Sunday, May 18, 2008

Question from Elizabeth - Did Anne B. and Kathryn H. ever meet

I know Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn were first cousins, and lived in different places (Catherine at the Duchess' and Anne at court) but is there any evidence that they met/knew each other?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking 'no', but I may very well be wrong! I'm interested in hearing a more knowledgeable someone's answer for this, as well.

Anonymous said...

I am not aware of any documentary evidence that they met, but I would be very surprised if they had not. It is important to recall that the "social circle" associated with the royal court was relatively small, and English society at the time was extremely conscious of rank and status. Thus it tended to be an insular group, mixing with each other more than with non-court-affiliated families. Because both the Boleyn and the Howard families were so closely entwined with the royal court throughout the late 1520s and early 1530s, it seems to me extremely likely that Anne Boleyn did meet Katherine Howard, and probably did so on more than one occasion.

Anonymous said...

I honestly doubt Katherine and Anne ever met. Although they were both part of the Howard family, when their age difference is taken into consideration, I think it highly unlikely. Katherine was born between 1519-1525, most likely nearer the latter, and therefore would only have been an infant when Henry and Anne first began their relationship. We do know Anne had dealings with Katherine's father, but yet there is no reason to believe she would have known, or even have met, one of his younger, insignificant children. It seems to me Anne would have certainly been aware of Katherine's existence as one of her uncle's children, but would never have met her, as Katherine would still have been very young at Anne's death, and likely never visited the court during her earliest years.

Just my opinion anyway.