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 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