The 'Rose Without A Thorn' Killed While Still A Girl | Katherine Howard | Henry VIII's Fifth Wife

People say "it was a different time"...I still think she was a child, used and abused by older men since she was 13. Poor thing had no clue what she had gotten herself into. Her story is the most tragic among all the wives, even more than Anne Boleyn.

She wasn't stupid. She was a traumatized teenager with nobody to stand up for her or teach her how to take care of herself and her own best interests. She was used and abused by many predatory men.

A child who was never allowed to simply grow and flourish. The way she was taken advantage of by everyone around her was a travesty.

If there's a Hell, I'm sure Henry VIII is there, not because he's not Catholic but because of how he treated his own family...

Katherine Howard didn’t deserve the fate she got.

Finding compassion for her is a sign that humanity is evolving. For how many hundreds of years was she blamed for her fate vs understood as an abused neglected child?

I always felt terribly sorry for her. Henry VIII was such a cruel man.

poor Katherine she had no love in her life, and she was groomed by older men she mistook sex for love and there are a lot of women who made the same mistake.

Poor sweet young girl. She obviously had a heart of gold. I have always heard that however vapid and silly she may have acted in life, she died with dignity... every bit a Queen. RIP Queen Katherine. ❤❤❤

Ironically. She would probably have had healthy children. Henry mustve had brain rot.

Beginning in grade school and through getting a bachelor's degree (biology) I never once had a teacher who cared a whit about having students learn dates for historical events. But, situations like the ones that arose in Henry VIII's court amply illustrate why dates should be emphasized. If you read a history of Henry and you don't learn day-month-year dates, you can easily get the wrong idea about how long it took him to dispatch his wives. It all happened fairly quickly once Henry laid eyes on Anne Boleyn. But, without knowing exact dates, you can easily get the impression that it must have taken decades and decades.

A sad story of a neglected, sexually abused child who was basically forced to marry an obese, smelly, old man, found love in all the wrong places, and paid a heavy price for her poor choices.

I always feel so bad for Katherine. Her story is nothing but tragic.

I have sincere sympathy for all of the six wives of Henry VIii

She was 14/15 yrs old. Still a child and to become Queen would’ve been a huge shock to her. It was a bitchy, conniving court so she stood no chance.

I live in Horsham and walk past Chesworth House regularly. It’s beautiful. A private residence so you can’t visit it and it’s shielded from view but you can see what it’s like online as it was sold some years ago. I think it was on the market for £6 million. The grounds are lovely and reach down to the river Arun flowing close by. Even though she suffered neglect in childhood, she must have enjoyed that house and grounds. It really is lovely. And maybe she visited St Mary’s, the 800 year old church with a tall (slightly crooked) spire visible from the grounds near the house. She could have walked along the river bank towards the Church and town as I often do now.

Truly one of English history's most tragic women. 😞

It sort of makes sense now, Katheryn, someone with daddy issues, and Henry, someone with mommy issuses. I don't know why I never thought of it that way before.

Thanks! Whenever hearing Katherine's story I always get the urge to hug and Mother her. Poor tragic girl.

Out of all of Henry the VIII's wives, Katherine Howard was THE most unlucky one of them all. Used, abused, manipulated, and throw out like trash. One has to wonder; what would have happened if she hadn't been mistreated in her early years of life. Things would have definitely been different for her