Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later known as both Lady Knollys and Lady Catherine Knollys, (c. 1524 – 15 January 1569), was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.
Catherine's mother was Mary Boleyn, a mistress of Henry VIII before he courted and later married her sister, Anne Boleyn. Catherine is believed by some authors to be an illegitimate child of Henry VIII. She was the wife of Sir Francis Knollys, with whom she had 14 children.
Biography[]
Catherine Carey was born in about 1524, the daughter of William Carey; who was a courtier 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.
Being Maid of Honour to 2 Queens[]
Catherine went on to become Maid of Honour to both Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard, the fourth and fifth wives of Henry VIII. On 26 April 1540 she married Sir Francis Knollys. Her husband was named a Knight of the Garter in 1593, although he had already been knighted in 1547. 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, and because they were staunch Protestants, they fled to Germany during the reign of Mary I.
A Queen's favourite[]
Elizabeth Tudor wrote to her cousin there and Catherine was appointed Chief Lady of the Bedchamber after she became Elizabeth I. 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 recognised 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.
Death[]
Catherine died on 15 January 1569 at Hampton Court Palace, being outlived by her husband and children, and was buried the following April in St Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.