How old was KATHERINE HOWARD? | Queen in her teens | What age was Katherine Howard? History Calling

How old was KATHERINE HOWARD, the fifth wife of Henry VIII? We know she died in February 1542, but what age was Katherine Howard when she married the King and when he had her executed after a Tudor scandal erupted surrounding her relationships with other men? Estimates have ranged from a birth year of 1518 to one of 1525, but was she really a 14 year old queen, or was Henry VIII’s youngest wife already in her early 20s when she married in July 1540? In this six wives documentary from History Calling, we’ll look at the available evidence to ask, when was Katherine Howard born? This will include the wills of her grandparents from the 1520s and the comments of those who saw her in the 1540s and estimated her age, including the French ambassador, Charles De Marillac.

Katherine came to court as a lady-in-waiting to her predecessor during the brief marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves and it was at this time that she caught the eye of her soon-to-be husband. If Katherine really was just 14 at the time of her marriage, she may not have been the youngest queen of England ever, but she’ll have been close. She was certainly much younger than her cousin and Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn and we’ll examine whether the fact that she never served in Anne’s household can be used as an indicator of her age. Queen Katherine Howard’s death has left many unanswered questions about her life (we can’t even decide how to spell her name – perhaps it should be Queen Catherine Howard), but she remains endlessly fascinating as one of the Tudors’ greatest tragedies.

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Thumbnail: Queen Catherine Howard (Various lithographs from 'The Studio' journal), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, public domain (detail)

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