I like her; I really do not like when people are dismissive of her and say she was ‘foolish’ or term her a ‘fool’. It’s true she made some foolish decisions; but arguably Wolsey and Cromwell made some of their own, and yet I don’t read them referred to by such terms nearly as often. 

She was a good Queen, publicly followed protocol with grace and graciously; and used her influence as much as she was able. I’m tired of seeing her reduced to the relationships she had with men, I would love to read more about the relationships she had with other women.

Had that letter never been left in the chapel for Henry, I think it’s likely she would have been his last wife. It was a bit of a powder-keg of a situation, but it was Dereham that was probably more foolhardy and foolish than Katherine herself.

And yet, somehow, all the focus is on her and how she “knew what happened to Anne, so how could she ever have been so foolish as to write a letter like that to Culpeper”? It wasn’t a wise decision, to be sure, but Dereham was likely her senior and made, arguably, decisions that were even more reckless. 

That being said, I think the more important/relevant question to ask is how he could have been so foolish as to brag of his probable (what, today, would certainly legally be so) past abuse of Katherine when he likely knew five of Anne Boleyn’s alleged lovers had been executed on little more than rumors alone; one flirtatious comment from Smeaton and one angry one from Anne to Norris + the manipulation of a court faction, after all, had led to the swiftest and severest fall the Tudor court had ever seen, and it ruined men (and one woman) that were far more powerful than Dereham had ever been. 

Even if Dereham didn’t care about Katherine (which…by his actions, it seems he did not), one would at least think he would’ve kept his mouth shut out of self-preservation.