The Tudors, Katherine Howard, an obsession!

I have gained an obsessive interest in Tudor history in recent times. So much so, I have set up a special Twitter account just so I can pretend to be a Tudor lady. Not just any Tudor lady (oh, no...) but one of the most important and memorable of the Tudor ladies (no, not Anne Boleyn, although you're very close) it is... the one, the only... Katherine Howard! (Which would have been easy to guess for some of you, especially if you already know of this other Twitter account.)

My Katherine Howard account is part factual and historically accurate, and partly fictional and totally made up. The factual part is that she is a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Cleves (the fourth wife of Henry VIII) and also that she likes fine clothes and wishes to find a man. I mean if she did not wish to find one, how come she got close with King Henry, and then had some sort of affair with Thomas Culpepper? The fictional part is that I make my character, Katherine, say pretty much whatever I like her to say - within reason. I have a friend (who Katherine did not truly have, I don't think) and that is William FitzYork. He is the unknown son of Edward IV, and does jousting and is respectful to the ladies. Especially to my character, as they are very good friends.

I enjoy role-playing my character very much. It is a joy and a pleasure to pretend to be such a fun and lively lady. In a way, she is kind of like me: she likes music, dancing and having fun, and also being happy. All of which I thoroughly enjoy! I also like the way people spoke back in Tudor times. My lady, my lord, your majesty, etc. All so polite, most of it. Everything in 'Tudor world' feels calm-ish, more civilised, more friendly, just better in so many ways that I cannot even think of. I like how people respond to my character and it is great fun!

Onto my main point of writing this blog post. I wanted to share a poem I wrote the other day. It is about Katherine Howard, as that is the lady I'm playing at the moment, and I wished to express my thoughts about her, whilst at the same time, to tell a bit about her life: some good, some bad.

The poem is as follows:

    Katherine lay awake in her bed,
    Thoughts of Francis danced through her head,
    Like sparrows they hung,
    Like a bird she sung,

    The man she knew was different,
    Changed somehow,
    Many hours together they spent,
    No longer in front of her did he bow.

    Another day,
    More words they didn't say,
    Losing faith and hope,
    With lost words it's though they choked.

    Alive and well,
    Then rung the wedding bells,
    King Henry did love her much,
    The sweet Katherine did have a gentle touch.

    The world was alive,
    Poor Katherine didn't survive,
    Her head chopped off,
    King Henry suffered a great loss.


I hope you liked my poem. It was written fairly quickly. But with quite a bit of thought put into it. I tried to make it chronological.

Here's a nice pic to end on...

Credit for this marvellous edit goes to my TBF and ultimate Sue fan (apart from me, ha ha! We are both superfans) @perkins_love!

 

For more Tudor loveliness and role-playing please go to my Twitter account page @LadyKatHoward!

 

For my normal page and to comment on this blog post please go to @Supersizer1!

 

You can also comment below if you so wish. I don't mind. But please, let me know what you thought of it and also my 'Katherine Howard poem', which I heartily dedicate to Katherine Howard (former Queen of England) and to Tamzin Merchant, who played Katherine so brilliantly in The Tudors!

 

Thank you for reading. Bye for now!

 

Lots of Tudor love, Ss1! xxx