#fridayfun – Poll: With which man would Anne Boleyn have been happiest?
Posted By Claire on April 21, 2023
Today’s #fridayfun on the Anne Boleyn Files is a poll. I should have said “the most happy” in the question!
Do vote and let me know what you think, and feel free to leave a comment too.
She may have gone on to live a happy, long uncomplicated life with him.
Anne undoubtedly would have been the happiest with Henry Percy, she had chosen him and it is never the same when it’s an arranged marriage and as in Anne’s case, he was lost to her forever so she made do with the king, who was that obsessed with her no other man could have her, her destiny was chosen the minute Henry V111’s eye alighted on her, if her affair with Percy ended because he was pre contracted to Mary Shrewsbury then we can say it was merely the age she lived in, members of the nobility did have arranged marriages but, and also they had to seek permission from the king, but if it was due to merely the kings fancy for her then we can see his rather jealous vindictive streak at work here, everyone knew the young couple were in love and he could have told Percy’s father to break of the wedding to Shrewsbury so the lovers could wed, but no they were both treated rather harshly, Anne was banished to Hever and Percy was harangued by Wolsley calling Anne ‘ that foolish girl’ and how far beneath him she was by her humble background, Percy wept and pleaded reminding the Cardinal that she was a Howard by birth, and in despair he sent for his irate father who hastily sped down from his Northern estates and preceded to also harangue his son by calling him a wastrel, and no doubt his allowance would be cut etc, the unhappy pair were thus parted and Percy went onto marry Lady Mary Shrewsbury who must have paled in comparison besides Anne, as for Anne she was to tread a very different path, and she herself was heard to say much later how she would rather have been Harry’s countess than Henry’s queen, she did I believe genuinely love the dashing young Earl, even though maybe had they married they might have had some issues, married couples have to work at it, but there would have been no stress on Anne to produce a son, she would not have had rival factions trying to depose her of her queenly pedestal, her life would have been at court and some part of the year residing over her husbands castle and household in the north, she may have continued as one of Katherine’s ladies and her life would have been one of simple pleasures, hunting and hawking and her name would have just gone down in history as one of Katherine of Aragons attendants, and Countess of Northumberland, she may well have had several healthy children and lived to a great age, Harry Percy was known to gamble at cards like many of the young men at court and he probably did live rather flamboyantly as when he died, a year after his old love went to the scaffold he left many debts, we do not know what he died of but during Anne’s trial he was said to be suffering from a lingering illness, which he had had for some time, had he been allowed to marry Anne she would have been a rather young widow, but then gone onto marry again, we can sympathise with these two once star crossed lovers, his love for Anne could well have lasted unlike the kings who had a most fickle and mercurial affection, he had the court the entire realm in the palm of his hand and was so used to having his own way, he acted like an excited schoolboy when Anne denied him, she was pre contracted to marry her Irish cousin and had not her father broken it off she would have been mistress of Kilkenny Castle, a grand dwelling and maybe she was pleased that this did not occur, she was enjoying the luxury of the English and then there was Thomas Wyatt who also wanted her, but he was already wed with a most unfaithful wife, neighbours of the Boleyn’s they lived in Allington Castle in Kent, his sister was one of her dearest friends, Henry V111 also put an end to Wyatts wooing and so Anne was really in a quandary, the king had marked her for himself what could she do? So she threw her lot in with the most powerful man in the kingdom but it brought her little happiness, and her life was tragically cut short by the time she was in her mid thirties, a cruel hand dealt by the fates who really made it impossible for her to be with any man except the kings, for even had Anne agreed to be his mistress in the fullest sense of the word with no question of marriage, he would not have allowed her to marry another, she was caught like a deer in the forest by a hungry obsessive stalker.
I agree, Henry Percy. However, and perhaps selfishly we likely would not know her name in any real context had she married someone else. Her legacy and legend lives on
It does indeed Mark, she had fame and glory and aroused feelings of great love and hatred in many, her death was unprecedented and turned the tide of sympathy towards her even by those who disliked her, her courage was never in doubt and is one of the many characteristics that defines this unique and remarkable woman.