Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, KG was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and was the last known person to have been executed at the instance of King Henry VIII. His name is usually associated in literature with that of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. Owing largely to the powerful position of his father Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Henry took a prominent part in court life, and served as a soldier both in France and in Scotland. He was a man of reckless temper, which involved him in many quarrels, and finally brought upon him the wrath of the ageing Henry VIII. He was arrested, tried for treason and beheaded on Tower Hill.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Painting in the Mannerist style possibly attributed to the Dutch artist William Scrots. c. 1546.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, painted by Hans Holbein. c. 1542/1543. The painting is currently exhibited at the São Paulo Museum of Art, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Henry's father
Sketch of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, showing a striking resemblance to his father, the Duke of Norfolk, created by Hans Holbein the Younger. c. 1530s. National Portrait Gallery
Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent, though the family was originally from Yorkshire. His family adopted the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses. His mother was Anne Skinner, and his father Henry, who had earlier been imprisoned and tortured by Richard III, had been a Privy Councillor of Henry VII and remained a trusted adviser when Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509.
Depiction by Hans Holbein the Younger
Anne Boleyn
Memorial in Sherborne Abbey