A Rose by any other Ghost
The Kings Manor, York is an attractive setting for medieval studies provided by the university. It used to be the abbot's residence, belonging to St Mary's Abbey, which is now in magnificent ruins behind it, in the nearby Museum gardens. Henry VIII destroyed the thriving community of monks, when he brought in the new religion of the Church of England to replace the Roman Catholic one. So the abbot's house became the King's manor, a place where Henry could stay and entertain when he visited northern England and where he brought two of his wives, though not at the same time of course. The two he took there, are in fact, the only two out of his six brides whom Henry actually beheaded.
A good rhyme for remembering just what happened to which wife is to say: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived! Then you have the fates of every one of his queens: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves (the famous cow of the Netherlands) Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr.
Anne went to Kings Manor with Henry, as did Katherine Howard, one beheading, one death in childbirth and one hasty divorce later. Katherine was his youngest wife around 15 or 17 when she married him and he was past fifty. Henry believed Katherine was untouched by any man before she had entered the bridal bed - she was his "rose without a thorn." He didn't know about her previous lovers - a music teacher, and another called Francis Denham whom Katherine had got engaged to and who then went overseas to make his fortune.
When Francis came back he had a bit of a shock to find out his fiance was now Queen of England - but he got used to it and became her secretary and tongues started wagging. Whether or not there was really anything going on between them - we shall never know - but Katherine began an affair with a certain Thomas Culpepper - a distant cousin. His current descendants have commercial and well-known links with the herbal trade, as Culpeppers on Stonegate may testify. Katherine and Thomas met in the grounds of the Kings Manor for their secret lovers' meetings. Amongst the rose gardens they whispered sweet nothings and played a dangerous game. It was bound to end in tears. It was bound to reach the king - a king with the blood on his hands of one wife already. Not so much the rose without a thorn now, a disappointed and heart-broken Henry would learn she was his fallen wench with a secret. Katherine was beheaded for treason in February 1542.
The sighting of her ghost happened many years ago, when maids still worked at the Kings Manor. One of the maids saw a lady dressed in green, carrying a bunch of roses. The ghost stepped out of a cupboard and walked straight through the poor, terrified maid, who promptly fainted at such a royal visit.
Accounts have become muddied however, as with many ghost stories, an element of "Chinese whispers" takes over and it has been said the ghost was that of Anne Boelyn. I maintain it is Katherine. The ghost carried roses. The sighting took place in the Principal's house - a building to the right of the Kings Manor - which was built long after the Tudors were around, but on investigation, it was discovered that this was where the rose garden used to be - where Katherine used to meet Thomas Culpeper all those centuries ago. It is to be noted, the elegant lady ghost had a head however.