For this week’s #FridayFun, I thought it would be interesting to see what people think about Anne Boleyn’s relationship with Henry VIII?
Did Anne Boleyn set out to attract the king a la Elizabeth Woodville? Was her rebuffing of him all part of a plan to make him want her even more? Did she have her eyes on the crown and was playing a game to get what she wanted?
or
Did Anne really mean “no”? Was she rebuffing Henry VIII’s advances because she truly didn’t want to become a royal mistress? She meant no and expected him to move on to an easier conquest.
What do you think?
Share your view with this poll and feel free to say why by leaving a comment.
Image: Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII in a still from Showtime’s “The Tudors”.
Why would she want to trap him she had wanted to marry Harry Percy and was said to have been devastated when they were split up, she possibly resented him making her sister Mary his mistress and for a time at least, she may not have wanted to get involved with any other man, her heart was broken a first love they say is the most intense, and she and her lover had been treated cruelly, how could Anne know that this autocratic King, who had had several mistresses throughout his reign, including her sister ever fall in love with her? The violence of his feelings troubled her, hence her withdrawing to Hever time and again, Anne knew she was not a stunning beauty, her elegance style and wit and those legendary eyes were her greatest assets, why on earth would she ever believe that her charms were that great that she could make him her willing slave? Attraction to others is a mystery and all of us in our lifetime are attracted to members of the opposite sex, sometimes it is a fleeting fancy and then you can fall heavily for someone and it can last for years, Anne could never have dreamt that her king and master of them all would want to be with her, his pleading letters tell us all too clearly the depth of his passion for her, yet to him she was an ice maiden and her refusal to be his lover instead of deterring him only inflamed his ardour, that was not her fault, I don’t believe she sat out to trap him, she was a mere gentlewoman of the queen’s household what power did she have, she was intelligent not foolish, a kitchen maid does not marry a knight, no woman had ever displaced a queen from consorts position, she was not a Cassandra nor a Morgana Le Fay, no she hoped that he would grow weary of the chase and turn his attention to other more willing bedfellows, it was Henry V111 who wrecked his marriage not Anne Boleyn, he chose to pursue her he chose to end his marriage and make Anne his queen, he had the choice to discard her and return to Katherine which is what the Pope ordered him to do, he was the one who broke with Rome, and set himself up as head of his new church, as David Starkey commented, ‘the driving force behind Henry was Henry’, very much his own person, people underestimated the force of his personality and cast the blame at the dark eyed harpy by his side, their love affair was unique amongst kings because of the way he elevated her to her high pedestal, and much later her sudden and dramatic fall into disgrace and shame.
I agree with you, Christine. Anne did not set out to “trap’ Henry VIII. She tried to rebuff him so many times, even leaving court to get away from him. Unfortunately, like you said, it only made him pursue her more. It’s very sad that she has often received the blame, when Henry was the one who could not take “no” for an answer.
Yes Ann could hardly tell him to get lost she had to treat him with the utmost skill and wisdom, really he must have given her a risght headache, at the end of the day she took him because she could have no other, and with that she forfeit her life.