Here is the fifth-grade exam on the Tudors and Stuarts.
There was a page showing the Tudor and Stuart family trees as they
intertwined. The kids had to fill in the following names: Henry VII,
Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII (his six wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne
Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves [Henry thought her an ugly dog], Catherine
Howard [she thought Henry a fat dog], and Catherine Parr [the best of the
lot
In all of my reading about scandals involving Parr, it never occurred
to me that there might be a connection here.
As just about everybody knows, Catherine Parr was the last wife of
King Henry VIII. King Henry VIII had six wives. He either executed or
divorced most of them. Marrying King Henry VIII was dangerous
business. He had his second wife, Anne Boleyn, beheaded because he
believed that she had committed adultery. Modern historians believe
that this accusation was probably true. On the other hand, Henry VIII
had a subsequent wife, Catherine Howard, executed on the charge that
she had had sexual intercourse with men BEFORE she had married Henry
VIII. Catherine Howard and the three men she was accused of having
slept with were all executed.
Next came Catherine Parr. There were several odd things about this
marriage. One was that Catherine Parr had already been married twice.
Another was that she had an active lover, Thomas Seymour. Why would a
woman in her position be willing to marry a wife-killer like Henry
VIII?
However, Catherine Parr agreed to the marriage. She said that Henry
VIII was sick and might die soon. Perhaps she had a plan. She turned
out to be right. Henry VIII did die soon and only three months later
Catherine Parr married her lover, Thomas Seymour. As she was the
dowarger queen, her uncle became the ruler of England, because the
actual king, Edward VII, was just a young boy.
A daughter, Mary Parr Seymour, was born of the marriage between
Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour. However, Catherine Parr died on 5
September 1548, only six days after her daughter, Mary Parr Seymour,
was born.
http://www.anusha.com/pafg719.htm#25838
Mary Parr Seymour is known to have lived for at least two years after
her mother died. Thereafter she disappeared from history. Nobody knows
what happened to her. Some say that she must have died at age 2.
Others say that she was put into hiding, and later married, had a
child and never revealed her true identity.
If that is what happened, she certainly had good reasons. Shortly
after Catherine Parr died in childbirth, her husband, the father of
Mary, was arrested and executed by her uncle, Edward Seymour. Then,
after King Edward VI died in 1553, Edward Seymour had Lady Jane Grey
installed as Queen. Lady Jane Grey only lasted nine days. "Bloody
Mary" rode into town, had Lady Jane Grey and Edward Seymour arrested
and put into the Tower of London. They were all eventually executed.
Lady Jane Grey was only 17 years ago when she was executed.
It was about this time that Mary Parr Seymour disappeared. She was
still a small child. Surely, she was a threat but there is no record
of her having died. She was just lost to history.
So, Larry Parr, tell us: Whatever happened to Mary Parr? Was Mary Parr
your ggggggrandmother? If you can prove that, I will honor you by
putting you into my Royal Family of Europe Family Tree.
Sam Sloan
http://www.anusha.com/pafg719.htm#25838
http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/aboutCatherineParr.htm