Queen Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, lived a remarkable life, but her fascinating story didn’t end with her death. What followed was a shocking posthumous journey marked by centuries of neglect, gruesome discoveries, and astonishing disrespect. From her peaceful burial at Sudeley Castle to being unearthed, inspected, and even mistreated, her remains endured trials no queen should face.
How did the remains of this resilient Tudor queen become the centre of such shocking events? And how did Catherine finally find peace after so much turmoil?
Transcript:
Poor Catherine Parr—the final queen of Henry VIII—lived a life marked by duty, love, betrayal, and tragedy. But her misfortunes didn’t end with her death. Instead, her remains endured centuries of neglect, shocking discoveries, and even outright abuse. From a tranquil burial at Sudeley Castle to being unearthed, inspected, and treated with appalling disrespect, Catherine’s posthumous journey is both heartbreaking and fascinating.
Let’s explore the incredible story of how a dowager queen’s final resting place became the centre of such an unbelievable series of events—and how she ultimately found peace once again.
The dowager queen, Catherine Parr, wife of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour, died in the early hours of 5th September 1548 at around the age of thirty-six. She’d given birth to a healthy baby girl, Mary, on 30th August, but she suffered with post-partum complications, probably an infection, and in an age without antibiotics and good postnatal care, just couldn’t fight it off.
Catherine died at her husband’s seat as Baron Sudeley, Sudeley Castle, in Winchcombe, in the Cotswolds, and was laid to rest on the north side of the altar in the chapel in the castle grounds. It was a beautiful chapel and her tomb was topped with what was described by Victorian historian Agnes Strickland as “a mural tablet of sculptured alabaster”. There she lay in rest for a time, but then the English Civil War happened. The Sudeley Castle website explains that King Charles I found refuge there when his nephew Prince Rupert “established headquarters at the Castle” and that this led to Oliver Cromwell ordering for the castle to be “slighted”, i.e. for it to be deliberately damaged, after the defeat of the royalists. The castle was badly damaged and fell further and further into ruin, its chapel included. Catherine Parr’s tomb became lost.
In May 1782, a group of ladies visited Sudeley Castle to explore the ruins of the chapel. While examining the north wall, they noticed a large alabaster block and speculated that it might have been part of a monument that once stood there. Curious, they began digging in the area and soon uncovered a leaden container just beneath the surface. Opening it in two places, they discovered human remains, later identified as those of Queen Catherine Parr. Shocked and frightened by their find, they quickly ordered it to be covered by earth once more. However, later that summer, John Lucas, the tenant of the land, unearthed the coffin again. According to contemporary records, he found a leaden coffin or chest at the depth of about two feet. Lucas removed the lid, expecting to find only bones, but to his surprise, according to a contemporary record, he found, and I quote, “the whole body wrapp’d in 6 or 7 seer cloths of linen, entire and uncorrupted, although it had lain there upwards of 230 years. His unwarrantable curiosity led him also to make an incision through the seer cloths which covered one of the arms of the corps, the flesh of which at that time was white and moist.” It must have been quite a shock for him. The sealed lead coffin had prevented the remains from decomposing. Lucas also noted that the coffin was inscribed:
KP
Here lyeth Queen Katheryne Wife to Kinge
Henry the VIII and
The wife of Thomas
Lord of Sudely high
Admy… of Englond
And ynkle to Kyng
Edward VI.
The coffin was then left alone for a year and when it was dug up again in the summer of 1783, it was described as “quite fetid” and “in a state of putrefaction” due to air having got into it. However, Mrs Julia Brockett and her son, who were present, examined the remains and coffin before Mrs Brockett ordered a slab to be placed over the grave to prevent “any future and improper inspection”, Sadly, the coffin was opened again in 1784 and this time, according to Agnes Strickland, “the royal remains were taken out of the coffin, and irreverently thrown on a heap of rubbish and exposed to public view.” The body was said to be dressed in “costly burial clothes”, including shoes, and an eye-witness said of Catherine: “all her proportions extremely delicate; and … traces of beauty were still perceptible in the countenance, of which the features were at that time perfect”.
The remains were reinterred but just two years later, in October 1786, they were exhumed and examined by Reverend Tredway Nash. He recorded the face was “totally decayed” but that the body was “perfect”. He noted that “the queen must have been of low stature, as the lead that enclosed her corpse was just five feet four inches long.”
Six years later, in 1792, according to Frederick Brooksbank Garnett writing in 1893, “the tenant occupying the castle permitted a party of drunken men to dig a fresh grave for the coffin.” Goodness knows how they treated Catherine’s remains!
In 1817, Reverend John Lates, rector of Sudeley, decided to try and find Catherine’s remains. According to Edmund T Browne, an antiquary from Winchcombe who helped the reverend, Lates found the coffin “bottom up in a walled grave”. They exhumed it and took it to the Chandos vault, where it was cleaned and examined. By this time, all that was left of Catherine was a skeleton along with a few pieces of sere cloth and some hair. Although they first thought the inscription had disappeared, further cleaning revealed it. The coffin was nailed back together and was found to measure 5 feet 10 inches in length. It was then placed on two large flat stones beside Lord Chandos in the vault.
Following the purchase of the castle in 1837 by the Dent family, restoration work began on both the castle and the chapel. Brooksbank Garnett explained, “The ancient chapel, which had been desecrated by the Puritans, was thoroughly renovated under the direction of Sir John Gilbert Scott, and a handsome decorated altartomb, surmounted by a gothic canopy, was erected on the north side of the Sacrarium to the memory of Queen Katherine Parr, whose effigy was rendered as correctly as it could be from the portraits which are extant”. A plate with an engraved facsimile of the coffin inscription was attached to the pillar next to the west end of the tomb.
Finally, Catherine was at rest! Her tomb in the chapel can be seen by visitors to Sudeley Castle today and relics taken from Catherine’s coffin, including locks of her hair and a tooth, can be found in a display case inside the Castle.
Catherine Parr’s life was one of resilience, marked by personal sacrifice and devotion. Yet even in death, she faced trials no queen should endure. From being exhumed multiple times to being exposed to public view, her remains were subjected to shocking indignities over centuries. Thankfully, Catherine now rests in peace at the restored chapel of Sudeley Castle, where visitors can honour her memory and marvel at her story.
Sources
- Strickland, Agnes (1903) Lives of the queens of England, from the Norman conquest, Volume 5, p. 95-96. This can be read at https://archive.org/stream/livesqueensengl10strigoog#page/n93/mode/2up. The MS Strickland quotes from regarding Catherine’s burial is a MS. in the College of Arms, London, entitled, ” A Booke of Buryalls of Trew Noble Persons.” No. 1-15, pp. 98, 99.
- Queen Katherine Parr and Sudeley Castle, by FRED. BROOKSBANK GARNETT, C.B – see http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/001/1895/vol13/tcwaas_001_1895_vol13_0005.pdf
- Sudeley Castle Website – https://sudeleycastle.co.uk/history
- Photos in video and thumbnail copyright Claire Ridgway.