Lord Thomas Howard was a younger son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and became secretly engaged or married to Margaret Douglas, a niece of Henry VIII with a strong place in the succession.
The king regarded the match as a threat because it had occurred without permission and imprisoned both in the Tower. Parliament made such unauthorised marriages involving the royal family treasonable. Howard died in confinement in 1537, while Margaret eventually recovered favour. Lord Thomas Howard died in London.
In Alison Weir’s The Princess of Scotland, Her secret love for Lord Thomas Howard provokes the king’s fury and imprisonment, while conflict between her parents leaves her divided between Scotland and England. Carol McGrath’s A Tudor Rebel follows Lord Thomas Howard’s secret betrothal to Margaret Douglas, a match Henry VIII treated as a dynastic threat and punished by separating the couple and imprisoning Howard.