Catherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk
Katherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk (née Knyvet/Knyvett; 1564–1638)[1] was an English court office holder who served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England, Anne of Denmark.
She was born in Charlton Park, Wiltshire, the oldest child of Sir Henry Knyvet (or Knyvett) and his wife, Elizabeth Stumpe.
[7] According to Arbella Stuart, Anne of Denmark asked the Countess of Suffolk and Audrey Walsingham to select some of Elizabeth's old clothes from a store in the Tower of London for a masque in January 1604, The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses.
[11] When the Spanish ambassador Juan Fernández de Velasco y Tovar, 5th Duke of Frías came to London to sign a peace treaty, Anne of Denmark and the Countess observed his arrival at Somerset House from a barge on the Thames on 14 August 1604.
[16] The Countess of Suffolk told the resident ambassador Juan de Tassis, 1st Count of Villamediana that she deserved jewels, cash, and a pension for her services.
[17] Spanish agents discussed the possibility of "liberty of conscience" with her, a plan that Catholics might be allowed to worship in private in Protestant England.
[22] According to the 1650 satirical history The Court and Character of King James, the Countess received gifts of great value and Spanish bounty payments that contributed to the costs of building Audley End.
The author, possibly Anthony Weldon, also asserts that she benefitted as a "double sharer" as a mistress or close associate of Sir Robert Cecil, Secretary of State.
She was beautiful in her younger years, and during her time at court had many suitors and a string of alleged love affairs, using the position her husband achieved in the government to extort kickbacks from her lovers.
[31] As the Thomas Overbury scandal was revealed in November 1615, King James commanded that the Countess of Suffolk leave London for the country at Audley End.
Her portrait by Paul van Somer shows her dressed in a silver satin gown embroidered with emblems and insects using spangles or oes.
[43] Thomas Pennant wrote in his 1782 Journey from Chester to London of her portrait, then at Gorhambury House, Hertfordshire:In the room is a fine full-length of the countess of Suffolk, daughter of Sir Henry Knevit, and wife to the lord treasurer.
"Lady Suffolk," says the famous Anne Clifford, in her diary, under the year 1619, "had the smallpox at Northampton-house, which spoiled that good face of her's, which had brought to others much misery, and to herself greatness, which ended in much unhappiness.
