William Carey (courtier)
William Carey from Aldenham in Hertfordshire (* around 1500; † June 22, 1528 ) was an English courtier and protégé of Henry VIII. He served the king as gentleman of the privy chamber and as esquire of the body . His wife, Mary Boleyn , is known as the mistress of Henry VIII and the sister of his second wife Anne Boleyn .
Life
William Carey was the second son of Sir Thomas Carey (1455-1500) and his wife Margaret Spencer, the daughter of Sir Robert Spencer and Eleanor Beaufort. The Carey family were originally from Devon , where they owned the Cockington and Clovelly estates. Eleanor was the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset , whose brother John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset , was the father of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby , grandmother of Henry VIII; consequently William and Henry VIII were third cousins. William's maternal aunt was Catherine Spencer, Countess of Northumberland, through whom he was first cousin of Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland , former admirer of William's sister-in-law Anne Boleyn.
On February 4, 1520, he married Mary Boleyn, the elder daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire , and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard . They lived in Aldenham, Hertfordshire .
Shortly after the wedding, Mary became the lover of King Henry VIII. The Boleyn family received lands and Carey also benefited from his wife's infidelity, as the king gave him goods and estates during the course of the affair. Carey was also a major art collector and introduced the famous Dutch painter Lucas Horenbout to England in the mid-1520s. One possible reason the athletic Henry VIII favored William Carey was because he found pleasure in activities such as horse riding, hunting, and tournament fighting. Carey excelled in the joust at Camp du Drap d'Or 1520.
Anne Boleyn, Mary's sister, caught Heinrich's attention a year after his affair with Mary ended. He proposed marriage to her in 1527. William Carey did not live to see his sister-in-law's success as he died of English sweat in 1528 . When he died, he was heavily in debt, so his widow was forced to mortgage her jewelry before her sister Anne arranged a pension for her. Mary Boleyn married William Stafford in 1534 .
progeny
From his marriage to Mary Boleyn, William Carey had two children:
- Catherine Carey (around 1524 - January 15, 1568) ∞ Sir Francis Knollys (1514–1596); Maid of Honor Anna von Kleves and Catherine Howards , later lady-in-waiting of her cousin Elisabeth I.
- Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (March 4, 1526 - July 23, 1596) ∞ Anne Morgan (around 1527–1607)
Due to Mary's affair with Henry VIII, it has often been assumed that Catherine and Henry could instead have been Henry VIII's biological children. The veracity of this claim is debated in research. Henry VIII, unlike his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy , never recognized Catherine and Henry as his descendants.
Fictional representations
In the 2008 film The Queen's Sister William Carey was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Riordan: Carey, William (c.1496-1528) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ^ Alison Weir: Henry VIII: The King and His Court . Ballantine Books, New York 2001, pp. 216 .
- ^ Alison Plowden: Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners . Sutton, London, p. 205 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Carey, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English courtier and protégé of Henry VIII. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1500 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 22, 1528 |