So I am an avid fan of musical theater and I happened to stumbled upon a musical called SIX about Henry the eighth’s six wives. And I wanted to know two things:
One: Did Cathrine Howard have as much of a Terrible love life and hard living situation as the musical suggests and
Two: How accurate are the personalities of the queens in and outside of the musical. Were they exaggerated for entertainment purposes?
handwavy It's very stylized. I love it though!
One: ...Pretty much? It's not entirely certain how old Kathryn Howard was, much like her cousin Anne Boleyn. The more respected date rage is 1521-1525. She definitely died in 1542, meaning she was probably anywhere from 17-21 when she died. After her mother died, she was sent to live with her step-grandmother, who was terrible with supervision. In 1536, the Manox thing started. A lot of people seem to think Catherine, given the standards of the time, had control in the affair. (He was ~36?) I might cheerfully ask if there is evidence for brain chemistry changing significantly from that time period to ours? Because teenagers are biologically teenagers. There was a year long relationship with Frances Dereham that possibly would have counted as a marriage.
She was sent to be a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves. Um. Henry, who was nearly fifty and had a pus-filled ulcer and other medical issues, went "I want that one." Kathryn agreed, though she was possibly courted by Culpepper at that point. Culpepper also might have been the Culpepper who was pardoned for raping a married woman. So. There's that.
Two: I think the Catherine Parr song is possibly the most accurate, but that might be me hearing the Linda Porter biography in it. The Anne Boleyn one is... not so much? Anne was clever and worldly and very interested in the politics and religion of the day. I like and agree with most of the Kathryn Howard tone, and the Anne of Cleves ignores the fact that she was rumored to hope to remarry the king. The Katherine of Aragon one is very much a snapshot of a moment, with the "please tell me what I've done wrong" echoing the spirit of a famous speech she gave in court. Jane Seymour is a cipher, but I think matches decently a lot of the evidence we have.
Haus of Holbien is just silliness. Good silliness. But yeah.
Um, this could turn into a dissertation on its own, so some books might include the David Starkey Six Wives, Young and Damned and Fair about Kathryn Howard, Linda Porter's biography of Catherine Parr, and Eric Ives' Anne Boleyn, at least to start. (Further reading includes Julia Fox's book on Katherine of Aragon and her sister Juana, and her bio of Jane Parker Boleyn. I am a rabid book reccer, as a warning.)
Edit because I forgot the Catherine/Kathryn/Katherine spellings I was using to separate the wives and misjudged Henry's age.
Omg 🙏 thank you! That was so insightful, I always had an interest in history,especially Henry the VIII and his wives so when I saw the musical I was A L L O V E R I T but when I went to the live show and saw west end live on YT it made me think about how my teacher and the musical didn’t align so I find this extremely helpful!! Thanks bunches!!!! ~IceSuave