Although Charles Brandon was a good friend of Henry VIII, his wife, Mary Tudor, was very close friends with Catherine and so disapproved of her brother's plans and disliked Anne Boleyn, plus Eric Ives points out that Mary's precedence as the King's sister and Dowager Queen of France had been "rudely set aside in favour of Anne Boleyn." The couple had to be careful in showing their opposition to the divorce because they depended on the King financially BUT they couldn't help but show some hostility.

Chapuys reported that Suffolk was banned from court in May 1530 after telling Henry a story about Thomas Wyatt and Anne, in order to convince him that Anne had a past and was not suitable. Later that year Suffolk led councillors in rejecting the idea put forward by the French that Henry and Anne should marry and then get the Pope "to regularize it post facto" (Ives p140) and in 1531 he supported a pro-Imperial policy. In 1531 he also discussed the divorce with the treasurer of the household, Fitzwilliam, agreeing that they should work together "to unseat the king from his folly".

On p165 of Eric Ives's book on Anne Boleyn, Ives writes that in Easter 1532 "Mary made opprobrious remarks about her brother's choice of Anne, and these set off an affray in the Sanctuary at Westminster which, quite in the style of Capulet and Montague, had left one of the Brandons' principal gentlemen dead and the court in an uproar." Ives goes on to say that Henry VIII visited the Brandons, "very probably to insist that they accept Anne" but that he "had to repeat the lesson a month later, before Charles Brandon would at least do his duty and appear at Boulogne, although he was deliberately absent at Shrovetide 1533, when Anne presided at a great feast in honour of the French ambassadors." His wife, Mary, continued to snub Anne whenever she could.

We can only imagine Suffolk's joy at Anne Boleyn's fall in 1536. Suffolk was on the jury at the men's trial on the 12th May and George and Anne's trial on the 15th and he was present at Anne's execution on the 19th May 1536.

I haven't found any letters from Suffolk regarding Anne, but it is clear that he despised her.

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1 thought on “What was the duke of suffolks view of anne boleyn? Are there any letters from him that talk about her?”

  1. Sarah says:

    Is there evidence to suggest what Margaret Queen of Scots thought of Anne?

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