The year 1523 looked to be a good one for the King of England. Following the birth of a son in 1521 to his longtime bride Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII of England had undergone several happy accidents that had bolstered his spirits. His mistress Mary Boleyn had born him a son that would bare his friend William Carey's name. His wife was pregnant for what would be the last time, with what Henry hoped would be a Duke of York. And thus, when the Mistress Anne Boleyn threw herself at his feet and begged for his help in marrying the Lord Henry Percy, it was with great pleasure that he did so. Thus, on the 17th of May, 1523, the Lord Henry Percy and Anne Boleyn were wedded in front of an audience that included the King and Queen.
The two would celebrate the birth of a son in 1524, a healthy young boy named Henry for the King their benefactor. A few months prior, the Queen miscarried what would have been another daughter. The Queen took immediately to the young Lordling and his mother, placing the glamorous Lady Percy amongst her highest ladies in her household. Her son was betrothed, in 1525, to Catherine Willoughby, the 6 year old daughter of Maria de Salinas, a friend of the Queen. At the same time the Prince of Wales was betrothed to Maria of Portugal, the daughter of Manuel I of Portugal and Eleanor of Austria.
The Lady Anne Percy, at the court of England, was infamous for her hold on the royal couple. People claimed the woman had bewitched the King and Queen with her French manners and wit, although others just claimed magic was involved. Whatever her tricks, it she who procured the title of Viscount Rochford for her father and the marriage of her brother to Jane Parker. The Lady even went as so far as to snub the Lady Mary Talbot, her husband's previous betrothed, when she attempted to end the feud publicly. But there was pain in the young woman's life.
Her second child, which would have been a second son, was stillborn in 1525. The was followed by miscarriages in 1527 and 1528. Finally, a daughter was born in 1530, but unfortunately this little girl died a week after birth. It would not be until 1533 when, in what would be her second last pregnancy, the Lady Percy had a living 2nd child, named Katherine Percy for the Queen. The birth meant she was not at court for the arrival of the Princess Maria of Portugal, who would marry her husband in August and leave for Ludlow with the Prince of Wales following the Christmas celebrations. However, the Lady Percy, with her daughter, did join the Princess Mary in 1534, when she joined the French Court to marry the Dauphin. Their union would produce a single child in 1535, a son named Henri. During this time, the Lady Percy reunited with her French friends of the past was rumoured to have had an affair with the King himself, although it seems she and the Queen of France actually were friendly at the time, so it is probably just a rumour.
Following the death of the Dauphin in 1536, the Lady Percy returned to England, to enjoy the celebrations of the birth of Mary Tudor to the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Lady Percy acted as the proxy for the Princess' godmother Eleanor of Austria, holding the Princess herself. Anne found this pleasurable time cut short, as her husband died in 1537. Following her husband's death, her son was placed as a ward of the Duke of Suffolk. Fearful that her son's intended bride would be stolen from him, she married the Duke herself, finding him drawn to her glamour. The marriage would produce no children, but the Duke would find his stepdaughter Katherine Percy a delightful child and in 1540 managed the engagement between herself and the grandson to the Duke of Norfolk and his direct heir after his son.
Their marriage would last 6 years and see the marriage of the Earl of Northumberland to his intended. The Lady Catherine would provide 4 children over the course of that marriage, of which the eldest two survived: Margaret Percy (b.1543) and Thomas Percy (b.1545). It would also see the disastrous second marriage of the King to Marie of Guise in 1538, which followed the death of Catherine of Aragon in 1537. The marriage would be terribly unhappy and would produce a single daughter in 1540, named Margaret Tudor. The disaster of the marriage was due to the hurriedness of it all. Marie had originally been in talks to marry the King of Scotland after the death of his first bride, Madeline de Valois. However, the rug was pulled out from under her after, with the permission of both King Francis and King Henry VIII of England, he married the widowed Mary Tudor, who apparently cried at the alter. Thus, she was available to marry the increasingly obese King. Then, during their wedding celebrations, the young Queen was forced to watch her aging husband humiliate himself by falling from his horse, breaking one leg and spraining the other. Despite this, the King stayed in good spirits until he heard that his bride had made cold remarks of his injuries. Following the birth of their daughter in the early months of 1540, the two acted as two seperate households within the court and seemed never to share a bed, inspiring the King to take many mistresses, including the Mistress Catherine Howard, who would stay his mistress for 3 years, until her death in childbirth in 1546, giving birth to a dead, bastard son.
The Family Trees
Henry VIII of England (b.1491: d.1550) m. Catherine of Aragon (b.1485: d.1537) (a), Marie of Guise (b.1515: d.1560) (a)
1a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1510)
2a) Henry Tudor, Duke of Cornwall (b.1511: d.1511)
3a) Henry Tudor, Duke of Cornwall (b.1513: d.1513)
4a) Henry Tudor, Duke of Cornwall (b.1515: d.1515)
5a) Mary Tudor (b.1516) m. Francis de Valois, Dauphin of France (b.1518: d.1536) (a), James V of Scotland (b.1512) (a)
1a) Henri II of France (b.1535)
2a) James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1539: d.1542)
3a) Alexander IV of Scotland (b.1541)
4a) Stillborn Son (c.1543)
5a) Arthur Stewart, Duke of Albany (b.1546: d.1548)
6a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1518)
7a) Henry IX of England (b.1521: d.1551) m. Maria of Portugal (b.1521) (a)
1a) Mary Tudor (b.1536)
2a) Elizabeth Tudor (b.1539: d.1541)
3a) Edward VI of England (b.1543)
4a) Eleanor Tudor (b.1546)
5a) Miscarriage (c.1548)
6a) Stillborn Son (c.1550)
8a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1523)
9b) Margaret Tudor (b.1540: d.1557)
Anne Boleyn (b.1501/1507) m. Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland (b.1502: d.1537) (a), Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (b.1484: d.1546) (b)
1a) Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland (b.1524) m. Catherine Willoughby (b.1519) (a)
1a) Margaret Percy (b.1542)
2a) Thomas Percy (b.1545)
3a) Stillborn Son (c.1549)
4a) Miscarriage (c.1551)
2a) Stillborn Boy (c.1525)
3a) Miscarriage (c.1527)
4a) Miscarriage (c.1528)
5a) Unnamed Daughter (b.1530: d.1530)
6a) Katherine Percy (b.1533) m. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (b.1536) (a)
1a) Edward Howard, Earl of Surrey (b.1555)
2a) Joan Howard (b.1560)
3a) Grace Howard (b.1564)
7a) Miscarriage (c.1536)