The DISTURBING Postmortem Of Henry VIII's Executed Fifth Wife

One of the most tragic young women of the Tudor Period was Henry VIII’s teenage fifth wife Catherine Howard. Many have considered the shocking age of the young victim of her husband, and Catherine was executed by axe inside the walls of the Tower of London. She was caught up in a shocking scandal which involved her allegedly cheating on the King with one of his closest friends. But after the axeman had taken her head clean off in one swing from his instrument of death, Catherine’s body was then taken inside of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London and she was then thrown into a rough grave and was allegedly covered in quicklime in an attempt to literally wipe her off the face off the earth, and to dissolve her remains in a quick manner as the King wanted to forget about his fifth wife. However Catherine’s fate was very shocking when compared to that of Henry’s second wife Anne Boleyn, who despite also being executed was allowed to be buried and was also executed by sword. But has the remains of Catherine Howard ever been found?

[@maryw246]

Henry tried to erase Catherine’s memory and yet, here we are centuries later talking about her with much sympathy and sorrow. How do we remember Henry? We remember him as a cruel tyrant. Game, set, match , Catherine.

[@Lisa-om4it]

Well….

[@laurenanderson61]

That's true of all his wives, really.

[@nohandle62]

She cheated on him. Good riddance.

[@yafayafa9601]

He cheated on his wives also. While he was still getting Anne pregnant, he was already involved with Jane. If Anne birthed a boy last time she was pregnant, she wouldn't be killed. As for Catherine, she was just a naive teenager and he shouldn't have pushed for marrying her in the first place.​@@nohandle62

[@ladyv5655]

​@@nohandle62, he cheated on at least 4 of his 6 wives, so no sympathy.

[@ArtbyKatina]

This constant talk of her and her name being spoken is keeping the memory of her alive. She will never be totally wiped from existence.

[@martynsmith5794]

I love the comment that DNA testing was never carried out; wasn’t this a Victorian exhumation? DNA testing didn’t come about until around 1984….

[@bonnieabrs1003]

QEII refused any further tests on the bones of those buried in that church.

[@straingedays]

What Henry VIII "allegedly" ordered done to Catherine is the disturbing part, and speculation persists on why he wanted her body erased and forgotten. Henry by then was a tyrannical psychopath who'd executed thousands, yet Catherine was to be dissolved with quicklime after a shabby burial ?? IF true, it's a diabolical fate in their highly religious era.

[@J.MacInnes]

Henry's midlife crisis was murder.

[@billredding2000]

He was the worst king ever: A godless/profane murder, adulterer and thief. -- BR

[@theresalaux5655]

I cringe every time I hear about her execution. I wish she never would had married the king!😮😢

[@JeanBray-cj3lu]

Her uncle Norfolk drove her to marry Henry, telling her she would have a rich life.

[@joshuafess4295]

The mere fact that Viscountess Rockford could’ve entertained being a liaison with helping her mistress she knew she was playing chess for life and death when the main player was the mercurial Henry 8

[@user-oi6ln4eq7b]

I think you may mean Lady Jane Rochefort, wife of the executed George Boleyn. Nothing to do with The Rockford Files.

[@camillagailani6609]

Wrong again, Lady Rochford.

[@suellensheppard9734]

Henry was a pervert.She was a child 😢

[@user-oq5mt6rt8r]

No elaboration necessary, but... ?????????????

[@alanandrew5279]

Probably not by the standards of that time 😢

[@cdeford2]

No she wasn't. She was 17 when they married and even if an affair had started earlier she still wasn't a child. 14 was the accepted age of adulthood. Our age of adulthood is entirely arbitrary and is not a 'fact'.

[@PrincessPetticoats]

@@cdeford2 She was s*xually a*used at 12 by her music teacher, she was very much a child.

[@jasminebarratt1809]

@@cdeford2 I hope your are not saying it is acceptable for a grown man to be having a relationship with a 14 year old. At 17 she was a child compared to him. I'm not convinced that emotional boundaries are a modern invention.

[@elisabethblackwood3921]

Poor Katherine, she didn't deserve her end

[@sarahcoleman9912]

I have been to the actual church in the Tower of London complex and we were told by the tour guide that Katherine’s body was thrown in with her cousin Anne Boleyn’s underground tomb and covered with the Lyme. So not sure ???

[@v.britton4445]

You mean what was done with her body..a post mortem is usually a medical procedure.

[@annettefournier9655]

Post mortem literally just means after death. You are referring to post mortem examination of human remains. Slang shortens this .

[@idagenova7519]

@@annettefournier9655 We often refer to "the party post mortem" in our family!

[@JM-zk9ou]

It's an analysis after something has ended. In business, we do post mortems of projects or incidents after they're done.

[@sarah-michellejenniferking9753]

I don't think they had that back in Tudor times to be honest. 😅

[@LouisaWatt]

The term literally just means “after death” Post = after Mortem = death It can refer to a medical examination or simply what happened to the body after death.

[@ginaandseason2774]

You are not forgotten katherine

[@lianefehrle9921]

She actually didn’t get removed from the face of the earth. She went to dust into the earth.

