Why do you think Katherine agrees to go along with the clandestine wedding to Thomas Seymour when she could be charged with treason for doing so?

When Katherine ultimately marries Thomas Seymour, she does so without the blessing of the king although she could be charged with treason for doing so. Why do you think she agrees to go along with the clandestine wedding?

This stumped me. Here was the queen of England who now had her freedom and property and a comfortable life. She could have kept Thomas Seymour as a lover. I don't understand why she went behind the new king of England's back and secretly married someone below her station I life. She must have really loved him to do that and was afraid of losing him.

I think that she let her passion for Seymour rule her judgement.

I was disappointed with Katherine's action. I agree with esterl that she let her passion rule; however, Thomas Seymour was extremely clever and convincing. He knew that she was a young woman whose passionate desires were unfulfilled in her marriage. In my estimation he was a conniving scoundrel and that was confirmed.

Katherine had been unlucky in three marriages about which she had little choice. Thomas Seymor was handsome, articulate, of the same class as she. No man like him had ever come into her life. Plus he made her feel feminine and loved and they seemed to have a great sexual chemistry. Katherine had never had a man she loved who was handsome, young, loved her and could give her the child she craved. It is not difficult to understand that she fell in love with him.

She allows her heart to rule her brain. Thomas certainly showed his true colors and I was happy to see the end of him.

Foolish passion and his threat that he would leave her if she didn't agree to marry him. He turned out to be her biggest weakness and probably the biggest mistake of her life

Irisf, you are right on target. In this situation, Katherine's decision was not an intelligent one. The saddest element of this entire scenario is that after all was said and done she was not a part of her daughter's life.

Love, Love, Love. It seems Seymour was her one true love and she was blind to his faults. Also, maybe for once she wanted to make her own decision about marriage. She was smart but oh so dumb in this case.

For a woman who was smart enough to keep her head firmly attached to her shoulders while the wife of a madman, she showed no sense whatsoever when it came to marrying Seymour. This is one of those situations in which passion triumphed over intellect and was really one of the only mistakes (imho) that this very savvy lady made.

I agree with other readers that her passion for Thomas Seymour made the decision. Not so sure it was love - he ruled her with his attention. Should have just kept him as her lover. Was not sorry to see him get his come-uppance.

She was clearly thinking with something other than her brain. THis was, as Lori observes, totally out of character given her strategic managment of her marriage to Henry VIII, but completely in keeping with her earlier relationship to Seymour.

I think the pressure that Thomas placed on Katherine to marry him, coupled with her religious beliefs (she had done condemning things and God was giving her a second chance) converged to her saying yes to the marriage. And I think there was also an element of freedom, a throwing caution to the wind, that proved irresistible at this juncture of her life.

All very good observations. She never should have agreed to marry the handsome Thomas Seymour.

I agree with Irisf that she was using very poor judgment and acting out of fear that she would lose Thomas. It led to as much misery as her other marriages.

This was the great flaw in Katherine's character...her passion for Thomas Seymour. For a woman who could see the manipulations of the court and her horrid husband, she never was able to see how Thomas manipulated her. Love was truly blind in this case.

I think Katherine went along with the wedding to Thomas Seymour because she was in love with him and didn't want to lose him. She really had no choice when she married Henry; he chose her and if she wanted to keep her head, she had to go along with it, but she never forgot the passion she had felt for Seymour, so she went with her heart and not her brain.