It depends on what period of time you are speaking of as to when she was at Hever. When Henry first started pursuing her and she was not interested in becoming his wh*re, she fled to the sanctuary of Hever. Many women may have thought it was not shameful to be the king’s wh*re, but Anne did. She returned to court only after she agreed to be Henry’s wife; and it took him a while to convince her that he really meant to marry her. People may say she was holding out, that she was using her arsenal of feminine wiles, but I think that’s a load of garbage.

I see Anne as a woman who was caught up in the king’s net with no easy way out. He was pursuing her relentlessly, and I do think eventually, she began to care a great deal for him. He was a strong powerful man who was telling her constantly how much he loved her. For all her worldliness, she fell for him. Many dispute that she loved him. That’s fine, but I ask, what was she supposed to do? Henry had not let up on his pursuit of her and there was no other answer to give him that he would accept. No one else would pursue her as long as Henry was there. She decided marrying a king who professed his undying love was a good thing. By this time, why would she say no? So, love, passion, and ambition? Yes, of course.

She was 21 when she returned home from France, but that does not mean that she was willing to go to bed with someone before marriage. Worldly does not mean she fell into bed with Henry just because he was king and it was done by others. She had seen what falling into bed with kings did for her sister. Nothing good. Anne’s parents were not happy that either of their daughters had caught the eye of kings. The relationship between Mary and her parents was not a very good one after the affairs she had with kings. Anne was a very religious person, and morality meant a great deal to her. When people speak of Anne, quite often her morality is completely left out of the conversation. Anne knew what she wanted out of life. What she didn’t want was to be someone’s lover, king or not.

Yes, Anne did return to Hever when Compaggio was going to arrive from Rome. Henry always wanted it believed that the reason for the divorce was because his conscience was troubled over being married to his brother’s wife.

Your English is fine.
As to the morality of 16th century England, it seems it was a bit more moral than it was during the 17th. Charles II had a very lax court, but he is so much fun. Henry believed in marrying for love. He thought he had with four of his wives.
No, Anne was not a saint. She had human failings just like everyone else. Henry had been looking for a way out of his marriage to Katherine for a number of years. I could be wrong, but I think he was inquiring about a divorce as early as 1514. When he found out that Katherine could no longer give him children, he started looking for another woman to take her place. It happened to be Anne he set his sight on. I don’t believe Anne was the reason for the divorce from Katherine.
Anne found herself in a position in which she could not extricate herself from. It is sad to say, but her attitude towards Katherine and Mary was over the top at times. Anne, nor Henry for that matter, thought for a moment that divorcing Katherine would turn into the fiasco that it did. It was not only Anne who caused grief for Katherine and Mary. Henry, the king, allowed them to be treated poorly. Anne did try to make peace with Mary a few times, and Mary would have none of it. Anne asked one of the ladies in the Tower with her at the end to tell Mary she was sorry for what she did. Henry was not so forgiving of Mary. He sent people to threaten her to sign his oath, and that was after Anne was gone.
It would be impossible to separate the man from the king. I think she decided on the whole package. She overestimated her power with Henry, and she definitely underestimated Henry.

The trouble I think with Anne and Henry relationship, was as Starkey put it, “mistress’s were know to be firey and tempremental and it was accepted.” Once Henry had married Anne he had expected Anne to settle down and become a breeding machine as K.O.A had been and basically, “shut her eyes as her betters had done before her” to his infidelities etc.

But some how to my mind Anne refused to be the sit by the fire wife as K.O.A had been, and got fed up with her tempestious nature. Equally so she could no longer use Hever to use as a bolt hole when Henry behaviour became too much for her to stomach. To be honest Lard Arse and Anne were a very volatile mix, almost like a molatove cocktail, never knowing which one of them would explode first. Although they loved each other they were also very bad for each other too. Jealously was really the pin that made the molatove cocktail explode. Anne I think found it very difficult to accept that after 7 years of celibacy until they had married that he now suddenly wanted to tinker around with other woman.

On the other hand after 7 years of devoted celibacy to Henry, she was suddenly flirting with other men, well in Henry’s eyes she was. but wasn’t she doing that anyway when they were courting? did she not have a motto Noli me tangere. Basically in 16th century speak “Do not touch me for Caesar’s I am”. In 21st century speak “Bugger off before I kick you hard in the Gentleman department.”

For those who remember one Star Trek episode when Spock has to go back to his home world to meet his bride, and it ends up that his bride doesn’t want Spock and she chooses Kirk to fight with Spock to the death, to free her from her marriage with Spock. At the end Spock says “You might find that having something is not quite the same as wanting something.” and I think this is what happened with Anne and Lard Arse, once they got each other the spark they had slowly faded into nothing.

In much the same way but much quicker when Lard Arse was wanting to marry A.O.C. he fell in love with a portrait was all fire and passion in wanting her and when he processed her the fire went out.

Anne did what was expected as Queen, but she did have a very hard task in front of her, she would have known what was expected of her as Queen being that she had lived in the court of the netherlands and France as well as being a maid in waiting to K.O.A so what to do wasn’t the problem it was the hostility of the people she had to overcome. Many people had grown up knowing only K.O.A as Queen so to them Anne was just a common stumpet with ideas above her station. She knew that the people hated her, but did her best to make them see reason, the stress of the people’s hatred for her mustn’t of helped her relationship with Henry, especially as he was off trying to roger anything that moved, she needed his support more than then she ever did before he married her, and all he cared about was his own needs and wants. Small wonder they had some humdingers of rows.

Boleyn said

Th Anne I think found it very difficult to accept that after 7 years of celibacy until they had married that he now suddenly wanted to tinker around with other woman.

On the other hand after 7 years of devoted celibacy to Henry, she was suddenly flirting with other men, well in Henry’s eyes she was. but wasn’t she doing that anyway when they were courting?

I always wonder if good ole Hal wasn’t playing away while laying seige to Anne..I know he and KoA shared a bed for form’s sake but did he have a lady or 2 or 3 that was well hidden and suitable paid off so as to not make too much of a fuss..

Anyanka said

O/T…It was called Amok Time and Spock went to Pon Farr and had to mate with his Arranged Bride…errr…why is every-one looking at me….

What’s realy sad is that I can quote most of the Orginal Series shows by heart..

Nowt wrong with being a Trekky Anyanka they all good.

I agree with Anyanka. I think ‘Noli me tangere’, means, ‘Don’t touch me,’ in this case. The next line is, “For Caesar’s I am.”

http://www.poetryfoundation.or…..oem/174862

Thomas had snatched a jewel hanging by a lace out of Anne’s pocket. He wore it about his neck. Henry had a ring of hers that he wore on his little finger. During the game, Henry pointed with his little finger saying, “Wyatt, I tell thee it is mine.” Wyatt brought out the jewel and used it to measure the distance and have a little fun at Henry’s expense. He asked the king if he could measure the distance with the ribbon, he was sure it was his. Henry was not amused. He stalked off to confront Anne. Whether this really happened or not, it does give a little insight into Henry’s attitude toward Anne and to any man who thought to woo her. Shortly after this incident, Thomas volunteered to go Italy shortly after this. I think it was a smart move.