40 Facts About the Tudor Era’s Awful Courtier, Thomas Seymour

40 Facts About the Tudor Era’s Awful Courtier, Thomas Seymour

Khalid Elhassan - March 22, 2019

40 Facts About the Tudor Era’s Awful Courtier, Thomas Seymour
Wood engraving of Thomas Seymour. Britton Images

23. The ‘Tickle Monster’

As soon as he moved into Katherine Parr’s house, Thomas Seymour started making his moves on princess Elizabeth, and began flirting with her nonstop. Under the guise of fun and games, he got into the habit of bursting into the 13 year old girl’s room at all hours of the day and night, sometimes dressed just in his nightgown, to tickle, pinch, wrestle, “romp with”, and smack her butt as she lay in bed. It raised eyebrows in the household, and Elizabeth’s governess, Kat Ashley, was so scandalized by the creepy behavior that she complained to Katherine Parr.

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