read more | Was Anne of Cleves Henry's most successful queen?

After the collapse of the relationship, Henry was adamant he would choose his next bride for himself. Historian Josephine Wilkinson explains: "Henry fell head over heels with [Anne's] new maiden of honour. Within a matter of weeks – in what was a truly spectacular rise from obscurity to the seat of power – Catherine Howard had become his fifth queen."

What was Henry VIII and Catherine Howards age gap?

Henry was nearly 50 years old when he married the teenage Catherine – at least 30 years older than her – and he was in failing health. “Incapacitated by an ulcerated jousting wound in his leg, Henry’s girth had increased at an alarming rate,” says historian Tracy Borman. “When he became king he had been a trim 32 inches around the waist; by the time he met Anne of Cleves it was closer to 52 inches.”

But, Wilkinson explains, Catherine “restored to [Henry] the youth and vitality he thought he’d lost. After an extended honeymoon they settled into married life and Catherine showed every sign of becoming a good queen.”

• Read more | How many women did Henry VIII sleep with?

Did Catherine Howard have a child?

Catherine had been married to Henry for just 18 months when she was executed at the Tower of London on 13 February 1542, and in that time did not bear Henry any children.

It has been speculated that Henry, who was nearly 50 years old when he married Catherine, was impotent. Examining Henry’s marriage to his previous wife, Anne of Cleves, Tracy Borman writes: “Henry’s inability to consummate the marriage to Anne of Cleves has been traditionally assigned to his revulsion at his new bride. But it is at least equally possible that he was impotent. He was nearly twice his young bride’s age and had become increasingly immobile in recent years. There had been no talk of a mistress for some time.”

But while Catherine had no children of her own, she was, however, stepmother to Mary Tudor and the future Elizabeth I…

Six Wives: A HistoryExtra podcast series

Member exclusive | In this six-part podcast series, we’ll be peeling back the layers of mythmaking to take another look at these fascinating women, who shaped the course of Henry’s reign – and the history of England.

Listen to all episodes now

Did Catherine Howard have a relationship with Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I?

Catherine, who was at least two and possibly even seven years younger than Henry’s elder daughter, Mary, found the role of stepmother difficult.

According to historian Anna Whitelock, relations between the two “were initially fraught”. In her 2010 book Mary Tudor: England's First Queen, Whitelock details how, on 5 December 1540, Eustace Chapuys [Spanish ambassador to Henry VIII’s court from 1529 to 1545] told the emperor Charles V’s sister that the young queen Catherine “had tried to remove two of Mary’s attendants because she believed that the princess was showing less respect to her than to her predecessors.”

But relations between the two women eventually began to settle down, and they treated one another cordially. In May 1541, Chapuys reported that Catherine had “countenanced… with good grace” her husband’s decision to allow Mary to reside at court. The queen later gave Mary a gold pomander bejewelled with rubies and pearls as a gift.

Meanwhile, Catherine found herself a fan in her younger stepdaughter, the Princess Elizabeth, who is thought to have been seven years old when Catherine married Henry VIII. Related by blood (Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, was Catherine’s first cousin), the pair are said to have enjoyed one another’s company during the few occasions on which they met.

Did Catherine Howard have an affair?

Catherine Howard’s biggest mistake, many have argued, was continuing her affair with Thomas Culpeper after she had married Henry VIII. It is thought that Catherine’s maid – Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, (who had previously testified against her husband, George Boleyn, and her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn) – helped Catherine to meet Culpeper in secret while the king was away from court.

But it was Catherine’s earlier liaisons that ultimately sealed her fate. In the summer of 1541, as Henry’s court embarked upon a royal progress to the north country, “rumours of Catherine’s previous indiscretions continued to haunt her and she was forced to give favours and positions in return for silence,” says Philippa Gregory.

News of Catherine’s indiscretions eventually reached Thomas Cranmer – Archbishop of Canterbury and close friend of Henry VIII. Cranmer was told that Catherine’s music teacher, Henry Mannock, had boasted that he knew Catherine’s “privates from all others by a privy mark”, while Francis Dereham was so familiar with Catherine “afore her marriage to the king that he did lie with her a hundred nights in the year in his doublet and hose abed between the sheets.”

Catherine’s relationship with Francis Dereham, whom she had supposedly called ‘husband’ and had sex with, would have invalidated her marriage to the king, because Catherine and Francis would technically have been married according to the canon law enforced by the church.

Knowing this, Cranmer detailed the allegations in a letter addressed to Henry. It is thought that when the court returned from progress, Cranmer left the letter in Henry’s pew in the Chapel Royal for him to find.

Investigations into Catherine’s past quickly followed: Dereham, who was arrested and tortured, confessed and named Culpeper, who was also arrested and confessed under torture, says Philippa Gregory. Mannock, meanwhile, was released.

Why was Catherine Howard charged with treason?

Catherine – who always denied a pre-contract of marriage with Dereham – was charged with treason and was exiled to Syon House (formerly Syon Abbey), which is now in West London (then, it was within the parish of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex). The former lovers found themselves accused of malicious intent under the 1534 Treason Act, “under which anyone could be judged a traitor”, says Josephine Wilkinson. “It was thought Catherine had intended to commit adultery with Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper – so while she was innocent of any actual crime, the terms of the 1534 Treasons Act allowed Henry to condemn her for presumptive treason.”

Both Dereham and Culpeper were tried and, their guilt being predicated on the presumption of Catherine’s, they were condemned to death for treason. Dereham was hung, drawn and quartered, while Culpeper was beheaded. The heads of both men were displayed on pikes on London Bridge.

Catherine, meanwhile, would not face trial, but instead would be “condemned to death by an Act of Attainder, signed by her own husband’s hand,” says Wilkinson. Catherine was beheaded at the Tower of London at 9am on Monday 13 February 1542 along with Lady Jane Rochford. Catherine had been married to Henry for just 18 months.

How old was Catherine Howard when she was executed?

“Received opinion – inspired by the guesswork of the French ambassador Charles de Marillac – has it that [Catherine] was born in 1521, and so was 21 when she went to the block,” says Josephine Wilkinson.

“While it isn’t possible to pinpoint Catherine’s exact age, the wills of two of her relatives place her year of birth between 1523 and 1527, suggesting that she was significantly younger than 21. The Spanish Chronicle goes further, asserting that Catherine was born in 1525, which would have made her no more than 17 when she died.”

The wills of two of her relatives place her year of birth between 1523 and 1527, suggesting that she was significantly younger than 21.

Catherine Howard is buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

What were Catherine Howard's last words?

According to legend, Catherine's last words as she stood on the scaffold at the Tower of London on 13 February 1542 were: “I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpeper.”

But is this true?

Historical novelist Susan Higginbotham explains: "The story that Katherine Howard said the words above comes from the anonymous Chronicle of King Henry VIII, better known to us as the Spanish Chronicle, which was translated from Spanish and edited by Martin Hume.

"As John Schofield notes in The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell, however, the Spanish Chronicle 'is far too cavalier with facts, dates and details to be a credible witness'... The words the chronicler attributes to the queen, then, have to be viewed with great skepticism."

Meanwhile Claire Ridgway, creator of The Anne Boleyn Files website, says: "Contrary to legend and The Tudors, Catherine did not utter the words ‘I die a Queen, but I would rather die the wife of Culpeper’, although I so wish she had!"

Emma Mason is the Digital Editor at HistoryExtra

To find out more about Henry VIII and his six wives, click here.