Page "Tudor dynasty" Paragraph 18

The fifth marriage was to the Catholic Catherine Howard, a cousin of Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, who was promoted by Norfolk in the hope that she would persuade Henry to restore the Catholic religion in England.

Henry called her his “ rose without a thorn ”, but the marriage ended in failure.

Henry's fancy with Catherine started before the end of his marriage with Anne when she was still a member of Anne's court.

Catherine was young and vivacious, but Henry's age made him less inclined to use Catherine in the bedroom ; rather, he preferred to admire her, which Catherine soon grew tired of.

Catherine, forced into a marriage to an unattractive, obese man over 30 years her senior, had never wanted to marry Henry, and conducted an affair with the King's favourite, Thomas Culpeper, while Henry and she were married.

During her questioning, Catherine first denied everything but eventually she was broken down and told of her infidelity and her pre-nuptial relations with other men.

Henry, first enraged, threatened to torture her to death but later became overcome with grief and self-pity.

She was accused of treason and was executed on 13 February 1542, destroying the English Catholic holdouts ' hopes of a national reconciliation with the Catholic Church.

Her execution also marked the end of the Howard family's power within the court.