Lady Catherine Grey

Lady Catherine Grey (sometimes spelled "Katherine") ( 25 August 1540 - 26 January 1568), Countess of Hertford, was the second surviving daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Lady Frances Brandon. She was the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey and older sister of Lady Mary Grey. She was born at Bradgate Park in the vicinity of Leicester.

Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, former Queen consort of France. Mary was the daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York and the younger sister of Henry VIII of England.

First marriage

Catherine was married to Henry Herbert, son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke at Durham House on 21 May 1553, the same day as her sister Jane was married to Guilford Dudley. After the wedding Catherine went to live with her husband at Baynard's Castle on the Thames.

Jane Grey was the designated heir of Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII by his third queen consort Jane Seymour. Edward VI died on 6 July 1553 and Jane was proclaimed Queen regnant on 10 July. However Edward VI had removed his older half-sisters Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII by his first queen consort Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VIII by his second queen consort Anne Boleyn, from the line of succession.

Jane was deposed in favour of Mary on 19 July 1553. The Earl of Pembroke sought to distance himself from the Grey family and cast out Catherine from his home and had her unconsummated marriage annulled. The deposed Queen was executed on 12 February 1554. Mary continued to reign until her natural death on 17 November 1558. She was also the second queen consort of Philip II of Spain. Mary died childless and was succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth.

Claim to throne of England

Elizabeth was herself unwed and childless. The matter of her succession would bring Catherine Grey to relative prominence. As a granddaughter of Mary Tudor and great-granddaughter of Henry VII, Catherine had a valid claim to the throne of the Kingdom of England. In fact, under Henry VIII's will she could claim to be next-in-line to the throne and was therefore as significant a threat to Queen Elizabeth as Jane had been to Queen Mary. However, at one point the queen seemed to be warming to Catherine, as a potential Protestant heir, and it was rumoured that she was considering adopting her.

econd marriage

During her time at the court of Queen Mary, Catherine had become friendly with Jane Seymour, daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and niece of Henry VIII's third wife, also named Jane Seymour. Through Jane, Catherine met her brother Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, and fell in love with him. In December 1560, Lady Catherine secretly married Edward Seymour. The wedding was conducted at Edward's house in Canon Row, and Jane Seymour was the only witness. There is no formal record of the marriage, which was considered invalid since Catherine did not have the Queen's official permission to wed.

Queen Elizabeth sent Edward away to France with Thomas Cecil, eldest son of William Cecil. The two were to tour Europe in order to improve their education. Seymour provided his wife with a document that would, in the event of his death, allow her to prove the marriage and inherit his property. Catherine, however, lost the document. Thus, when the always frail Jane Seymour died of tuberculosis, Catherine was not only left alone and friendless at court, she also had no means of proving that she was married.

Catherine concealed the marriage from everyone for months, even after she became pregnant; in her eighth month of pregnancy and on progress with the court in Ipswich, she saw no choice but to seek help from influential court members. She first confided in Bess of Hardwick, Lady Saintloe; however, Bess, frightened that both she and Catherine would possibly be condemned to death for such treachery, not only refused to aid Catherine but also berated the unfortunate girl for having implicated her. Catherine then secretly visited Robert Dudley, brother-in-law to her dead sister Jane, in his bedroom at night and pleaded with him for help. Dudley also refused to help her and then, fearful of the Queen discovering the visit and suspecting an affair, he immediately told Elizabeth everything he knew.

Elizabeth was greatly angered that her cousin, being so close in line to the throne, had married anyone without her permission, and also did not approve of her choice of husband. Catherine was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where Edward joined her on his return to England. Even Bess of Hardwick was imprisoned, as Elizabeth became convinced that the marriage was part of a wider conspiracy against herself.

The marriage was annulled in 1562 but resulted in two children, both of whom were born in the Tower :
*Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hache (1561–1612).
* Thomas Seymour (born 1563).

Death and legacy

Lady Catherine died at Cockfield Hall [http://www.ngfl.ac.uk/tudorhistory/index95.html] on 26 January 1568 at the age of 27, and was buried in the Cockfield Chapel in Yoxford church in Suffolk. Her children were regarded as ineligible to succeed to the throne because of the annulled marriage, which technically rendered them illegitimate. However, in Elizabeth I's and later James I of England's reigns, they were courted as potential heirs to the Crown.

Catherine's son Edward Seymour, styled Lord Beauchamp, married Honora Rogers by whom he had a son of his own, William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, who later caused problems for himself by his secret marriage to Arbella Stuart, another cousin with a claim to the throne of England. On 3 March 1616, he married secondly, Lady Frances Devereux by whom he had seven children. She was the daughter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Frances Walsingham.

Further reading

*Chapman, Hester W. "Two Tudor Portraits: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Lady Katherine Grey". Jonathan Cape, 1960.

External links

* [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/CatherineGrey.htm Catherine at Cockfield Hall] — Tudor Place

ee also

*Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven