13 February 1542 – Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard was a bit of a goer by all accounts. But did that really mean she should lose her head on this day in 1542?
Howard was Henry VIII’s fifth wife, and it was his consort’s alleged extra-curricular love life that earned her a beheading for treason.
A bit of alright
With his voracious appetite for wives, Henry VIII had originally singled Catherine Howard out as a bit of much longed for eye candy after his arranged marriage to the plain and puritanically unsexy Anne of Cleves was annulled.
Needless to say Howard’s racy reputation failed to die down despite the sanctity of her royal marriage. Her conduct during the marriage and her infamy that preceded it all served to ensure that Henry felt cuckolded.
Off with her head
As a proud man and one not to shy away from doling out death penalties at a drop of an axe, Henry was quick to get Howard beheaded on grounds of treason.
Henry’s penultimate wife of two years was just 21 when she parted company with her head. And with that, fatefully, Catherine met the same end as her cousin…Anne Boleyn, leaving Henry free to bag his next and final spouse.
Also on this day
13 February 1942 – Patrick Stanley Vaughan Heenan
Bookmark this site
del.icio.us | digg | facebook | reddit | StumbleUpon
