The Short Life of Katherine Howard | Henry VIII’s Fifth Wife | The Most Tragic Tudor Queen

From History Calling

The life of Katherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, was short and tragic. A first cousin of Anne Boleyn, she was a minor member of the Howard family who was orphaned at a young age and largely raised at the home of her step-grandmother, Agnes, dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Whilst there she was involved with three men, her music teacher, Henry Manox, Agnes’s secretary Francis Dereham and a distant relation, Thomas Culpepper. Then, in 1540, she became a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves and her life changed forever. Still just a teenager she caught the eye of the King and by that July she was his wife and the Queen of England. The pair seemed to get along well. Katherine was Henry’s ‘rose without a thorn’ and her presence appeared to reinvigorate him in the later part of his life. Her relationship with her step-daughter Mary (who was older than her) was tense at times, but she was kind to Prince Edward and Princess Elizabeth, even making little gifts of jewellery to the girl. Her queenship lasted less than 18 months however. In November 1541 her previous transgressions with Manox, Dereham and Culpepper came to light, as did accusations of adultery with Culpepper and all were arrested, along with Katherine’s lady-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford. The men were executed that December, while Katherine and Jane were found guilty by Act of Attainder and executed on 13 February 1542 at the Tower of London. They are presumed to have been buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula, though Katherine’s bones could not be located by the Victorians. In today’s six wives documentary from History Calling, I take a deep dive into the life of the most tragic Tudor Queen, Katherine Howard.