Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
She’s the DISAPPEARING QUEEN but how did Queen Katherine Howard vanish from her final resting place? Henry VIII’s fifth wife was executed alongside her lady-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, on 13 February 1542 at the Tower of London. It has always been said that both were buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula next to Katherine’s cousins, Queen Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn (who was also Jane’s husband). However when the floor in front of the altar was excavated by the Victorians in the 1870s in order to carry out restoration work on the Chapel, no bones belonging to Katherine were found, though Anne and Jane were both located. The disappearance of Katherine Howard was explained by the theory that her bones must have dissolved in lime due to her youth at the time of her death and this idea has been accepted by many ever since. Modern science has proved it to be false however. Lime does not speed up the decay of a corpse, it retards it and therefore it cannot explain what happened to Katherine Howard’s body. So what other reasons might explain the complete absence of her remains? In this six wives documentary from History Calling, we go back to the original sources to study this Tudor mystery in more detail, starting with the death of Katherine Howard, what we hear about her burial and then asking, what happened to the body of this infamous Queen and might we ever find these missing royal remains? Is she one of the famous historical figures who is buried at the Tower of London, or is she not? Possibilities I’ll discuss include whether the bones of Katherine Howard were stolen, if she was buried somewhere else, if she decomposed naturally, or if the Victorians simply missed her.
BUY MY BOOK (Find Your Irish Ancestors Online): amzn.to/3Z2ChnG
Website (with 2 FREE DOWNLOADS): historycallingofficial.com
Patreon: patreon.com/historycalling
Amazon storefront: amazon.com/shop/historycalling
Instagram: instagram.com/historycalling
OTHER VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
HOW OLD WAS KATHERINE HOWARD?
youtu.be/NOUVSCKw4BY
THE FACE OF JANE BOLEYN?
youtu.be/RgzPmuUA5EA
DEATH OF KATHERINE HOWARD AND JANE BOLEYN
youtu.be/LaiU2HHTuKQ
CATHERINE PARR’S CORPSE
youtu.be/p6lPB4uzmwI
DIGGING UP ANNE BOLEYN AND OTHERS
youtu.be/EjCxVN7V6FA
SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0Hb5Wjykc2hBrBddQYXDUqU
TUDOR MONARCHS’ PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0FD_vatnjVq9egboPYy8Kg0
DEATH, MURDER AND CORPSES’ PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0HqKJP-pwWUcP1OtH1hRvN4
GEAR USED
DJI Drone: amzn.to/39hROZm
Go-Pro Hero 10 camera: amzn.to/3rTWScL
GoPro 3-Way 2.0 (Tripod/Grip/Arm): amzn.to/3vaVxjU
Memory Card: amzn.to/3KeLZZs
Microphone: amzn.to/3rYtjH8
BUY OR RENT:
The Tudors, season 1 amzn.to/3rFmveg (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VCwQ0j (US link)
The Tudors, season 2 amzn.to/3m64HIn (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VMPnHw (US link)
The Tudors, season 3 amzn.to/3wiwPwi (UK link) OR amzn.to/3BijsPB (US link)
The Tudors, season 4 amzn.to/3rNeggF (UK link) OR amzn.to/3z16S58 (US link)
Henry VIII and his Six Wives (2016 docu-drama) amzn.to/3jiCkag
Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016 docu-drama) amzn.to/3hd93vd (UK link) OR amzn.to/3wH2mr2 (US link)
LEARN MORE:
[FREE] Eline M.J. Schotsmans, Katrien Van de Vijver, Andrew S. Wilson and Dominique Castex, ‘Interpreting lime burials. A discussion in light of lime burials at St. Rombout's cemetery in Mechelen, Belgium (10th–18th centuries)’ in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 3 (September 2015), pp 464-79.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X15300572?via%3Dihub
Gareth Russell, Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII (2017). amzn.to/3xldHhi (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VExTgg (US link)
Josephine Wilkinson, Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's Fifth Queen (London, 2016). amzn.to/3x7MxdO (UK link) OR amzn.to/3rbFuPj (US link)
David Starkey, Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004) amzn.to/3k9uD4Z (UK link) OR amzn.to/3wImKIh (US link)
Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (2nd edn, Phoenix, 2009) amzn.to/3atiEfi (UK link) OR amzn.to/36IqD5r (US link)
Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) amzn.to/3xLivgr
THUMBNAIL: Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain
Creative Commons licenses used see creativecommons.org/licenses
NB: Links above may be affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I earn a small commission. It in no way affects the price you pay.
