On Friday 2nd June 1536, Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, made her first public appearance at Greenwich. Sir John Russell recorded this in a letter to Lord Lisle:
“On Friday last [2nd June] the Queen sat abroad as Queen, and was served by her own servants, who were sworn that same day. The King came in his great boat to Greenwich that day with his privy chamber, and the Queen and the ladies in the great barge. I assure you she is as gentle a lady as ever I knew, and as fair a Queen as any in Christendom. ‘The King hath come out of hell into heaven for the gentleness in this and the cursedness and the unhappiness in the other.’ You would do well to write to the King again that you rejoice he is so well matched with so gracious a woman as is reported. This will please the King.”
Jane had married Henry VIII on 30th May 1536 in the Queen’s Closet at Whitehall.
Notes and Sources
- LP x. 1047
The quote, ‘The King hath come out of hell into heaven for the gentleness in this and the cursedness and the unhappiness in the other.’ really annoys me, as he is obviously reffering to his relationship with Anne with the negative parts. If only Henry knew that his daughter that Anne gave him turned out to be one of the greatest monarchies England has ever had. I’m sure he would of turned from Jane.
So right Sarah, I often think about how it’s tragic that Anne didn’t know how great Elizabeth would become, and a revenge on Henry that he didn’t know how great Elizabeth would become!
I doubt very much that Henry would have turned from Jane. For one thing he did not have the forsight of history. He had fallen out of love with Anne and only a son was going to save her, sad as it may seem. Henry may have been fond of Elizabeth and his devotion to his children is partly to do with Jane and her kindness. The quote above is an observation about how Henry felt about the end of his life with Anne and the joy that he now displayed about his new marriage to Jane. It may be annoying to those who can look back and see Anne as she really was and feel sorry for her, but do not forget that Henry felt that Anne had slept with five men at least and the marriage had not been a happy one. It was a passionate but stormy one. The quote is an accurate observation on how the King felt and what his friends saw. He was merry with Jane at this time and it was clear that they believed that he had made a fresh and delightful start with Jane.
Anne was not to know how great Elizabeth would be: Henry would not know it either but may-be he thought she would be as she was a clever girl and he saw something extraordinary in his daughter. She had two brilliant parents after all. She was bound to take after them. Elizabeth had the privialge of being able to observe how her sister and brother ruled and vowed not to make their mistakes. She watched and she learned and applied what she grew into a great woman and for many, a great monarch. Neither Henry or Anne or Jane could know this: Henry needed a son and Jane was to give him one: that was his great delight; a delight that was observed from the start of their union.