A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



In January 1541 Anne of Cleves sent the king a 

 New Year's present of two large horses with violet 

 velvet trappings, and came herself to Hampton 

 Court with her suite, accompanied only by the 

 Duke of Norfolk's brother, who ' happened to 

 meet her on the road." She was graciously received 

 by the king and queen, and after supper she and 

 the queen danced together. The next day they all 

 three dined together, and the king sent, through 

 the queen, a present to the Lady Anne of a ring 

 and two small dogs. She then returned to Rich- 

 mond.' 79 



The king and queen were again away, and re- 

 turned to Hampton Court in October I54l. !8 

 The day after their arrival the king heard mass in 

 the chapel, ' and gave most hearty thanks for the 

 good life he led and trusted to lead with his wife ; 

 and also desired the Bishop of Lincoln, his ghostly 

 father, to make like prayer and give like thanks 

 with him on All Souls' Day.' 281 The Privy 

 Council were 'given permission to go to their 

 country houses for change of air.' On All Souls' 

 Day (November 2) they were to meet again.* 8 * 



It was on the occasion of this return that Henry 

 found his son, the Prince of Wales, ' sick of a 

 quartan fever, an unusual malady for a child of 

 three or four years.' Henry summoned ' all the 

 physicians of the country ' to advise, and was told 

 that the fever would put the child in danger. 

 One of the physicians secretly told Marillac, the 

 French Ambassador, that the ' Prince was so fat 

 and unhealthy as to be unlikely to live long.' >83 It 

 is possible that this incident throws a lurid light on 

 Henry's subsequent treatment of Katherine, to 

 whom he had been married for over a year without 

 any signs of the issue he always desired so ardently. 284 

 No one has ever hidden a more crafty and subtle 

 mind under a bluff and genial outward demeanour 

 than Henry VIII. It is impossible to doubt the 

 guilt of Katherine, but it is difficult to believe that 

 Cranmer and the other members of the Council 

 would have dared to bring the matter before the king 

 if they had known that the news would be altogether 

 unwelcome to him.' 83 He received the first intima- 

 tion of it, made to him by a paper put into his 

 hand by Cranmer while he was hearing mass in 

 the chapel at Hampton Court, with extreme horror, 



and showed himself overwhelmed with rage and 

 distress.* 86 



He professed to refuse to believe the account 

 brought to him, and constrained himself, as Marilhc 

 says, ' to be as gay as ever with the ladies,' while a 

 further investigation was going on ; but on Sunday, 

 6 November, he left Hampton Court on pretext 

 of hunting, dined 'at a little place in the fields,' 

 and at night came secretly to London,* 87 where the 

 Council was called at midnight, and did not dis- 

 perse till 4 or 5 a.m. on Monday.* 83 The palace 

 was closely guarded and Katherine was informed of 

 the charges against her by the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury and other members of the Council. 

 Cranmer's letter to Henry gives an affecting account 

 of a private interview he had with her afterwards, 

 and of her state of terror and despair.' 89 To the 

 Council she denied all, but confessed to Cranmer, 

 hoping thereby to obtain the royal pardon. In 

 the midst of this harrowing conversation she heard 

 the clock strike six, and gave way to an outburst of 

 grief, saying it was ' for remembrance of the time ; 

 for about that hour Master Heneage was wont to 

 bring her knowledge of the king.' * 90 



The Council sent instructions to Cranmer to de- 

 clare the whole miserable state of affairs to the 

 queen's household, which he did, in the ' Great 

 Watching Chamber.' '" The household was then 

 dismissed, and Katherine herself sent to Syon 

 House, Isle worth, under an escort. She remained 

 there a few weeks, hoping in vain for Henry's 

 pardon, which Cranmer certainly endeavoured 

 to obtain for her.* 9 ' From Syon House she was 

 taken to the Tower, and was executed on Tower 

 Hill on 13 February 1542.*" 



The best-known ghost story of the palace is 

 connected with Katherine Howard. The ' Haunted 

 Gallery,' part of the Tudor building on the right- 

 hand side of the way down the ' Queen's Great 

 Staircase,' is so called because Katherine's ghost is 

 said to run shrieking through the room. The 

 legend is that she attempted to make her way into 

 Henry's presence as he was hearing mass in the 

 royal closet in the chapel. She ran down the 

 gallery and reached the door, where the king's 

 guard seized her and carried her back, while her 

 husband remained in the chapel listening to her 



L. and P. Hen. Fill, xvi, 2 1 7. A 

 malicious piece of gossip was circulated 

 concerning this meeting of the king 

 and Anne of Cleves ; ibid. no. 1414. 

 Later on 'two honest citizens were im- 

 prisoned for having said that the Lady 

 Anne of Cleves was really the king's 

 wife and that she had had a child ' a 

 rumour widely believed ; ibid.no. 1441. 

 She visited the king again at Hampton 

 Court in 1546; Acts of P.C. 1542-7, 

 p. 239. 



90 They returned on 24 Oct. and the 

 Privy Council met there on the same 

 day. L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, 1281. 



*>l Proc. P.C. (Ed. Nicolas), vii, 352. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, 1292. 



283 Ibid, xvi, 1297. Letter from 

 Marillac to Francia I, 29 Oct. 1541. 



284 Vide letter to Francis I, on rumours 

 concerning Katherine ; L. and P. 

 Hen. VIII, rvi, 1332. See also what 



is said about her coronation, which ap- 

 parently never took place; ibid. 712, 

 1183. 



285 Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, 

 certainly believed at the time that the 

 whole matter had been arranged for the 

 king's convenience, and suggested that 

 for political reasons he wished to annul 

 the divorce from Anne of Cleves. 

 Chapuys wrote to Charles V of rumours 

 of a reconciliation with Anne as early 

 as January of that year ; L, and P. 

 Hen. VIII, 1328. 



238 Nicolas, Proc. P.C. vii, 354-5. 

 ' Letters of the Council to the English 

 Ambassadors abroad ' ; L. and P. 

 Hen. VIII, xvi, 1334, &c. (12 Nov. 

 IS40. 



287 Chapuys says by barge ; ibid, rvi, 

 1328. 



238 Ibid. There arc two accounts in 

 the L. and P. Hen. Vlll of this affair, 



338 



one by Chapuys the Spanish ambassa- 

 dor, and one by Marillac the French 

 ambassador. Marillac's account a 

 considered the more correct. Vide 

 Gairdner, L. and P. Hen. VIII, xyi, 

 pref. p. xliii. 



289 Ibid. 1325, 1328, 1332. 



290 Ibid. 1325. The clock was no 

 doubt the curious astronomical one 

 which is still to be seen in the clock 

 tower. It had been put up about the 

 time of Katherine's marriage. 



291 Ibid. 1331-33; Wriothesley, 

 Chron. i, 130, the 'Great Watching 

 Chamber ' is the room behind the great 

 hall. 



291 On the plea that she had entered 

 into a 'pre-contract' with Francis 

 Dereham and that therefore her mar- 

 riage with the king was void. 



293 Diet. Nat. Biog. ' Katherine 

 Howard.' 



