thing I loved best in the world, and, though you may hang me for it, I can assure you that she loves me as well as I love her, although up to this hour no wrong has ever passed between us. Before the King married her, I thought to make her my wife, and when I saw her irremediably lost to me I was like to die.” According to the story, the Duke of Somerset retorted to this monologue with, "You have said quite enough, Culpeper, to lose your head." Literature In Ford Madox Ford's trilogy on Catherine Howard, entitled The Fifth Queen, Culpeper is portrayed as an intimate of Catherine's who, early on in the novel, arrives with her in tow on a mule as the wedding with Anne of Cleves is about to take place. In dragging the mule forward as a riot is starting outside the King's garden, he is described as "a man in green at the mule's head, [who] ... sprang like a wild cat under the beast's neck. His face blazed white, his teeth shone like a dog's, he screamed and struck his dagger through the butcher's throat [someone trying to block his and Catherine's way]. His motions were those of a wild beast". His introduction to Court is brought about through Catherine. He is sent to Calais to keep him from getting in trouble at Court for his brawling. He is often mentioned as having sold property to buy his impoverished cousin Catherine a proper dress and is not at all consistent with the historical record. On-screen portrayals In the 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII, Culpeper was played by Robert Donat. In the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, he was played by Ralph Bates, though Robin Sachs assumed the role in the subsequent 1972 film, Henry VIII and His Six Wives. In the 2003 TV film Henry VIII, Thomas Culpeper is portrayed by Joseph Morgan. In the Showtime television series The Tudors, Thomas Culpeper is portrayed by Torrance Coombs; in this series, he is characterized as a cruel, arrogant man whose interest in Catherine is purely sexual, his relationship with her is an outgrowth of a preexisting affair with Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (a detail that has no basis in history). References 1510s births 1539 crimes 1541 deaths Catherine Howard Thomas Court of Henry VIII English