Lady Katherine Knollys: The Unacknowledged Daughter of King Henry VIII

Being ignorant of the author, this seemed to me to be a research paper/thesis/dissertation rewritten for a more pedestrian audience. I loved it as it cut through some of the historical fictions' more outrageous claims involving affairs, murders and scandal that make such reading shocking and for good tv or film. One can certainly be impressed with the bibliography.The book begins in the time right before the King chose Mary Boleyn as his mistress and their first child, Katherine. This would make her a half sister to Mary, Henry Fitzroy, and of the closest in age to Elizabeth I, and Jane Seymore's legitimate son Edward the child king. The author makes a cohesive argument about why the King could not recognize either of Mary Boleyn's children as his bastards.Katherine was given a marriage as other daughters of the era were, but it turned out to be a love match in spite of it. They had a total of 16 children that most did well in Elizabeth's court.One of my favorite parts of this book is in the end the author gives each child a brief biography of achievements, marriages and offspring. The last paragraph list modern day examples that can trace their lineage to the Knolly's line.

I read the book with great interest. I wish, however, there would have been more evidence supporting the theory that Katherine was Henry's illegitimate daughter, and Elizabeth's half sister. Some illustrations showing the uncanny resemblance between Elizabeth and Katherine would have helped bolster the theory of paternity. Also examples of Elizabeth's almost obsessive attachment to Katherine would have helped prove the case. It is also ironic that Mary Boleyn (Katherine's mother, Elizabeth's aunt was married off to Mr. Carey, who was in fact a cousin to Henry VIII on his father's side. What a shame DNA technology did not exist in the 16th century.

Having written a biography of Katherine Carey Lady Knollys's granddaughter Lady Penelope Rich for my doctorate, I was curious to see what additional information the author had been able to find on Katherine. Alas, she is in this book but a bit player in her own story. I had hoped for starters that there might be a fuller and more critical examination of the question of Katherine's paternity. Eric Ives, for example, ponders the difficulties of Henry VIII's bed partners to conceive and bring children to term, thus raising the question of whether William Carey might actually be the father of Katherine and/or Henry Carey after all. Watkins doesn't seem to consider that possibility. The author is frequently careless about such things as titles, constantly, for example, referring to "Sir Robert Dudley," when as the son of a Duke he should be called Lord Robert, or, after 1564, the Earl of Leicester; nor should Katherine by rights be called Lady Katherine, but rather Katherine Lady Knollys. The end notes are shockingly inadequate. Nor does the book have an index. One of the greatest frustrations of the book, however, is that we are given reams and reams of pages in what, after all, is a very short tome about Anne Boleyn, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor, rehearsing their history, yet with seemingly little effort made to explore Katherine's own story. I am well aware that documents related specifically to Katherine Carey are doubtless limited, but why quote in their entirety documents pages long written, for example, by Queen Mary that have nothing whatsoever to do with Katherine and yet when it comes to a letter written by then Princess Elizabeth to her cousin Katherine only a portion of that letter is given? Despite the paucity of documentation, there are still ways to flesh out Katherine's experience. To give one example, I would have liked to see more than a paragraph about Katherine's time in Frankfurt, which was a hotbed of contention between more reformed and conservative bands of Marian Exiles, but of the religious and intellectual situation in which Katherine and part of her family found themselves we hear nothing. On the whole, this short book reads like an undergraduate's senior thesis lapsing almost in desperation into general history of the period. Do not expect to find much of anything on Katherine Carey Lady Knollys here despite the book's title.

The case for Katheryn Knollys having been fathered by Henry VIII has been a riddle tantalizing Tudorphiles since the sixteenth century.Sarah-Beth Watkins takes on the riddle pragmatically; she brings to light the reasons why Katherine was never formally acknowledged as one of Henry VIII's 'little bastards.'Her case is strong; Henry VIII didn't claim the two children born to his mistress Mary Boleyn's children because of 'that awkward moment when . . . your new wife is constantly reminded that she was getting her sister's sloppy seconds' while Elizabeth I's reason for not claiming Katherine (or brother Henry) Carey was more complicated and threatening: to have done so would have furthered claims that Elizabeth herself was a bastard.Sarah-Beth Watkins draws a portrait of life at the Tudor court (under four of the five reigning Tudor monarchs) that takes the reader right in the center of the action where observation without risk of one's own neck is possible. Well-done and an excellent read!

