“Sire, I am confused and apprehensive to inform your majesty that there are rumours here of a new queen, although I do not know why, or how true it may be.” So wrote Francois Van der Delft in February 1546 to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Van der Delft was writing from the English Court of Henry VIII, where he was the imperial ambassador. The ambassador was not, however, speculating as to who would take the vacant seat at the King’s side. For Henry was already married, to what would be his final wife, Catherine Parr.
Van der Delft was picking up on rumors flying about the court that Queen Catherine was to be replaced by another Katherine, the recently widowed Duchess of Suffolk, Katherine Willoughby. The Duchess had been the wife of one of Henry’s greatest friends, Charles Brandon and a friend of Henry’s too in her own right. While Queen Katherine had given Henry no children, Katherine Willoughby had proven fertility- and was only 27. Queen Catherine’s possible removal becomes more compelling in light of events of that summer when she narrowly escaped a plot to implicate her in heresy. So did Henry VIII plan to marry again- and to the wife of his dead best friend?
Who was Katherine Willoughby?
Katherine Willoughby was born on March 22, 1519, the daughter of the eleventh Baron Willoughby and his wife Maria De Salinis, one of Katherine of Aragon’s original Spanish Ladies in Waiting. In March 1528, the Baron died without a son, making nine-year-old Katherine his only heir. Henry VIII controlled the little girl’s wardship- but that same year he sold it to Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, for £2,266, 13 shillings and 4d. Brandon was Henry’s best friend- and brother in law, having married Henry’s young sister, the widowed Queen of France, Mary Tudor. The Duke intended Katherine as a bride for his son, Henry. So Katherine was absorbed into the Brandon household.
However, plans changed. In June 1533, Mary Tudor died, and within three months, the fourteen-year-old Katherine was married- but not to young Henry Brandon. Instead, she wed her forty-nine-year-old guardian, the Duke of Suffolk himself. Brandon wanted Katherine’s fortune- something he would not control even if his eleven-year-old son had been of age to marry her. His unexpected loss was therefore timely and something he was quick to take advantage of- however distasteful it seemed.
Katherine’s thoughts and feelings on the matter are unknown. In truth, she would have had little choice. Within a year, she had provided Brandon with a new son, named Henry after his eldest brother and mother’s previous fiancé died the previous year. The godfather of Brandon’s new heir was none other than the King himself- a sign of great honor. In fact, Henry showed his regard for the couple and Katherine in particular by paying the attending midwife and nurse £4 in gratitude for the safe delivery.
A further son, Charles followed in 1537. By this time, the Duchess of Suffolk and the King of England were firm friends. They had begun exchanging New Years gifts in 1534, just a year after Katherine’s marriage to Brandon and it was to Katherine that Henry turned for consolation after the death of Jane Seymour in 1538. Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador of the day, noted how Henry had been ‘masked and visiting her’ meaning that he was enjoying dancing and musical entertainment in the duchess’s company.
What else they enjoyed is a matter of speculation. Certainly, Henry wanted to keep the Duchess close. He appointed Katherine Willoughby as Lady in Waiting to each of his subsequent wives- including Catherine Parr. However, whatever the King’s preferences or feelings, Henry could not marry Katherine even if he desired it- because her husband remained alive. However, on August 22, 1546, Brandon died. Katherine was a widow at just 26. Henry in the meantime had married Catherine Parr three years previously, and the royal couple had just been through a decidedly sticky patch.