6:16 am
May 19, 2011
What if the Seymour had thrown a girl- or not conceived at all? In view of Henry's comments that he should have enjoyed the single life before his third marriage and sampled some other ladies; could Jane have met the same fate as Anne? And would she have been so dignified?
"A fresh young damsel, who could trip and go"
1:45 pm
February 10, 2010
If Anne had given birth to a healthy son she would not have been vulnerable. Her problem was that having challenged Catherine and won, she proved it could be done.
Henry could never understand why Anne didn't behave as a queen and ignore his 'flirtations'. Anne was intelligent enough to realise that her position was always open to challenge, particularly as many people didn't think she was the rightful queen. While Catherine of Aragon lived Anne was relatively safe because if Henry had decided to discard her the pressure to go back to Catherine would have been immense. Once Catherine died and Anne fell out with Cromwell over how the funds from the dissolved monasteries should be used she was vulnerable.
It's difficult to know what would have happened with Jane. When I was researching my novel I found her the most difficult of Henry's queens to get a handle on. I suspect she wouldn't have fallen out with Cromwell so she wouldn't have been open to the political putsch that brought Anne down. I suspect she was very careful not to offend Henry so he might have accepted he was destined to father only girls. On the other hand, eight days after their wedding he met two attractive women and was lamenting his haste in remarrying so maybe she would have been discarded. I wonder whether she had the intelligence to seize the opportunity in the way Anne of Cleves did?
1:01 pm
February 24, 2010
Jane would have been history if she had not produce a boy. Henry was not going to settle with girls. The man was obsessed with having a male heir. The girls mentioned by Anne fan would have been tops on his list for his next marriage. I'm sure he was thinking if Jane didn't give him a son and soon, he'd be moving on. Unlike KOA who refused Henry's offer of retiring to a convent, Jane might well have taken him up on it.
2:50 pm
November 18, 2010
9:27 pm
May 19, 2011
Yes.. I imagine she would be there the very day of giving birth to a girl! If she refused the sensible offer of a convent, I wonder what the trumped up charges would be? Her and her brothers locked up in the tower under suspicion of conspiracy to murder the late Queen Anne…
"A fresh young damsel, who could trip and go"