Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later known as both Lady Knollys and Dame Catherine Knollys, (c. 1524 – 15 January 1569), was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.

Biography

Catherine Carey was born in 1524, the daughter of William Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king. Catherine was thus Elizabeth I's maternal first cousin. Some historians believe that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII, which would make her also Elizabeth I's paternal half-sister through their shared father, Henry VIII. Other historians suggest that this was a rumour spread by supporters of Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleyn, in 1536; however, claims that she had stayed overnight to entertain and distract her aunt Anne in the Tower of London before the latter's execution have been dismissed. Catherine went on to be appointed Maid of Honour to both Anne of Cleves, in November 1539, and Catherine Howard, who were the fourth and fifth wives of Henry VIII. On 26 April 1540 she married Sir Francis Knollys. Her husband was knighted in 1547 and was named a Knight of the Garter in 1593. He was also Treasurer of the Royal Household. From the time of her marriage, Catherine became known as Mistress Knollys, and from 1547 as Lady Knollys. When not in London, the couple lived at Reading in Berkshire and Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire. As Catherine and her husband were staunch Protestants, they fled to Germany in spring 1556 during the reign of Queen Mary I. Princess Elizabeth wrote to her cousin whilst she lived on the continent, and Catherine is known to have resided in Basel and Frankfurt am Main whilst on the continent. Catherine was appointed Chief Lady of the Bedchamber after Elizabeth became queen. For the first ten years of the reign, Lady Catherine combined the most senior post among the ladies-in-waiting with motherhood to more than a dozen children. Elizabeth never recognized Catherine as her half-sister, and it was certainly not a relationship that Catherine or Sir Francis ever openly claimed. At court, Catherine was acknowledged as the queen's favourite among her first cousins, and Elizabeth's lack of other female relatives to whom she felt close may be adequate to explain this favoured position. She died on 15 January 1569 at Hampton Court Palace, being outlived by her husband and children. At the time of her death, her husband was in charge of the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots. Catherine was buried the following April in St Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, with the grieving Queen herself paying £640 2s. 11d. for the interment. There is a small commemorative plaque in the abbey, although her chief monument is at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire. Catherine's epitaph reads:"The Right Honourable Lady Catherine Knollys, chief Lady of the Queen's Majesty's Bedchamber, and Wife to Sir Francis Knollys, Knight, Treasurer of Her Highnesses Houshold, departed this Life the Fifteenth of January, 1568, at Hampton-Court, and was honourably buried in the Floor of this Chapel. This Lady Knollys, and the Lord Hunsdon her Brother, were the Children of William Caree, Esq; and of the Lady Mary his Wife, one of the Daughters and Heirs to Thomas Bulleyne, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde; which Lady Mary was Sister to Anne Queen of England, Wife to K. Henry the Eighth, Father and Mother to Elizabeth Queen of England."

Issue

Sir Francis and Lady Knollys produced sixteen children:

In literature

The possibility that Catherine, and perhaps her brother Henry, were illegitimate children of Henry VIII, appears in many works of fiction, including Wendy J. Dunn's The Light in the Labyrinth and Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. Carey is also a character in Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance, where she is sent to the royal court during the time of Queens Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard, and in The Virgin's Lover, where, as the mother of the seventeen-year-old Lettice Knollys, she is among Elizabeth I's closest companions. In Henry VIII's Wives by Alison Prince, the book's narrator has a friend, Catherine "Kitty" Carey, whose father died of sweating sickness and whose mother is Mary Boleyn. In this book, Catherine was thought to be the king's daughter. Catherine is the featured subject in the novel Cor Rotto: A Novel of Catherine Carey by Adrienne Dillard and in The Lady Carey by Anne R. Bailey.

Sources