Second Marriage
One of Catherine's friends, Jane Seymour, daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, introduced Catherine to her brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford. Without seeking the Queen's permission, the two were married in December 1560 in a secret ceremony at Edward's house in Canon Row, with Jane Seymour being the only witness.
Shortly afterwards, the Queen sent Edward Seymour with Thomas Cecil, eldest son of William Cecil, on a tour across Europe to improve their education. Seymour provided his wife with a document that would, in the event of his death, allow her to prove the marriage and inherit his property, but Catherine lost the document. Thus, after Jane Seymour died of tuberculosis in 1561, Catherine was unable to prove that she was married.
Read more about this topic: Lady Catherine Grey
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated. The whole of the mind must lie wide open if we are to get the sense that the writer is communicating his experience with perfect fullness.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“If a marriage is going to work well, it must be on a solid footing, namely money, and of that commodity it is the girl with the smallest dowry who, to my knowledge, consumes the most, to infuriate her husband. All the same, it is only fair that the marriage should pay for past pleasures, since it will scarcely procure any in the future.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)