Mary I of England execution of Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, the unmarried Henry invited Mary to attend the royal Christmas festivities. At court, while her father was between marriages and without a consort, Mary acted as hostess. In 1543, Henry married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, who was able to bring the family closer together. Henry returned Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, through the Act of Succession 1544, placing them after Edward. However, both remained legally illegitimate. Henry VIII died in 1547 and Edward succeeded him. Mary inherited estates in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, and was granted Hunsdon
Lord Edmund Howard years of ineffectual service, where he achieved very little, and earned even less. Howard died on 19 March 1539, a year before his daughter, Catherine Howard, became queen of England. His widow, Margaret, was among the ladies appointed to serve her stepdaughter when her household was formed in August 1540. Margaret later married Henry Manock. Although Steinman conjectured that Margaret Mundy's third husband was the Henry Manox, who had been music master to Catherine Howard in her youth, and had been involved in sexual indiscretions with her which later contributed to her downfall, Bindoff established that Margaret Mundy's third husband,