Queen Katherine Parr

thanking him for his treatment of one of her gentlemen ushers “Eles Markham” (“...he lately beinge a sueter unto you for certen offices of your graunt, wherein for our saeke. He hath founde so moche good favour at your handes, that you have graunted him Patentes of the same...”), and assuring him that “we acknowledge your frindly gentlenes, so shall ye not fayll to fynde the lyke in us”, one page, oblong folio, integral address panel, papered seal, dispatch slits, docketed, Enfield, 1 January [1548], nicks at folds, spotting

A LETTER WRITTEN BY THE DOWAGER QUEEN IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF THE REIGN OF KING EDWARD VI. Katherine had an eventful life after the death of Henry VIII, her third husband. She took Sir Thomas Seymour as her lover within weeks of his death, and the two were secretly married in May 1547. She also took on the guardianship of the young Princess Elizabeth, who was soon the subject of Seymour's amorous attention leading to considerable scandal at court. By the time this letter was written Katherine was pregnant, but she died on 5 September 1548 within days of giving birth to a baby daughter. This letter can be dated to 1548 as Paget is addressed as Comptroller of the Household and he was appointed to this position on 29 June 1547.