Do you think that Anne Boleyn was Henry’s true love rather then Jane Seymour? Of course he loved her because she gave him the son he wanted but do you think he only loved Jane because of this? Thanks, Rianne
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The REAL TRUTH about Anne Boleyn - The Most Happy
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I agree 100%. I think Anne was the true love of his life. A man like Henry wouldn’t chase after a girl just for nothing. I think Henry was just overjoyed when he got his long awaited son…like he loved Edward so much of course he had to say he loved Jane the best. And maybe it wasn’t his desicion to be buried by Jane. ??? So many questions.
Hi Mya,
I think it was Henry’s decision to be buried by Jane and I think that was because she was the one wife who gave him what he wanted, a son. He was grateful to her and I think he felt guilty that the gift of a son led to her death. I think he looked back on their relationship with rather rose-tinted glasses!
I think its fair to say that Henry loved all three of his first wives, just in very different ways. Catherine was his first love. He respected her immensely, even after he left her, as shown by him saying that if she took it into her head she could lead an army against him. Anne Boleyn was the passionate love affair. She was actually similar to Katherine in terms of intelligence and will power. After they both died he was sick of strong willed women so he wanted someone like Jane. He loved her because she was uncomplicated. I also believe he loved Bessie Blount, based on the length of their relationship.
I truly believe 1000% percent that Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII’s TRUE love of his life. I believe he admired and respected Catherine and respected Jane for giving him a son, but the way the letters that Henry VIII and Anne wrote to each other just seem to show how they gravitated to each other and how Henry and Anne courted for 7 years!! He was the King of England! A King who could do anything and he chose to wait for Anne. That must have been a powerful, trusting, and faithful relationship. I believe that when Anne and Henry weren’t able to have children besides the miscarriages, he was disappointed but Henry still supported Anne until weeks before she was executed. (so I’ve heard and read). That kind of love and support for that many years without being married I think was uncommon then exspecially since he was actively seeking a divorce. I believe Henry was falsely informed of all that was going on (due to Thomas Cromwell) and the people who didn’t like her as Queen and wanted to bring her down. I also believe that Henry never spoke of her again maybe because it hurt or that he felt guilt for what he did to Anne. That was unspeakable what he did or yet what he allowed to let happen. Love like that was hard to find. I think Henry just allowed other peoples opinions to take hold of him and was led to believe such lies. But just by what I’ve read and learned, Henry loved Anne the most. Just maybe he was ashamed of what he’d done.
You are by far the expert, and my knowledge about this is far inferior to yours. But, I do not understand how Anne could be his ‘True Love”.. I mean, he killed her for goodness sakes. You don’t kill someone you love. Love is unconditional and forever. Lust and infatuation are fleeting… so to me it is very hard to believe he truely loved Anne. Thoughts?
Fleeting???? He was with Anne for 7 years – without getting any sex mind you- while the ” Great Matter” was debated, before they could even marry. That’s not infatuation. He always spoke in hyperbole regarding Jane Seymour after her death because she gave him a living, legitimate son, not because he loved her the most. It was gratitude, and PR.
I do not believe that Anne was Henry’s “true love”. He killed her, that is not love. I think Henry’s true love was himself, and getting what he wanted.
Please excuse my cynicism, but I believe it’s a curious use of time to think of Henry VIII being “in love” with anyone other than himself. If human love is defined as putting the needs and desires of the beloved ahead of those of the lover, then Henry VIII failed a minimum of six times with his wives; and countless more with other relationships.
I’m sure than Henry had “feelings” for each of his partners and male companions: but I’d have a hard time believing that he “loved” them, Even those he called “friend” only lived to serve his purpose. That’s not friendship.
True, he was king, and God’s anointed. Still, other monarchs were able to live and rule without the ruthlessness of Henry VIII. There may be reasons for his excesses, but nothing excuses it.
Assuming that Henry did truly love anyone (which, granted is a little hard to imagine, knowing what he’s done, but let’s just proceed on the assumption that he did), I think in the end, yes, Anne might have been his “true love.”
I believe that Henry only thought of Jane Seymour as his true love because she had given him the son, a male heir, he so desperately wanted, especially after two daughters and Anne’s miscarriages. Furthermore he never got the chance to tire of Jane because she died after so little time together.
I imagine that if Jane hadn’t died, he would’ve gotten bored with her. I’m sure that at first he appreciated that she was the opposite of Anne, who at times very well could have been exhausting to deal with.
But in the end always wanted excitement and passion, something I’m not sure Jane could have given him in the long run. Although I doubt that she’d share Anne’s horrible fate, if only because she was the mother to the male heir, I do believe that Henry’s affection and love would’ve cooled down to a point where the marriage would’ve been friendly but distanced, with several mistresses on the side.
Had Anne given him a son and hadn’t she meddled in his affairs as much (not completely, because I do think Henry appreciated her intelligence and wits, but not to a point where he might have felt patronized either), she probably would’ve been spared her dismal fate and would’ve died as Henry’s “true love”, the woman he fought for so long and hard.
I completely agree–to Henry, Jane was not only the mother of his son, but also a mild and gentle presence which, after Anne’s fiery intelligence and ambition was not an unconscious choice. I think Anne was intimidating to Henry, and his anger and frustration with her was largely down to the fact that she didn’t have a son. Anne was a woman so far ahead of her time–if Henry had wanted an equal marriage and partnership, perhaps things would have ended very differently, but women of that era, even queens, were raised to be the companions and ornaments of men. I don’t think Henry’s ego could take Anne’s intelligence–by all accounts, she was religious, political, progressive, and deeply interested in the workings of the country. I think they both saw her role very differently–Henry wanted her, once the thrill of the chase was over, to be the subservient, baby making wife who comforted him and stroked his ego at the end of his day. I think Anne saw her position as far more influential–she and Cromwell battled it out for the place beside Henry as his chief adviser and Councillor. For Anne, her role as the queen was not only confined to the bedchamber. As Henry’s mistress and in the early days of her reign, I recall reading that Anne did in fact act as Henry’s main adviser, in practice if not officially. I think she assumed that her intelligence and input would naturally be valued, as they had when Henry was pursuing her so openly.
As for either Anne or Jane being Henry’s true love, I think Jane was exactly what Henry wanted in a wife, and was very subtle about the changes she wanted to make–she confined them mostly to the family sphere (reconciling Mary and Elizabeth, and so on). I believe Anne was more than Henry’s match, and the passion between them had to be extremely deep and real for the outcome to turn so violently bitter. I think in the end it comes down to Henry’s character and the politics of the day–his egotism, narcissism, and the unsteady ground on which he held onto his crown.