Bill1978 said:

No way would I speak out of turn against Henry. Yes it is a weakness in my character, but I rather Anne die, than both of us.

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That's probably the most accurate and honest assessment of the time. And also the reason why Anne died. They say that for evil to survive, all it takes is for good men to do nothing.

However, if we're talking about going back in time, I am very upset and disappointed that no one has pointed out the obvious, namely that that saving her would disturb the time continuum and destroy the universe. Oh yes, I believe everything David Tenant tells me!

To go back and try to stop Anne from making the 'Henry mistake' would be a waste of time.  She would love him no matter what we said to her. To snatch them out of history just before their deaths is a splendid idea. I agree with everything that was said about Elizabeth being the queen she was because of the life and death of her mother, and her father's actions towards her.

Now would I go back and kill Hitler?  I have thought about this quite a bit. Without hesitation, you bet I would.  I would shoot him dead. And I would hope I got him early enough in his life so that the world would never have heard of him.

 Bella, since I think we would have been born during this time no matter what happened historically…I think you would still be here today. 

I would save Anne if at all possible. Saving an innocent life? – no hesitation.

Anne had plenty of qualities which could have continued influencing History, even indirectly. Years passing, Anne might have influenced the Reformation, essentially via intellectual interests. Sparing Anne would also mean that Henry would not have had one more killing to re-nforce the feeling of 'normality' in having loved ones beheaded. Who knows, maybe his 'tyrannic acceleration' noted in the 1530s would not have been as catastrophic. Maybe, even, he'd have accepted to hear Anne in person after after a while. What about being there for her daughter, bringing a little emotional presence to a very, very dark childhood. I'm sure that, at first, Henry would have stood in the way of Anne meeting Elizabeth too often (if at all – we all know what happened with Katherine and Mary). But knowing that a mother is living somewhere make a huge difference to a child.

I do not believe that sparing Anne would in anyway rob Elizabeth of developing a strong survivor persona.

Fact is, Elizabeth was lucky to have any form of sanity at all with the
problems we know of added to her mother's death and infamous reputation. The
only psychologically viable explanation is that Elizabeth was naturally
strong. Her mother's death turned extremely tough circumstances into
the childhood from hell. And it left her with deep emotional scars which would have been minimised with Anne around.

Having an extremely dysfunctionnal childhod brings advantages to no-one. All such a childhood brings is the dyslocation of the child's emotions, leading to the development of mental health disorders. Yes, in some (exceptional) indivudials, the strength of the survivor also develops. But a what cost! Mental health suffering is a form of torture. I would do all I can to limit the damage.

In any case, Elizabeth would still get to see enough of the dark side of human nature to develop the necessary strength to make her a great Queen: Anne would be saved but out of favour, Elizabeth would still be made a bastard, Henry would still be the complicated and changeable man/father we know about. Mary would still develop issues with Elizabeth. The Reformation would still establish its difficult roots, with burnings at the stake and other tortures. More than enough to learn life the hard way.

It is so strange to see this post! Over the summer I had a dream that the women on my block and I found a portal through time that opened onto the tower green on that terrible day in May. A couple stayed behind at the opening in our cul-de-sac. Others came through and caused a distraction while 2 of us went up on the scaffold and grabbed her. The weird thing is she kept saying “Henry won't kill me! He is bluffing. He is going to give me a reprieve. He won't go through with it.” We kept telling her “Oh yes he will! He does, he did!  We gotta go! NOW!” We got her through the hole and then she finally looked at our clothes and said “Mon Dieu! WHAT are you wearing?” then I woke up…

Kimberly

Laughs…so long as we don't go PG about it….and I'm not talking movie classifications.