Catherine Carey Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king. Catherine was Elizabeth I's first cousin. Some contemporaries also asserted that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII, which would make her Elizabeth's half-sister. Although this was never acknowledged by the King, Catherine was given deference by the Court as she aged and came to resemble Henry. Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleyn, in 1536. But according to
Catherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk Catherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk Catherine (or Katherine) Howard, Countess of Suffolk (1564–1638), was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England, Anne of Denmark. She was born in Charlton, Wiltshire, the oldest child of Sir Henry Knyvet and his wife Elizabeth Stumpe. Her uncle was Sir Thomas Knyvet, who foiled the gunpowder plot. Early in her life, she married Richard Rich, son of Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich, and grandson of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich. After his death in 1580 she then married Sir Thomas Howard, who twenty years later was