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Katherine Howard
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Katherine Howard as played by [Cast Name]
Motto: "No other Will but His" | |
| Born c. 1521 - executed February 13, 1542 by order of King Henry VIII Character's backstory: Tenth child in her family, from the age of 10, Katherine was brought up in the household of her step grandmother, Agnes Tilney, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Her mother had died young and her father, though a nobleman, was constantly in debt. During her girlhood at the home of her great-aunt, Katherine had led a promiscuous life. Firstly, she had been caught in a compromising position with Edward Manox, her music teacher, when she was 13. The Duchess had immediately fired Manox, and beat Katherine severely for her transgressions. But the flirtation with Manox had been little more than that. The elderly Duchess carefully locked the dormitory of the single women of her household each night, she slept far from it, and was nearly deaf as well. What should have been a chaste and safe stronghold was far from it -- the dormitory was actually an unofficial brothel. The windows were opened as soon as the door was locked, and men from the area had free access to the room, and the women within it. Katherine formed a liaison with Francis Dereham during this time, and he was a frequent visitor to the dormitory. In fact, they had sworn before witnesses to marry each other as soon as she was older, and called each other "husband" and "wife". When he went on a journey to Ireland, he left his money in her possession, and made presents to her of clothing and jewelry. Katherine, in turn, bestowed sexual favors on him, going so far as to have intercourse with him in full view of the other people in the dormitory. When Dereham was questioned (under the influence of torture), he revealed enough particulars about Katherine's anatomy, including a birthmark or scar on her upper thigh, to let Henry know that his testimony could not be trumped up. She came to King Henry VIII's court as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves. Like her predecessors, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, Katherine caught the king's eye while she served the current queen when it is thought she was merely 16 years old and Henry was 49. After Henry quickly dispatched Anne of Cleves, he married Katherine sixteen days later. Henry was greatly taken with his lively new queen, who amused him as his weight and the wound he received from a joust in his earlier days bothered him more and more. Katherine had been brought to court while Dereham was away, and was Queen when he returned. She had made a terrible mistake in allowing him and Edward Manox to become members of her household. Gentility: Position: Queen Consort of England Personality type: The youngest of Henry's wives, she was not known for her maturity. The young queen delighted in amusements, and was altogether described as a flirtatious and lively queen. Unfortunately for her, her vivacious spirit landed her in trouble with other men, and as a result, landed her on the block. Signature look: Petite & pretty, she enjoyed beautiful clothes, dancing and music. According to French ambassador Charles de Marillac, was "a young lady of extraordinary beauty" and of "superlative grace." Nickname: "Rose without a thorn" Endearing trait(s): Sweet & kind natured. She brought Princess Elizabeth forward, befriending her and calling her "kinswoman", though there was danger in angering the King with the reminder of Anne Boleyn. When she learned of Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, once Princess Mary's governess, who had been imprisoned in the Tower for years after Katherine of Aragon's banishment from Court, she risked Henry's anger once again by sending warm clothing and bonnets to the old woman, though she did not even know her. Later, at Princess Mary's request, she pled with Henry for the Countess of Salisbury's life, to no avail, earning herself nothing but a vicious reprimand. Annoying trait(s):Some say she was empty headed and frivolous and in intellect and experience, she certainly was no match for the people and intrigues surrounding her. She was VERY young and impulsive and was used remorselessly by the very people who should have protected and guided her -- her family. Anne of Cleves was said to have remarked, when hearing of Katherine's adultery, "she was too much a child to deny herself any sweet thing she wanted". |  |
CHARACTER CONNECTIONSFamily members: Father Lord Edmund Howard, younger son of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk Mother : Joyce Culpeper First cousin: Anne Boleyn on Howard side of family Uncle: Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk Romance(s): Francis Dereham, a secretary in her grandmother's (and later her own) household. He was beheaded for treason for his relationship with Katherine. Thomas Culpepper, a courtier of the king's. Jane Boleyn, George Boleyn's wife and Anne Boleyn's sister-in-law, arranged their secret meetings. He was also beheaded for treason for his relationship with Katherine. Friends: Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford (formerly Jane Parker, widow of George Boleyn) Enemies: Thomas Cranmer & the Protestant Faction |
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Latest page update: made by MsSquirrly
, Apr 29 2008, 1:53 PM EDT
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Edited by MsSquirrly
37 words added
12 words deleted
1 image deleted
1 widget added
view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags:
anne boleyn
charles brandon
gabrielle anwar
henry viii
jeremy northam
jonathan rhys meyers
margaret tudor
natalie dormer
sam neill
showtime the tudors
the tudors
tudors characters
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