Did Henry ever speak of Anne?
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I think that the only times Henry ever mentioned Anne was when he argued with Jane Seymour and reminded her of what happened to Anne. He used her as a threat.
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I think the only ‘certain’ mention of Anne made by Henry after her death was his comment made shortly after the execution itself. Although Henry intended to marry Jane, foreign candidates were still put forward either in the vain attempt to persuade him to form a new alliance, or because they were unaware of Henry’s intentions. A French candidate was mentioned and Henry retorted that he was tired of women with French ways. This must have been a reference to his former wife who was raised in France and whose marriage to Henry coincided with (and promoted) a pro-French alliance.
Interestingly there is some debate amongst historians regarding whether Jane Seymour either did defy Henry whilst married, including whether she actually stood up to the king regarding the dissolution of the monasteries (rejection of the idea that Jane was particularly conservative is discussed by Pamela Gross and David Loades in their respective works). Thus there may have been no occasion in which Henry needed to remind Jane of her unfortunate predecessor.
There is another story claiming that Henry mentioned Anne during his marriage to Anne of Cleves. I believe the story is either mentioned in Alison Weir or Antonia Fraser’s work on the six wives. The story, first mentioned by the Italian historian Leti, states that Anne of Cleves had asked for Elizabeth to come to court after the girl had written to ask for a meeting. Henry, rather in a poor mood owing to the failure of his current marriage, replied that Elizabeth’s mother was so different from his current queen that she should be glad not to know her. However I believe the historian in question was writing in the seventeenth-century, did not frequently state his sources, and has something of a reputation when it comes to devising stories. Furthermore I don’t think there is any evidence that Anne of Cleves was particularly keen on seeing Elizabeth at first – whilst she liked the young Edward she certainly was not thrilled to meet Henry’s eldest illegitimate daughter (probably owing to Mary’s status), so it is questionable that she would have wanted to see the equally illegitimate Elizabeth. Fortunately Anne would later get on extremely well with her former stepdaughters.
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