Family of Maria de Salinas, Lady-in-Waiting to Catalina de Aragon


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ysbel

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Excuse if this is the wrong place for this thread but I could not find a similar topic.

Do any of our Spanish members know much about the family of Maria de Salinas, lady-in-waiting, to Catalina de Aragon, Queen of Henry VIII? Maria went with Catherine to England. She married Lord Willoughby and much is known about her descendants in England but I was not able to find much about her family in Spain.

Her father apparently was Martin de Salinas, whose family was originally Jewish but were converted to Christianity. Other than that, I have not found out much about the family.

Does the family still exist in Spain today? Maria de Salinas was a lifelong friend of Queen Catherine and defied Henry VIIIs orders to visit the Queen when she lay dying.
 
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Yes, magnik, thank you. I had found the page on rootsweb.com but had hoped for some more detail.

But perhaps there is none. If Maria de Salinas' family origins were Jewish and they were conversos (converted to Catholicism) then I imagine they would have hidden their roots.

Are you referring to Princess Tatiana von Metternich? She doesn't appear to be a Salinas but Russian/German but she adopted her sister's grandson (?) Don Alvaro de Salinas as heir.
 
Thanks again, magnik. :)

I shall have to look at the modern de Salinas more closely.
 
Ysbel did you try to find something about her in books about queen Catalina? or maybe about English (Jane Grey and Brandon family) or Spanish nobility?
 
There is a lot of information about Maria and her descendents in England. She married Lord Willoughby who still has descendents today including Princess Diana. I'm reading David Starkey's book on the Six Wives of Henry VIII, and he goes into great detail about the persons of Catalina's Spanish household that arrived with her in England. He covers a bit of the family of Donna Elvira, Catalina's governess, who seems to be of an old Spanish aristocratic family, but so far nothing on Maria.
 
In fact Diana Princess of Wales was a direct descendant of Maria Salinas; the line is as follows:

Maria de Salinas-> Katherine Willowby, Baroness of Eresby-> Peregrine Bertie, 12th Baron of Eresby-> Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey-> Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey-> Elizabeth Bertie, Viscountess Campden-> Catherine Noel, Duchess of Rutland-> Catherine Manners, Baroness Gower-> John Leverson Manners, 1st Earl Gower-> Gertrude Leveron-Grower, Duchess of Bedford-> Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock-> John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford-> Louisa-Jane Russell, Duchess of Aberncorn-> James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Aberncorn-> James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Aberncorn-> Cynthia Hamilton, Countess Spencer-> John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer-> Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales.
 
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I never would have guessed Diana's family connection.

Maria must have been a very kind and devoted lady. Queen Catherine was fortunate to have had at least this one true friend during her whole lifetime in England.
 
Maria de Salinas was in fact a very remarkable woman; born in a wealthy and powerful Castillian family, with strong ties with Queen Isabella, Maria left Spain with Catherine, then royal princess of Castilla and Aragon, who would marry the English heir.

Maria always supported Catherine, whose troubles started when her first husband, Prince Arthur, passed away. On many occasions Maria defied Henry VIII's prohibitions to visit Catherine, whom she (Maria) always assisted during her many sicknesses. Queen Catherine died in Maria's arms. In spite of the latter Maria was very esteemed by Henry VIII who named a vessel "Maria Willowgby" in her honour.

On 1526, after her husband's death, Maria's power and influence were tested during the legal battle she maintained to remain in control of the Willoughby estates on behalf of her daughter, against her brother-in-law, Sir Christopher Willoughby; eventually Maria de Salinas prevailed.

On 1534 Maria's daughter (Lady Catherine Willowghby, named after her Godmother Queen Catherine) married firstly Sir Charles Brandon, First Duke of Suffolk, who had been married to Henry VIII's favourite sister, princess Mary Tudor (died 1933).

Lady Maria de Salinas, Baroness of Willowghby, died at her London Palace on 1939 (aged 49), 3 years after her dear friend Queen Catherine.
 
willoughby,catherine(resized).jpg


Copyright free portrait of Lady Catherine Willowghby (Duchess of Suffolk and Baroness of Eresby) the only daughter of Maria de Salinas (Lady Maria Willoughby), Baroness of Eresby, lady in waiting and loyal best friend of Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England. As stated before in this thread Maria and her daughter are direct ancestresses of Lady Diana Princess of Wales.
 
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Excuse if this is the wrong place for this thread but I could not find a similar topic.

Do any of our Spanish members know much about the family of Maria de Salinas, lady-in-waiting, to Catalina de Aragon, Queen of Henry VIII? Maria went with Catherine to England. She married Lord Willoughby and much is known about her descendants in England but I was not able to find much about her family in Spain.

Her father apparently was Martin de Salinas, whose family was originally Jewish but were converted to Christianity. Other than that, I have not found out much about the family.

Does the family still exist in Spain today? Maria de Salinas was a lifelong friend of Queen Catherine and defied Henry VIIIs orders to visit the Queen when she lay dying.

I'm related to catherine of Aragon's mother, who I might conclued, to be teh suriving daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.
 
I thought that Katherine of Aragon was the daughter of Ferdinand & Isabella?? Did I miss something here or did you state that Katherine was Ferdinand & Isabella's granddaughter?

No you didn't miss anything. Katharine of Aragon was th daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella:)
 
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