Author Description

In 1533 Katherine Willoughby married Charles Brandon, Henry VIII's closest friend. Duchess of Suffolk at the age of fourteen, she became a powerful woman ruling over her houses at Grimsthorpe and Tattershall in Lincolnshire and wielding subtle influence through her proximity to the King. She grew to know Henry well and in 1538, only three months after Jane Seymour's death, it was reported that they had been 'masking and visiting' together. In 1543 she became a lady-in-waiting to his sixth wife Catherine Parr. Henry had a reputation for tiring of his wives once the excitement of the pursuit was over, and in February 1546, only six months after Charles Brandon's death, it was rumoured that Henry intended to wed Katherine himself if he could end his present marriage. This is the remarkable story of the woman who so nearly became the seventh wife of Henry VIII.