3.5 stars.I really enjoy reading anything about Mary Boleyn and her family and this book suited me quite well. Probably nothing really knew historically was presented but I enjoyed it. My only criticism is that some of the letters of Henry, Katherine and even Anne and Mary Boleyn were inserted completely when excerpts would have worked.I recommend it and am now into Sarah-Beth Watkins book on the Brandons.

I found this book extremely interesting and informative. Read it as part of my genealogy studies. Katherine Knollys is my 15x great grandmother and the book provided me a great deal of information on my family. Well written and moves very well.

I enjoyed this book and how it shed light on a little-known historical figure. While I didn't come away feeling like I knew Lady Katherine personally, the author revealed connections between various Tudor people I wasn't already aware of, and I found this aspect of her text particularly fascinating. I will read more by Ms. Watkins.

It was very interesting. I felt her life was skiped over a bit. I found a lot of monents right out of the Tidor tv series thst i have on dud and have watched many times. It is not intill i started reading all these books with a lot of facts that i found out how badlt that serirs depicted history.

Interesting info about a lttle known Tudor. Enjoyed

If you've read a history of the Tudor dynasty then you have read this book. So little is known about Catherine Knollys that her life could have been included in one chapter. The rest of the book is just a rehash of the history of the Tudor dynasty in many cases having no relation to Catherine's life whatsoever. So if you want to read yet another view of the Tudors by all means read this book.

Having read and enjoyed Sarah-Beth Watkins’ book about Anne of Cleves whom I have great interest in, I bought the author’s biography of Lady Katherine Knollys, purely out if curiosity how the unacknowledged daughter of King Henry VIII (by Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary) would have been treated during her lifetime.In this slim paperback (118 pages including an interesting Appendix that recounts the fates of Lady Katherine’s children; but excluding References and Bibliography), the author does her best to tell us as much as possible about Lady Katherine. However, because clearly Lady K was not a major player in Tudor history (despite Queen Elisabeth claiming that she ‘loved Lady Knollys above all other women in the world’ and personally spending ‘around £110,000 in today’s money’ on her lavish funeral), great parts of this book are taken up with familiar events and the already well-documented lives of those around her. A fair amount of space is, for instance, taken up with excerpts from letters and other documents, none of which relate directly to Lady K and only serve to describe Henry VIII’s move from wife to wife. To be fair, the author then slots Lady K into the various events, be it from actual historical evidence or through assumptions, i.e. guesswork. I suppose it is hard to find exciting stories to tell about a lady who basically disappeared from court life for some twelve years, during which she reportedly bore ten children.Like the author’s book about Anne of Cleves, I found that this book benefits from great readability, literary quality and engaging writing style. So, I would say, if you are already well familiar with the events in the court of Henry VIII, Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth, this book is unlikely to interest you much. If, however, you – like I – are just curious about Lady Katherine Knollys and are looking for a brief account of her life and times, then I believe you will be quite happy with this book. Having approached my purchase from this point of view, I’m awarding this book four stars out of five.

This is a slight volume, but well written with a light, informative and not overly scholarly tone. Lady Katherine Knollys was the natural daughter of Mary Boleyn (the other Boleyn girl!) and King Henry the Eighth, but never formally acknowledged as such. Her early closeness to her half sister, Elizabeth the First, remained until the end of her life and she was a great favourite at Court. She was married early to Sir Francis Knollys: a marriage which was fruitful to say the least producing fourteen recorded children, many of whom went on to be influential in public life.This author has produced an excellent, concise and readable book: I look forward to the future, bigger works which I am sure she is capable of writing. My only criticism is the lack of illustrations, as a few portraits would have added to the overall product.