Catherine Parr Part III

Catherine soon found though that her new marriage had caused problems.  She was very happy with Thomas at first, but it caused a rift in the Seymour family.  The Princess Mary disapproved of her step mother remarrying so quickly.

 There was already tension in the Seymour family, between Edward and his brother Thomas.  Thomas was ambitious and unstable... and Edward was determined to retain his position as Lord Protector and young King Edward’s guardian.  Tom however was a lively and amusing character and he was ready to use his charm to amuse and please the boy King.  He lent him money, and was fun to be with and Edward though a solemn young boy in many ways, liked his uncle Thomas and preferred him to  his official guardian...

Anne, the Protectors wife was not happy that Catherine was trying to take precedence over her, because she was the Dowager Queen.   Anne regarded herself as the first Lady of the land until Edward VI had a wife.   There were rows about the use of jewellery, and Catherine was angry with her husband’s brother and his arrogant wife.

But she soon was to find that her marriage was a lot less stable and less of a love match than she had hoped for.  Young Princess Elizabeth was part of the household and Thomas was attracted to her though she was only 14. 

 Elizabeth had something of a crush on the older man, and Thomas was not averse to playing around with his wife’s step daughter.  Elizabeth tried to avoid his attentions, but her own feelings were probably ambivalent and she was no match for a man of his age and experience.  He came into her bedroom, in the mornings, teased her and smacked her familiarly.  Catherine seems to have tried to overlook this horseplay but she realized that it was all dangerous... That her step daughter’s reputation could be damaged by it and that Thomas’ inability to resist his attraction was damaging her marriage.   So she sent Elizabeth away to live in a different household with her governess Kat Ashley... who had not been very skilled at protecting her young charge – but Elizabeth was very close to her. 

The young Princess seems to have been relieved when she left the Queen’s household, and remained friends with her stepmother.  Catherine was now having her first pregnancy and was not in good health.   

Elizabeth wrote to her, and for a time all was well but Thomas’s ambitions had not disappeared.  Catherine may have been disappointed by his flirtation with a young girl, who was also a royal princess.

However she settled down to await the birth of her child, and in due course in September 1548, she gave birth to a daughter, Mary.  However she became ill with puerperal fever and within a few days, she died.   Her fourth marriage had been very short lived and had not been very happy for long.  During her delirium before she died she accused Thomas of poisoning her.

Her daughter Mary died in infancy and Thomas, while he grieved for a time, went on with his plots to gain control of the boy King.  And it led to his being accused of treason and executed.

Catherine was an intelligent and educated woman, who did make Henry VIII’s last years more comfortable and happier.  She also had an important role in pushing forward the cause of Protestantism in England, even writing a book which no previous queen had done.