Henry VIII is remembered today for being the 6 wifed Tudor Monarch who orchestrated the
execution’s of two of his wife’s.
He is known for being a brutal man, and someone who would get whatever he wanted.
Not many people dared to cross Henry, and he was a King who also had a number of mistresses.
The most high profile mistress he had was Mary Boleyn, the sister of the woman who would
become his second wife.
But if the King wanted to sleep with a woman at his court, the husband of the woman would
have little say in this, and the expectation was that the woman would be sent to Henry
VIII’s bedchamber in the evening.
Very few ladies rejected this idea, and were encouraged to sleep with the Tudor king to
advance their families and standing at court.
But the King did have a number of illegitimate children, but there is one which today is
very forgotten about, and very little is documented about her life and also her fate.
But who was Ethelreda Malte, the reported illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII.
Ethelreda Malte, who is sometimes referred to as Audrey was born around 1527 to 1535,
and she later became an English courtier.
However, there were many reports at the time and claims that her father was in fact Henry
VIII.
It’s believed that her mother was Joan Dingley, one of Henry VIII’s Laundresses.
Joan is also listed in records as Joan Dobson, and she was a woman who was considered a member
of the lesser nobility and she was not a prominent player at court.
This means that Henry VIII must have had his eye caught by Joan, or that she was attractive
enough to captivate the King.
Of course for a woman of Joan’s status, to sleep with the King would have been a huge
thing, and would have been something she probably wouldn’t have turned down, as she could
have been rewarded with great wealth and also power.
Henry VIII during his reign did have an illegitimate son with Bessie Blount, Henry Fitzroy, and
this child was shrouded in titles and great wealth.
However despite this affair, which could have occurred during the marriage between Henry
VIII and Catherine of Aragon, or the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, produced
a child and a daughter named Ethelreda.
Henry VIII himself never openly acknowledged Ethelreda s his daughter, but he did give
his tailor John Malte land a property including St Catherine’s Court, a large Manor House
in Somerset.
He did this as John actually recognised Ethelreda as his illegitimate daughter, and with this
took the shine away from Henry VIII.
However in 1547, John Malte the step in father of Ethelreda died when she was not too old,
and with this John left money in his will for her.
With this, she was considered a rather well off heiress of his lands and estate, and then
Ethelreda in 1548 married John Harington.
Her husband was a well off official at the royal court, and he served the Lord High Admiral
Thomas Seymour, the later executed uncle of Henry VIII’s son Edward VI.
Ethelreda had already been engaged allegedly to an illegitimate grandson of Sir Richard
Southwell, a privy councillor but this was called off.
Through her marriage, Ethelreda brought many properties to the family, including them owned
by Shaftesbury Abbey which were acquired during the Dissolutions of the Monasteries.
This made her a rather well off woman who owned a significant amount of land.
However following the death of her father Henry VIII, her fortunes remained positive
throughout the reign of her father’s son Edward VI.
She had a daughter named Hester, but during the reign of Mary I her fortunes would change.
On the 18th March 1554, Ethelreda was summoned to be part of Princess Elizabeth, the future
Elizabeth I’s ladies inside of the Tower of London.
Mary I had been on the throne roughly a year, and she suspected her half sister Elizabeth
of being involved in plots against her, and with this she ordered Elizabeth to be locked
up inside the Tower of London.
Elizabeth was furious with this, as the Tower had a horrific reputation of personal bloodshed
for her as her mother Anne Boleyn was executed inside the walls of the infamous fortress.
But Ethelreda was one of the ladies who were to wait upon Elizabeth I, who could have been
her rumoured half sister, if as believed she was fathered by Henry VIII.
Elizabeth was imprisoned on suspicion of causing a rebellion, and within the Tower she lived
rather well to begin with, but her imprisonment did get tougher.
Inside of the Tower of London, it’s believed that Ethelreda and Elizabeth did grow close
and had a bond, as following the death of Mary I, Ethelreda would be there at the coronation
of Elizabeth I on the 15th January 1559.
However tragically she died within the same month, around the age of 30 which was considered
very young still during the Tudor Period, especially for a woman who has a significant
amount of wealth.
She would have had a prominent role in Elizabeth I’s court and certainly would have been
one of her ladies in waiting or maids of honour.
It’s believed that she may have died at St Catherine’s Court her residence near
to Bath, and that she was possibly buried in the church next door, however the church
records for the Tudor Period have been lost.
This would mean if true, that the forgotten and lost daughter of Henry VIII lies in a
grave that today is unmarked in a church which does not know that an important Tudor woman
is buried there.
Within two months of Ethelreda’s death, her husband had remarried.
But the real story of the forgotten illegitimate child of Henry VIII is one that is not the
clearest.
We know that she died at a young age, and we are not entirely certain when Ethelreda
was born.
This would be interesting as it would be captivating to see if her mother was a mistress to Henry
VIII during his marriage to Anne Boleyn.
But Henry VIII may not have acknowledged Ethelreda for a number of reasons.
The first may have been as he did not want to upset his wife at the time, but chances
are that the fact he had slept with Joan Dingley his laundress would have been talked and gossiped
about heavily.
Another reason is that for the King to acknowledge his illegitimate children was a big thing,
and we know Henry VIII had a number.
Henry Fitzroy was the exception to this, and it’s believed that Henry VIII also could
have been the father to Mary Boleyn’s children, meaning he was the father of his nieces even
when he married Anne Boleyn.
But the story of Ethelreda is one which is forgotten, and she was close with Elizabeth
I, as the Queen was a princess and this quite possibly was her half sister, and chances
are that the pair would have spoken about this.
Etherlreda today is the forgotten illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII.
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