Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard was the queen consort of England and a wife of Henry VIII.

Biography
Catherine was one of the daughters of Lord Edmund Howard (c. 1478 – 1539) and Joyce Culpeper (c. 1480 – c. 1528). Her father's sister, Elizabeth Howard, was the mother of Anne Boleyn. Therefore, Catherine Howard was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, and the first cousin once removed of Lady Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I), Anne's daughter by Henry VIII.

She was probably born in Lambeth at about 1523, although the exact birth-date is not known. Henry VIII married her at 28th July 1540 at Oatlands Palace, just 19 days after the marriage between Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII was annulled. She was only 17 at the time, while Henry, was 49.

Catherine was stripped of her title as queen in November 1541. She was beheaded three months later on the grounds of treason at the Tower of London for committing adultery with her distant cousin Thomas Culpeper.

Appearances

 * Henry VIII (episode)

Trivia

 * She was nicknamed "The Rose Without a Thorn" because Henry described her as the "very jewel of womanhood" and claimed to have never known a woman "like her."