Jane Parker, Lady Rochford

Jane was the daughter of Lord Morley and Alice St. John, both from old English families with Roman Catholic tendencies. She was born in Norfolk, England. She married George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, later the second queen of King Henry VIII.

Jane's marriage to George Boleyn was not a happy one, which may have prompted her to testify against her husband at the trial of her sister-in-law. It's sometimes alleged that it was she who accused her husband and the Queen of incest, however the only evidence suggests that her involvement was only to admit that Gerorge had discussed Henry's impotence with Anne. It is thought that George may, however have been homosexual, and that this may have been the cause of her unhappy marriage.

Following his execution, Jane Parker was later given a placement in the household of another of Henry's queens, Anne of Cleves, and it was she who questioned the queen about the consumation, and therefore the validity, of her marriage to the king. She would later tesify in July 1540 to further the King's divorce from his fourth wife.

Following this divorce, Jane Parker became a lady of the privy chamber to yet another of Henry's wives, Catherine Howard, who was Jane's first cousin through marriage. When inquiry was made into Catherine Howard's fidelity to the king in November 1541, Jane was implicated in furthering the Queen's activities with a Thomas Culpepper, a gentleman of the King's privy chamber. Following a clot in the king's ulcerated leg in March of 1541, Catherine Howard was said to have begun her affair with Culpepper, with Lady Rochford as a go-between.

When the king began his progress to the north of England in June 1541, Queen Catherine and Lady Rochford's indiscretions could no longer be hidden from the rest of the court. She was the instrument of the downfall of another of Henry VIII's wives. This time, however, it was to have fatal consquences for herself and not just the queen she served. She was executed immediately after the beheading of Catherine Howard. Her scaffold speech was said by contemporaries to be too long winded, and many complained that she listed far too many of her vices. She was buried in the Tower of London along with Catherine Howard.