Curiously enough, I’ve only recently watched “Becoming Elizabeth” as I’ve concomitantly read Edward VI’s biography.
It is hardly a surprise to observe there were great differences between the show and the book, specially concerning Katheryn Parr and Thomas Seymour’s own relationship.
Admittedly, though I know little of this matter myself, came across the excerpt below which gave me a lot to think about. For those who are little familiar with the first Dowager Queen of England in an almost a century (the last being Queen Elizabeth Wideville), the following content might actually come a surprise—or not.
What matters here is to promote not only a healthy discussion about their union, but showing that whereas Katheryn did love the man, she was not his first option to marry and she was not a “fool” completely blinded by her affection for him: she hesitated at first, unwilling to remarry in at least two years before becoming Lady Seymour out of respect for the king of England. However, Lord Thomas was a persuasive man, writing as far as a poem to claim the dowager queen’s heart—and he eventually succeeded it, as we are seeing next.
“Katherine moved into her dower house at Chelsea - away from the eyes at court, it was the ideal setting for Seymour to pay secret visits by night. Letters were sent and received, their contents, upon Katherine's urging, were quickly burnt: 'Your letter being finished ... I remembered your commandment to me’, Seymour wrote, ‘wherewith I threw it into the fire, be minding to keep your requests and desires’, yet the survival of both their letters suggest that neither was quite so willing to part with these tokens of love and affection.
Katherine confided her feelings to her friend Lady Paget, who urged marriage. But Katherine was hesitant. She wished 'it had been her fate to have him for a husband' but she was mindful of her position as queen. She had even kept the affair secret from her sister Anne who, when Katherine finally revealed the news, 'did not a little rejoice'.
As a growing number of friends discovered the secret of the affair, it became increasingly difficult to keep it hidden and rumours soon abounded. Meeting Seymour in St James's Park, Princess Elizabeth's servant Katherine Ashley challenged him over his marriage plans. Seymour boasted 'he would prove to have the queen', to which Ashley retorted that she thought this 'was past proof as I had heard he was already married to her'.
Ashley was right, for sometime between mid May and the beginning of June the couple had wed in secret, with one commentator believing the marriage had taken place as early as thirty-four days after Henry's death.
If this was true, then Katherine was playing a dangerous game - if she had become pregnant, there would have been no certainty that the child was Seymour's or Henry's. Katherine remained unwilling to commit herself, having doubts to the last.
She claimed she was his 'loving wife in her heart' but was determined 'never to marry, and break it when I have done, if I live two years'. Nevertheless, Seymour got his way. News of their marriage could not stay secret for long.
'I wish the world was as well pleased with our meaning as lam well assured [of ] the goodness of God's’, Katherine had lamented, 'but the world is so wicked that it cannot be contented with good things’. Instead she suggested that they find support for their union amongst the most powerful members of the council and court.
Seymour tested Princess Mary's reaction. It was not good. Mary considered it 'strange news', writing that if Katherine was keen, there was little she could do. In any case, 'being a maid' she was 'nothing cunning' about 'wooing matters'.
Instead, Mary appealed to her dead father's memory: if Katherine was not willing, certainly she would not 'persuade her to forget the loss of him, who is as yet very ripe in mine own remembrance’. Privately Mary was horrified at the prospect, and blamed Katherine for the affair. She possibly even appealed to Elizabeth to discourage the queen, but her half-sister, not wishing to stir up trouble, told her that they lacked any influence at court and should suffer with patience what was impossible to prevent.
Seymour would have to look elsewhere for support and he knew precisely whom to turn to. His confidence rested in the fact that he had managed to remain in regular contact with Edward through John Fowler, a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, whom Seymour gave a bribe of £10 (£3,000) shortly after the coronation and before long was in his regular pay. Despite being almost continually in the presence of other gentlemen of the chamber, Fowler was soon able to converse with Edward and soon struck up a close friendship with the king, speaking to him alone.
It was not long before Seymour was calling in the favours. At the end of February he had met with Fowler over a drink and asked whether Edward had mentioned him - and in particular whether the king had ever wondered why he had remained unmarried. Would Edward be happy for him to marry? And who should he take as his bride?
Without asking too many questions, Fowler approached Edward a few days later, somewhat unsubtly repeating Seymour's queries. Edward's first reply was to suggest Anne of Cleves, but then, giving the matter more serious attention, answered that he thought Mary to be the best choice, if only 'to change her opinions'.
When Seymour heard, he laughed. 'I pray you, Mr Fowler, if you may soon, ask his Grace if he could be contented I should marry the Queen.’ He also wanted to know if Edward would write a letter on his behalf in support of the marriage.
It was at this time that Seymour, without Fowler's knowledge, began to visit Edward in private. It was not long before he had persuaded him to write a letter to Katherine, dated 25 June. Despite Edward writing to Katherine at the end of May urging her to 'continue to love my father', now the king seemingly endorsed her relationship with Seymour, since the letter ingeniously made their marriage appear as Edward's personal request to Katherine.
Moreover, it gave specific assurance that Edward would safeguard Katherine against any reaction from Somerset, who the couple knew would be furious at their secret union: 'Wherefore ye shall not need to fear any grief to come, or to suspect lack of aid in need; seeing that he, being mine uncle, is so good in nature that he will not be troublesome ... if any grief shall befall, I shall be a sufficient succour.'
The entire letter was no doubt composed by Seymour, who probably dictated it to the king.(…) When news of his brother's marriage leaked out, Somerset was furious. Edward's blessing made Somerset all the more enraged, and the king was not immune from the brunt of his anger, noting in his journal that 'the Lord Protector was much offended’.
But it was his wife Anne, the Duchess of Somerset, who took the greatest offence to the union. Described as 'a woman for many imperfections intolerable, and for pride monstrous, subtle and violent' who held Somerset under her sway 'by persuasions cunningly intermixed with tears', she detested Katherine.”
SKIDMORE, C. “Edward VI: The Lost King of England”.
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