Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland

Henry Percy
The Earl of Northumberland
Medallion of Henry Percy
Noble family	House of Percy
Father	Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland
Mother	Catherine Spencer
Born	1502 Nottingham
Died	29 June 1537
Buried	Hackney Church

Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, KG (c. 1502 – 1537) was an English nobleman, active as a military officer in the north. He is now primarily remembered as the betrothed of Anne Boleyn, whom he was forced to give up before she became involved with King Henry VIII.

Henry Percy was born about 1502, the eldest son of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, by Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert Spencer. Through his mother he was a cousin of William Carey who was the brother-in-law to Anne Boleyn.

Henry was sent, when quite young, to be a page in Thomas Wolsey's household. He was knighted in 1519. The principal source for the early passages of Percy's life is the biography of Wolsey by George Cavendish.

Though his father had destined him by 1516 for the daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, he fell in love with Anne Boleyn, then a young lady about the court. Percy became betrothed to Anne probably in the spring of 1523, when he was still page to Wolsey. On hearing the news, Wolsey scolded Lord Percy before his household, since permission for the marriage had not been sought from his father nor from the King, who had an interest due to the importance of the Northumberland earldom. While Cavendish claimed that the King already had a personal interest in Anne at this point, driving Wolsey's angry reaction, this has been debated. The intrigue was soon discovered, and the Earl of Northumberland sent for young Lord Percy.

Another serious obstacle, besides the proposed Talbot match, is that Anne was intended to wed James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond (who was then a page in Wolsey's household), to manage and resolve a dispute over the earldom of Ormond involving Sir Thomas Boleyn, her father, who had a somewhat feeble claim on the vast Ormonde estates in Munster through his grandmother.