She’s the DISAPPEARING QUEEN but how did Queen Katherine Howard vanish from her final resting place? Henry VIII’s fifth wife was executed alongside her lady-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, on 13 February 1542 at the Tower of London. It has always been said that both were buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula next to Katherine’s cousins, Queen Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn (who was also Jane’s husband). However when the floor in front of the altar was excavated by the Victorians in the 1870s in order to carry out restoration work on the Chapel, no bones belonging to Katherine were found, though Anne and Jane were both located. The disappearance of Katherine Howard was explained by the theory that her bones must have dissolved in lime due to her youth at the time of her death and this idea has been accepted by many ever since. Modern science has proved it to be false however. Lime does not speed up the decay of a corpse, it retards it and therefore it cannot explain what happened to Katherine Howard’s body. So what other reasons might explain the complete absence of her remains? In this six wives documentary from History Calling, we go back to the original sources to study this Tudor mystery in more detail, starting with the death of Katherine Howard, what we hear about her burial and then asking, what happened to the body of this infamous Queen and might we ever find these missing royal remains? Is she one of the famous historical figures who is buried at the Tower of London, or is she not? Possibilities I’ll discuss include whether the bones of Katherine Howard were stolen, if she was buried somewhere else, if she decomposed naturally, or if the Victorians simply missed her.
BUY MY BOOK (Find Your Irish Ancestors Online): amzn.to/3Z2ChnG
Website (with 2 FREE DOWNLOADS): historycallingofficial.com
Patreon: patreon.com/historycalling
Amazon storefront: amazon.com/shop/historycalling
Instagram: instagram.com/historycalling
OTHER VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
HOW OLD WAS KATHERINE HOWARD?
youtu.be/NOUVSCKw4BY
THE FACE OF JANE BOLEYN?
youtu.be/RgzPmuUA5EA
DEATH OF KATHERINE HOWARD AND JANE BOLEYN
youtu.be/LaiU2HHTuKQ
CATHERINE PARR’S CORPSE
youtu.be/p6lPB4uzmwI
DIGGING UP ANNE BOLEYN AND OTHERS
youtu.be/EjCxVN7V6FA
SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0Hb5Wjykc2hBrBddQYXDUqU
TUDOR MONARCHS’ PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0FD_vatnjVq9egboPYy8Kg0
DEATH, MURDER AND CORPSES’ PLAYLIST
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0HqKJP-pwWUcP1OtH1hRvN4
GEAR USED
DJI Drone: amzn.to/39hROZm
Go-Pro Hero 10 camera: amzn.to/3rTWScL
GoPro 3-Way 2.0 (Tripod/Grip/Arm): amzn.to/3vaVxjU
Memory Card: amzn.to/3KeLZZs
Microphone: amzn.to/3rYtjH8
BUY OR RENT:
The Tudors, season 1 amzn.to/3rFmveg (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VCwQ0j (US link)
The Tudors, season 2 amzn.to/3m64HIn (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VMPnHw (US link)
The Tudors, season 3 amzn.to/3wiwPwi (UK link) OR amzn.to/3BijsPB (US link)
The Tudors, season 4 amzn.to/3rNeggF (UK link) OR amzn.to/3z16S58 (US link)
Henry VIII and his Six Wives (2016 docu-drama) amzn.to/3jiCkag
Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016 docu-drama) amzn.to/3hd93vd (UK link) OR amzn.to/3wH2mr2 (US link)
LEARN MORE:
[FREE] Eline M.J. Schotsmans, Katrien Van de Vijver, Andrew S. Wilson and Dominique Castex, ‘Interpreting lime burials. A discussion in light of lime burials at St. Rombout's cemetery in Mechelen, Belgium (10th–18th centuries)’ in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 3 (September 2015), pp 464-79.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X15300572?via%3Dihub
Gareth Russell, Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII (2017). amzn.to/3xldHhi (UK link) OR amzn.to/2VExTgg (US link)
Josephine Wilkinson, Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's Fifth Queen (London, 2016). amzn.to/3x7MxdO (UK link) OR amzn.to/3rbFuPj (US link)
David Starkey, Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004) amzn.to/3k9uD4Z (UK link) OR amzn.to/3wImKIh (US link)
Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (2nd edn, Phoenix, 2009) amzn.to/3atiEfi (UK link) OR amzn.to/36IqD5r (US link)
Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) amzn.to/3xLivgr
THUMBNAIL: Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain
Creative Commons licenses used see creativecommons.org/licenses
NB: Links above may be affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I earn a small commission. It in no way affects the price you pay.
