Royal assent of the Crown, standing on the sovereign's right, then read aloud the titles of the bills (in earlier times, the entire text of the bills). The Clerk of the Parliaments, standing on the sovereign's left, responded by stating the appropriate Norman French formula. A new device for granting assent was created during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1542, Henry sought to execute his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, whom he accused of committing adultery; the execution was to be authorised not after a trial but by a bill of attainder, to which he would have to personally assent after
Catherine Cecil, Countess of Salisbury Catherine Cecil, Countess of Salisbury Catherine Cecil, Countess of Salisbury (c.1590 – January 1673), formerly Lady Catherine Howard, was the wife of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury. She was a daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, and his second wife, the former Catherine Knyvett. She married the future Earl of Salisbury on 1 December 1608, and became countess when he inherited the earldom on his father's death in 1612. Their children, several of whom died in infancy, were: In 1615, the countess was present at Trinity College, Cambridge, for the performance of "Aemilia" by students, in the