Catherine Howard [ b ] c. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court. He secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves , where Howard caught the King's interest. She married him on 28 July at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. He was 49, and it is widely accepted that she was about 17 at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII.
Catherine was stripped of her title as queen in November and beheaded three months later on the grounds of treason for committing adultery with her distant cousin, Thomas Culpeper. Catherine was a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk , but her father, Lord Edmund Howard , was the third son of the Duke, and under primogeniture , the eldest son inherited their father's estate. Catherine's mother, Joyce Culpeper , already had five children from her first husband, Ralph Leigh c.
With little to sustain the family, her father often had to beg for the help of his more affluent relatives. Her father's sister, Elizabeth Howard , was the mother of Anne Boleyn.
She also was the second cousin of Jane Seymour , because her grandmother Elizabeth Tilney was the sister of Seymour's grandmother, Anne Say.
After Catherine's mother died in , her father married two more times. In , he was appointed Controller of Calais. Catherine was born in Lambeth in or about , although the exact date is unknown. Being the third son of a prominent family, Edmund's opportunities were limited to relying on the generosity of his wealthier family members and his own ability to pave his way.
