Background This letter refers to the successful English siege of Boulogne in July 1544. I have included it because it is an example – along with a similar letter by Queen Anne Boleyn – of the typical letter of an English queen consort. Katharine the Queen. Right trusty and well-beloved cousins, we greet you well. […]
Letters Written by the Six Wives of Henry VIII
Katharine of Aragon
- to her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, 2 December 1505
- to her husband, King Henry VIII, 16 September 1513
- to her daughter, Princess Mary, April 1534
- to the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, 1535
- to her husband, King Henry VIII, 7 January 1536
Anne Boleyn
- to King Henry VIII, late summer 1526
- to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, mid-summer 1528
- to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, 1529
- to Thomas Cromwell, 1535
- to her husband, King Henry VIII, May 1536
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Katharine Parr
- to her husband, King Henry VIII, July 1544
- to the Privy Council, 25 July 1544
- to her stepdaughter, Princess Mary, 20 September 1544
- Read the biographies of the Tudor queens - visit the The Six Wives of Henry VIII main page.
Sources
- Letters of the Queens of England, 1100-1547, ed by Anne Crawford
- Lives of the Queens of England, by Agnes Strickland
- Catherine of Aragon, by Garrett Mattingly
- Anne Boleyn, by Norah Lofts
- A Tudor Tragedy, by LB Smith
Elizabeth I’s Letters About Mary Queen Of Scots
To Mary, queen of Scots, October 1586. At the opening of the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringhay on 12th October 1586, the Commissioners delivered her this personal letter from Queen Elizabeth. It has been translated from the French. You have in various ways and manners attempted to take my life and to […]
Letter of Katharine of Aragon to the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys 1535
Background In this letter, Katharine writes to Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial ambassador and her fervent ally against the annulment. Upon Katharine’s request, Chapuys had asked Henry VIII if Katharine and Princess Mary could meet. The princess was ill and had not seen her mother for four years. Henry did not give his permission but he […]
Katharine Parr Letter to her stepdaughter, Princess Mary 20 September 1544
Background Katharine Parr was very close to all of her stepchildren, though she and Princess Mary differed greatly in matters of religion. Mary was, in truth, only a few years younger than Katharine and so the queen did not have a profound impact upon Mary’s life – not as she did upon the much younger […]
Letter of Katharine Parr to her husband, King Henry VIII, July 1544
Background Katharine Parr wed King Henry VIII on 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. Henry was her third husband and not her personal choice. She was in love with Thomas Seymour, the brother of Henry’s third wife, Jane; he eventually became her fourth husband just a few months after Henry’s death in 1547. Once […]
Letter from Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey mid-summer 1528
Background This letter was written in the summer of 1528, as indicated by its reference to the sweating sickness. When a servant of Anne’s became infected at court, Henry VIII reluctantly sent her away to Hever Castle. Most of his famous love letters to Anne were written during this period of forced separation. Anne did […]
Letter of Anne of Cleves to her husband, King Henry VIII 11 July 1540
Background The following letter was Anne of Cleves’s very diplomatic response to Henry VIII’s request for an annulment of their brief marriage. Though her brother pressed her to return home to the duchy of Cleves, Anne was content to remain in England. There were two reasons for this – first, Henry was so grateful for […]
The last letter of Sir Thomas More, 1535
Summary The following letter was written to More’s daughter Margaret on 5 July 1535, the day before his execution. More wrote with a stick of charcoal on cloth; King Henry VIII had ordered his books and writing materials to be removed. More had been appointed Lord Chancellor upon Wolsey’s fall in 1529. He was already […]
Letter from Katharine of Aragon to her husband, King Henry VIII 16 September 1513
Background This letter concerns the great English victory against the Scots at Flodden Field. Henry VIII was busy at war in France, along with most of his great nobles and councilors. Katharine was Queen Regent in his absence, but she tactfully credits the victory against the Scots to Henry himself. Along with letter, she sent […]
Letter of Lady Jane Grey to Queen Mary I, 1554
In this letter, Lady Jane explains the circumstances which led to her becoming queen for nine days. Her assertion that she was poisoned is nonsense. ‘Although my fault be such that but for the goodness and clemency of the Queen, I can have no hope of finding pardon…. having given ear to those who at […]