The Six Wives Of Henry VIII by Weir Alison

Author:Weir, Alison [Weir, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781446449097
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2011-05-30T23:00:00+00:00

11

Shall I die without justice?

ON THE DAY of Queen Katherine’s funeral, Chapuys noticed Henry paying marked attention to ‘Mrs Semel [sic]’ and giving her ‘very large presents’. During the afternoon, the Queen caught her husband with Jane on his knee, and flew into a frenzy, according to the account given years later by the English Duchess of Feria, who learned of the episode from her mistress Mary Tudor, who, in turn, probably learned of it from Jane Seymour herself. Henry, seeing his wife hysterical and fearing for their child, sent Jane out of the room and hastened to placate Anne. ‘Peace be, sweetheart, and all shall go well with thee,’ he soothed.

But the damage had been done. That evening, Anne aborted a foetus of about fifteen weeks’ growth that had all the appearance of a male. ‘She has miscarried of her saviour,’ wrote Chapuys. The King in disappointment and sorrow commented, ‘I see that God will not give me male children.’ In a cold and unforgiving mood he stalked into the Queen’s bedchamber, where Anne was sobbing fearfully, and complained about ‘the loss of his boy’ with many harsh words. Anne burst out that the fault lay with him, because he had been unkind to her, at which Henry flung back that she ‘should have no more boys by him’. Seeing him so implacable, Anne forgot all caution, and cried desperately that he had no one to blame but himself for this disappointment, which had been caused by her distress of mind about ‘that wench, Jane Seymour’. Breaking down again, she told him, ‘Because the love I bear you is so much greater than Katherine’s, my heart broke when I saw you loved others.’ But she had gone too far. ‘I will speak with you when you are well,’ said Henry icily, and walked out of the room.

When he had gone, Anne bravely told her ladies it was all for the best: ‘I shall be the sooner with child again, and the son I bear will not be doubtful like this one, which was conceived during the life of the Princess Dowager.’ Yet she was being over-optimistic, for when Henry had closed the door of her room behind him, he had also closed the door on his second marriage.

There was great speculation at court as to what had caused the Queen’s miscarriage. Anne herself blamed Norfolk, claiming the mishap was due to the shock she received when he told her of the King’s fall from his horse. Some thought it the result of a defect in her constitution, while others, more perceptive, guessed it had been caused by fear that Henry would treat her as he had Katherine. Chapuys thought this ‘not unlikely, considering his behaviour towards a damsel of the court, called Miss Seymour’; Anne’s ladies knew that she was temperamentally incapable of ignoring this, as Katherine would have done.

The real reason for the miscarriage may have been that Anne was one of the small minority of people who

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