Pretty, vivacious and ambitious, young Katherine Howard was, unfortunately, not very bright and this was to lead to her downfall.
The oldest daughter of Lord Edmund Norfolk, the brother of the powerful Duke of Norfolk, and his wife Jocasta, Katherine was regarded as just another of too many children to feed, and therefore a burden. As Lord Edmund was heavily in debt, he sent her to her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk who let the auburn haired young girl run wild. Here Katherine had dalliances with her music tutor, Henry Mannox, reached an understanding of marriage with Francis Dereham, a gentleman-pensioner, and fell in love with handsome Thomas Culpepper. This was hardly the way for an aristocratic young lady to behave Katherine's main problems were her indiscretion and flirtatiousness, which would get her into great trouble as Queen.
The Catholic Duke, who was extremely ambitious, was anxious to get rid of the Lutheran Anne of Cleves, King Henry's present wife, and his Protestant enemy, Thomas Cromwell. He knew that Henry had an eye for pretty young girls and obtained a position for Katherine as lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves. Katherine, of course, wanted to be Queen and accepted the King's attentions with alacrity, even though he was 50, unattractive and very fat, with a nasty abscess on his leg. Although he could be charming, his leg was very painful and he was quite often very bad-tempered.
Henry was enamoured with Katherine, and showered her with gifts and substantial grants of land. He quickly decided to annul his marriage with Anne, who, probably terrified, made no fuss whatsoever. One of the wisest of the wives she was well-rewarded for her graciousness.
Katherine was advised by her family to remain chaste until her marriage. However, the indiscretions of her past would catch up with her and Henry would be sadly disillusioned to find that his wife was no pure young girl.
Katherine married Henry in secret at the magnificent palace of Oaklands so that he could be alone with her for ten days. She enjoyed her luxurious life as Queen. Henry indulged her by buying her new gowns every day and lavishing jewellery upon her. However, there was soon gossip about the King's young wife. She appeared to be greedy and frivolous and Henry was disappointed when she failed to conceive.
Francis Dereham, her past lover, was employed by Katherine as her private secretary, and soon nasty rumours spread about Katherine's past. Joan Bulmer, who used to be Katherine's secretary, and was ambitious for a place at court, begged her to be allowed to 'share in her great destiny'. As Katherine knew that Joan was aware of her former affair she could hardly refuse. Mary Lascelles, a Protestant, told her brother John, about what she regarded as Katherine's loose morals. One girl in the dormitory at Lambeth Palace where Katherine was raised had refused to sleep nearby because of her affair with Francis Dereham. Thomas Cranmer, Henry's friend and Archbishop of Canterbury, was made aware of these rumours.
Katherine had also re-ignited her affair with Thomas Culpepper. It was understandable that she preferred the attentions of handsome young men to the bad-tempered, unattractive and much older King, but she was also very reckless, believing that he would not find out.
Henry's pride was trampled on, and his heart was broken when he learned of the rumours. Katherine confessed to going to bed with Francis Dereham and there was evidence that she had committed adultery. If she had confessed to a pre-contract with Dereham it may have saved her life because a physical relationship with him would then have been understandable. Also she would not then have been regarded as being married to the King. However, Katherine didn't realise this and was given no advice
Katherine died with great pride and dignity, praying for the King's preservation and God's forgiveness, before she was executed. Her lovers were severely punished, dying horrible deaths. One of the most tragic of Henry's wives, she paid much too great a price for being young, pretty and flirtatious.
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