Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 24th September 1561 in the Tower of London, Lady Katherine Grey bore her first son, Edward Seymour, later Viscount Beauchamp. Lady Katherine had been in the Tower since early August when her secret marriage to Edward, Earl of Hertford was revealed to Elizabeth I. The Queen was beyond furious. Lady Katherine, whom she did not like personally, was being put forward as a possible successor should she, Elizabeth, not marry and have children. For Katherine to have married without royal sanction was a flagrant breach of the Act of Succession of 1536 which outlawed marriage to a member of the royal family without the monarch’s consent.

When Katherine was released to house arrest a couple of years later, her little boy was sent to live with his father (also under house arrest) and grandmother, Anne, Duchess of Somerset. The young man was eventually received at court, although his repeated attempts to prove his legitimacy were not successful. His choice of a wife disappointed his father, but Elizabeth allowed the match – pleased that he had chosen a wife of fairly low rank, which would reduce his chances of being considered a suitable heir for her. Beauchamp died before his father, leaving his second son to inherit the Earldom of Hertford, and, eventually, the Duchy of Somerset.

Read a full account of the secret marriage of Beauchamp’s parents here.

On 23rd September 1571 Katherine Pole, Countess of Huntingdon died. Katherine’s life exemplifies the complexities of family life at the Tudor court. Her grandmother was Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, and her father was Henry, Lord Montague. Both of them were executed on charges of treason following the Exeter Conspiracy. She married Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon in 1532. His uncle, Edward, Duke of Buckingham had also been executed in 1521. The couple had eleven children, the eldest of whom, Henry, was brought up with Edward VI and became known as the Puritan Earl.

Her husband was a supporter of Northumberland and the Puritan Henry married Katherine Dudley. Francis was sent to the Tower for supporting Lady Jane Grey. Katherine’s uncle, however, was Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, and Katherine herself was ‘restored in blood’ by Queen Mary, whilst her cousin Dorothy Stafford was a Protestant exile under the same queen. Katherine appears to have remained a Catholic sympathiser during Elizabeth’s reign.

On 22nd September 1515 in the Duchy of Julich-Cleves-Berg, a daughter, Anne, was born. Anne of Cleves was one of four children and was brought up strictly by her mother Maria, Duchess of Julich in her own right. The court of Cleves was heavily influenced by the thinking of Erasmus, but did not formally adhere to Lutheranism. This moderate position, and the position of Anne’s brother-in-law, the Elector of Saxony, as head of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League that opposed the Emperor, made her a very suitable choice for a wife for the King of England.

Henry became enamoured of the portrait of her by Holbein, and was eager to have her as his bride. Unfortunately, when they met in the flesh, he found her profoundly physically unattractive. She also had few of the courtly accomplishments that his previous wives had had. Nevertheless, the marriage took place, and Anne became Queen of England in 1539. Her jointure was generous - it was to be as ‘ample’ as that of the late Queen Jane Seymour. Unable to perform his marital duties, and no longer wishing to be in League with the Lutherans, Henry had the marriage annulled. Anne acquiesced, and continued to reside in England, apparently on excellent terms with Henry (now transmogrified into her ‘brother’) and his children. She received the castles of Hever and Richmond as part of the divorce settlement – not bad for 6 months work!

Recent research by Heather R. Darsie, biographer of Anne of Cleves, suggests that her birthdate is actually 28 June 1515.