Most have heard the tales of Henry VIII and his six wives (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived), but the one that fascinates me so much is the young Catherine Howard.
By far the youngest of his queens; he 50 and she just a teenager, one wonders; could she have ever measured up to be the queen he needed?
She was far from the virginal girl her family portrayed her to be when she married the king, but I don’t believe she was the over sexed young woman many claim her to have been either. She was a teenager, plain and simple. A young woman who had no idea of the horror her decisions, and those of others around her, would bring to her life.
It took just one note; filled with confessions from men who were tortured, to bring the end to Catherine’s short life.
When arrested at Hampton Court in November 1541; Catherine reportedly broken free from her guards and ran screaming down the corridor to the Chapel Royal. She screamed for the king to have mercy on her, but none came.
Her ghost has been seen and heard running and screaming down what is now called the haunted gallery.
When I walked down that corridor, I thought of that young woman and the fear she must have felt as she screamed for mercy. I did not hear, nor see her ghost, but maybe on another trip there I just might….
Time Traveling Granny 