Ultimate Fate
When Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, Catherine was free to shape her own future. She played no role in the regency for nine-year-old King Edward VI. Her official duties ended, Catherine finally looked to her own happiness.
After four years, Catherine could at last marry her true love. Less than four months after Henry's death, the Queen Dowager married the dashing Lord Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral and uncle to the king. As she wrote to Seymour, "God is a marvelous man."
Yet many were scandalized by the secret marriage. Mary counseled her half-sister Elizabeth to avoid Catherine Parr and rebuked Seymour for requesting her help in convincing the queen to publicize their marriage. It was left to the juvenile Edward VI to put down opposition in the Privy Council by announcing that he had long known and approved of the match.
More struggles were to come. Catherine's new brother-in-law, Lord High Protector Edward Seymour, refused Catherine possession of the queen's crown jewels - now the property of his wife.
Nor was Catherine's happy home life all that it appeared. The 14-year-old Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, had joined Catherine and Thomas at the queen's Chelsea manor. Unknown to Catherine, her husband had once wooed Elizabeth. Now, he romped openly with the alluring red-head, often visiting her bedroom to tickle or try and kiss her. Catherine, suspecting nothing, played along, once holding Elizabeth down while Seymour cut her gown in strips. The truth of Seymour's infatuation destroyed her friendship with Elizabeth and badly rocked her marriage.
News that she was pregnant brought much-needed comfort. Catherine's daughter, Mary, would be born on August 30, 1548 at Sudeley Castle. But Queen Catherine would not survive the birth. Delirious with puerperal fever, she raged against her husband for hours on end. Her will would leave the ambitious Seymour all of her property, but the Admiral would not long survive her, executed for treason. (The fate of Mary Seymour is unknown.)
Catherine Parr was buried at Sudeley Castle's St. Mary's Church. She was 36 years old.
THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York. © 2003 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved.