Nicholas Carew’s execution shows how quickly long-standing royal service could be recast as treason in Henry VIII’s court. Accused of plotting to seize the throne and arrange a marriage between his son and Princess Mary Tudor, Carew went to the scaffold on Tower Hill. Margaret Pole presents the case against him as unconvincing and his death as one more loss in a widening assault on the king’s opponents and their connections.

Political Setting

Carew’s execution followed a period in which religious and dynastic authority were being reshaped around the king. When the Church surrendered to Henry VIII, Lord Montague told Margaret that the king would rule the Church himself and that Thomas More had resigned as Lord Chancellor. The news made clear that opposition involved more than private disagreement: the king was claiming authority over the Church as well as over the terms of his marriage and succession.

In 1534, Thomas Cromwell administered the succession oath to the nobility at Westminster Palace. Margaret understood that the Pope had publicly ruled the marriage of Katherine of Aragon and Henry VIII valid, while the king asserted that his own judgment determined the matter in England. Thomas More refused to sign the oath as it stood, and Margaret recalls Henry’s earlier promise that he would not put his friend to this test. These disputes form the setting for Carew’s later accusation: loyalty to Katherine or support for Princess Mary could be treated as politically dangerous.

Margaret and her family also relied on discreet channels to maintain contact with Katherine. Margaret arranged for a folded paper to reach her through Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, who carried correspondence to the emperor and the Pope. Separately, Margaret’s sons heard from Reginald Pole that Charles V might intervene if Henry publicly married Anne Boleyn and set Princess Mary aside. These efforts show the breadth of the political network around the queen and princess, but the account does not establish that Carew took part in them.

The Accusation

While Margaret was imprisoned, William Fitzwilliam told her that Carew had been taken to the Tower. The allegation was that Carew planned to destroy the king, seize the throne, and marry his son to Princess Mary. Margaret’s disbelief rests partly on Carew’s place in Henry’s life: he was the king’s Master of Horse and, according to her, a trusted companion in joust and war since their boyhood.

Fitzwilliam also attributed political significance to Carew’s affection for Katherine of Aragon and his disagreement with Henry’s treatment of Princess Mary. The account reports these as reasons offered for suspicion, not as proof of the alleged plot. Margaret responds that many people had loved Katherine, including the king himself, and challenges the implication that such attachment could make an entire circle of her supporters guilty.

Trial and Execution

The case against Carew was reinforced by letters attributed to Gertrude Courtenay, then a widow held in the Tower. Margaret says that Thomas Cromwell produced letters he claimed were Gertrude’s, including a sheaf presented at Carew’s trial. In her account, the papers had been found in other people’s rooms, and no one examined them closely apart from Cromwell. The narrative thus places the supposed evidence within a system where the king’s minister controlled both the accusations and their interpretation.

Carew was executed on Tower Hill. Margaret describes him as the king’s close friend, a courtier devoted to Katherine, and a steadfast friend to Princess Mary; she says he walked in the footsteps of her son and died without cause. The execution is therefore presented not as the resolution of a demonstrated conspiracy, but as a death produced by a prosecution whose evidentiary basis Margaret distrusts.

Significance in Margaret’s Account

Carew’s fate echoes the danger facing Margaret’s own family and circle. Her son Montague had already died after trying to protect his relatives, while Geoffrey Pole had been arrested after Thomas Cromwell learned of messages carried to Reginald Pole and accused him of disloyalty. The account connects these cases through surveillance, intercepted communication, and the vulnerability of people linked by family or political sympathy; it does not claim that the cases formed a single proven conspiracy.

Carew’s long intimacy with Henry sharpens the reversal. The king’s former companion, trusted over decades, could be represented as an enemy once his sympathies diverged from the king’s policy. By placing Carew’s execution beside the disputed letters against Gertrude and the deaths of Margaret’s sons, the narrative makes Tower Hill a recurring destination for people caught in the struggle over royal authority and succession.