[@user-gz3pj5np6h]

All his wife's will never be forgotten rip beautiful young queen

[@georgiefacchinni3429]

Great video thank you. ☮️💜☯️

[@maryjackson1194]

The difference in treatment between Anne and Catherine was because Anne was not guilty; her charges were all trumped up because she hadn't produced a son...and Jane was waiting. Catherine most likely was more interested in young men than her old husband.

[@carolinebennett5615]

That’s highly debatable.

[@stephaniemabee2830]

Quick lime actually slows down decomp so I think they may have just missed her body during the initial exhumation. She may have been buried a bit more north than the other bodies.

[@chroniclesoflaura]

The problem with teenagers is they think they’re invincible. They literally lack the prefrontal cortex to process consequences. I know I was terrible at that age and would have probably met the same fate. Her only crime was she was young. Very sad. I do hate Henry 8th. I often daydream about bringing him here to this time and telling him some home truths!

[@grassfedmilkmomma]

why a postmortem? we know how she died.

[@user-oq5mt6rt8r]

It does seem a little unnecessary!!! ☹️

[@user-gz3pj5np6h]

Someone looking to be relative 😂.

[@nohandle62]

Medical. Curiosity.

[@susancaleca4796]

Where was Queen Jane Grey buried?

[@bonnieabrs1003]

Same church, I believe.

[@OswaldoLafee]

Mel brooks said it best: “it’s good to be the king…”

[@DLR300]

Love the text on this the “chuda period” 🙄

[@wednesdayschild3627]

Cranmer was such a tool. I am surprised he clung to his protestant faith at the end.

[@James-ow7qi]

If a post mortem was carried out today ,the cause of death would be undetermined,

[@joiedevivre2005]

"Postmortem" simply means "after death" - meaning what happened to her following death. You are thinking of a "postmortem examination" that is sometimes shortened to just postmortem. The word "postmortem" can refer to anything that happens after death, not just an autopsy.

[@williamlane4805]

Mad hatter episodes were excellent. I think the fact he brought his Shakespearian acting skills is what made it so good

[@keepitsimple4629]

I didn't hear anything DISTURBING.

[@SusanneButler]

The title is misleading

[@vanessarayfox]

These would be a lot more interesting if you re-recorded the parts where you stumble over the words & left out the long pauses.

[@RetiredVDI]

Does anyone else think her portrait looks like Scarlett Johansson?

[@yvonne3903]

And what about the postmortem?

[@vgovger4373]

She looks like Scar-Jo

[@PRettyPInk53100]

This is about the movie 🍿 goood stuff

[@user-xw7ie6jv2x]

Which movie ?

[@user-su8qw9dw6d]

She looks so old in those pics

[@blacksmithbest1]

Like his predecessors, King Henry Vlll believed he stood in the place of God on earth, and the inexorable power of life and death rested solely within his perogative. Executions for him were no more troublesome than a persistent fly on his drum stick or a gnat in his chalice of wine. The quickest and most permanent solution to any gnawing annoyance that piqued his pride and disgraced his glory was blood dripping from the axe's whetted edge or sword. Guts and gore were was his daily bread and water; he had no more consternation for countless people he sentenced to death than for his numerous dalliances, flirtations, fornications and adulteries. A megalomaniac of the first magnitude. The one good that issued forth from his loins was his daughter, Queen Elizabeth the First, that "bright and occidental star."

[@tdecker2937]

Why would anyone willingly marry a king when the wives before met their death by execution?? He was an awful king as well as husband

[@barbara1407]

Pressure would have been applied to her by her family, in order to increase the family prestige by a Royal marriage. She would have had no say in the matter, in those days.

[@A5xxxxx]

It really didn't matter if the women/girls were willing or not. They had no choice

[@colinglen4505]

Henry was a monster!

[@TraciHoman]

Ann Bolyn was innocent...Not sure about Catherine

[@user-xw7ie6jv2x]

So where's the DISTURBING Postmortem then ? Clickbait once more. Come on KZbin sort out these wasters of our time.

[@joiedevivre2005]

I think dumping a brutally murdered teenage girl unceremoniously into a shallow grave & then covering her with quicklime to dissolve her remains is pretty disturbing.

[@user-xw7ie6jv2x]

@@joiedevivre2005 Yes. Henry VIII was a pretty disturbing person. The stuff of which nightmares are made. I would be fascinated to have met him . I would not like the experience though. He was also , I think, a great coward as he let & made others perform the atrocious executions that he ordered . Never present himself at these horrific events.

[@mareecarlick3467]

Henry VIII used & abused women.. Just like any man did in that time, but Henry was cruel how he went about it... Katherine Howard was just a nieve child & you cannot help but feel sympathy for her !

[@mirrorblue100]

Nice guy.

[@seanjoseph8637]

It seems to me he actually cared and felt cucked.

[@maryadawkins9905]

Henry the VIII was a monster! All his wives were treated so terribly by him, they all deserved better.

[@davidsmith8728]

No buggering about with divorce courts in those days. Something to be said for the old traditional ways.

[@ryancarper595]

Dont like the broad, find any old reason, true or not and off with their heads. Despicable, I loath my ex wife - but I could never do what this tyrant king did. Besides that sort of behavior would make me as bad as her...