Catherine Carey was the daughter of Mary Boleyn and therefore first cousin to Elizabeth I – but we don’t have quite as much certainty about her father. Officially, Catherine was the daughter of Mary’s husband, William Carey. But Mary was mistress to Henry VIII around the time Catherine was conceived, and there were strong rumors that Henry had been the one to sire Catherine…which would make her also Elizabeth’s half-sister. Regardless of their precise relationship, the two women were very close.
In 1540, Catherine married Sir Francis Knollys, a rising young star in Henry’s court (in 1539 he was one of the men chosen to attend Anne of Cleves on her arrival in England). Perhaps thanks to his Protestant leanings, he also shone in the court of the young Edward VI as well (Francis accompanied the Duke of Somerset to Scotland where he was knighted on the field in Roxburgh). When Mary acceded to the throne, the couple fled to Germany to escape religious persecution (Elizabeth wrote Catherine a letter at the time expressing her grief over their separation, signing it Cor Rotto, broken hearted) – but they returned five years later when Elizabeth acceded to the throne. Then, Catherine became first lady of the bedchamber, and her daughter Lettice a maid of honor….
Catherine was one of Elizabeth’s favorites, and strongly discouraged from leaving (some would say not permitted to leave) leaving court. Still, she would have attended key family events, like Lettice’s wedding to Walter Devereux, then Viscount Hereford and eventually Earl of Essex. Though she was not allowed to go to Chartley to be with Lettice on the birth of her children, not was she allowed join her husband when he was sent north to guard Mary Stuart (perhaps worse, Knollys was not allowed to come nurse Catherine when she fell ill). Catherine died at Hampton Court Palace, with none of her family (well, maybe one daughter). A broken-hearted Elizabeth had her buried in Westminster Abbey with more formality and at greater expense than any other funeral…
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