Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr Read Online Free PDF

continued, as one of Katherine of Aragon’s household, and she was able to combine the role successfully with the demands of her family. The queen’s ladies worked on a rota basis (as they still do), so the requirement to be away from home could be balanced with a continuing personal presence in their children’s lives. Royal attendants were fed and clothed at the monarch’s expense but their undivided attention was expected while they served their turn. The court was no place for children. Princess Mary, who was born in 1516, had her own household, though she did frequently spend Christmas and other holidays under the same roof as her parents in the early years of her life.
    Katherine Parr’s early experience of the Tudor court would have been indirect, gleaned through the descriptions of her mother. If, as has been assumed, Queen Katherine was indeed her godmother, the christening was probably the only time that she came into direct contact with the royal family as a child. But her mother’s presence ensured that the Parr name was well known at court and that Maud’s children might hope to derive advantage from such service in the future. There is no doubt that Maud remained close to the queen, even as Katherine’s relationship with Henry VIII declined and her position became much more difficult. In her will, Maud Parr made mention of several items given by Katherine of Aragon, notably the ‘beads of lacquer allemagne dressed with gold which the said Queen’s grace gaveme’. 1 These tokens of intimacy and favour were extremely important to royal servants.
    Maud’s daily life at court, most often passed at Greenwich but sometimes also at other palaces, such as Eltham, revolved around providing companionship to Katherine of Aragon and performing a variety of tasks to ensure the queen’s comfort. The role of ladies-in-waiting was largely social. They were there to provide conversation, to entertain, to play cards to wile away the time, to sew and to pray with the queen. Official occasions, such as the great feast days of the Church calendar and diplomatic visits from Henry VIII’s fellow European princes, required the queen’s attendance, and she herself would be supported by some of her ladies. But the reality of life for women like Maud in Katherine’s service was often more mundane than these great occasions of state. They were not expected to undertake menial tasks (laundry, cleaning and cooking were, of course, left to a different class of servants) but they assisted with the queen’s toilette night and morning, helped choose her clothes and jewels, ensured that everything was where it should be, supervised packing and unpacking as the court moved from place to place, consulted with apothecaries and doctors when necessary and generally formed a barrier of protection around their queen when they felt it appropriate. They watched as Katherine’s husband became more distant, saw his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, who was, after all, one of them, and inevitably began to take sides. Henry’s first wife never lost the loyalty and affection of women like Maud Parr, Gertrude Courtenay and Elizabeth Howard, who had been with her since the first years of the reign. Yet it would be wrong to confuse access, which these women undoubtedly had, with true intimacy. Katherine of Aragon was a proud woman, very conscious of the fact that she was the daughter and wife of monarchs, and there were lines not to be overstepped. In a fiercely hierarchical society, Maud Parr knew her place. It was at the queen’s side, certainly, but that does not mean that she wasprivy to Katherine’s innermost thoughts as Henry VIII sought to put her aside.

    W HILE THEIR MOTHER was away, the Parr children were well cared for by servants at Rye House in Hertfordshire, which came to be their permanent home not long before their father’s death. It was leased from one of Sir Thomas Parr’s many cousins and was their fixed establishment until