MegC said:

La Belle Creole said:

I also wonder how Jane would feel knowing her son signed the death warrant for two of her brothers.

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  This is an excellent question!

I also have to wonder what Jane would have felt had she known that the son she died giving Henry would be raised to despise the Catholic faith she held so dear. She hoped he would be the son who would bring Henry and England back to Rome, and he turned out the exact opposite. Had she known that, would she be bitter? Heartbroken? Despairing? It would be horrifying enough to realize you were dying, so maybe it was best she died hopeful instead of disillusioned.

I have to say my least favourite wife would have to be Jane Seymour.  It has more to do with not really knowing anything about her than anything else though.  She's always portrayed as being a bit nothingy, but there has to have been more to her than that.  I wonder how she felt about Anne's fall.  It is generally supposed that she was glad to see the back of her predecessor and probably felt she had got what she deserved, but did she perhaps feel fearful about what had befallen Henry's two previous queens?  Did she fear that the same would happen to her, even then?

So after my initial post of saying Anne and beginning to absorb myself more fully into the Tudor world I have discovered that my least favourite wife would probably be Katherine Of Aragon, based purely on the fact that I have little interest in reading about her and discovering more about her. I'm sure she is an interesting character, but I feel I prefer to just know about the KoA involved with the Anne Boelyn saga than the KoA before all that happened. I guess I'm afraid of reading more about her to discover that this image of her I have will be destroyed.

If Katherine of Aragon had agreed to go to a nunnery, Mary's legitimacy would never have been called into question, and she would never have been put into the position where she had to choose sides.  Of course, doing such would have gone against Katherine's beliefs, and so she refused.  I have to admire her strength there, but as a mother myself I could not imagine putting my daughter in a position like that.  Of course, I have the benefit of hindsight.  However, I still find it hard to support Katherine's decision, no matter how much I might admire her character.

I think CoA underestimated both Anne and Henry's determination. Researching her I got the distinct impression that she felt it was her destiny to be Queen of England and that was that. Had Henry gone back to her it wouldn't have made much difference to her – by the time Anne came on the scene, with the exception of the big court festivities, CoA and Henry were pretty much leading separate lives. Once she could no longer have children she became increasingly religious and stuck to the queen's rooms which in many palaces don't appear to have been connected to the king's rooms.

It looks odd to us but as Henry was the only European king who believed in marrying for love it was probably perfectly normal at the time. There's still evidence that shows that the king and queen (including Anne and Katheryn Howard) communicated via messengers for some of the time rather than talking to each other.

One way of not putting up with each others' bad habits I guess!

I think to understand KOA, you have to know more about her upbringing at the court of Castile. It's no wonder she thought it was her right to rule. She was raised to be a queen at the court of Isabella I, the woman who ruled in her own right next to her husband Ferdinand I. If you think England had struggles at the court, the castile court was one of surviving too. And if there was one queen who had a powerfull will and learned how to survive, it was her mother. Isabella was a fearsome queen who had great powers in europe and who was not affraid of fighting her battles, Ferdinand had his affairs to, but Isabella stood above that, i guess she tought that to her daughters to (altough Juana did not handle her jealousy very well). So yes i can understand her, also the world that they were living in, in the sixteenth century was so different then ours. They believed things we would laugh at today (for example witches).

i am a mother too, i will not place my husband (as much as i love him, and i do) above my children, but i will not stand and watch as another woman takes my place. And my passion for Anne is big, but just because she was Anne Boleyn does not mean, that another should go silently to a nunnery and give up her man. For that to understand you have to know more about her upbringing and for a good look at that, you have to know more about Isabella. I am reading a bio about her, and as much as i do not think that everything she did was great, but from the moment that woman was born, she learned to fight. She has a great background and survived many intriges at the court of her halve brother.

Still my least favorite woman will be Jane Seymour, I am not getting into her. I must read some more about her, maybe i will have a change of heart. Still my favorites are Anne Boleyn and Catherina of Aragon.

Didn't Katherine want to send James' head to Henry, and was talked into sending a piece of clothing that he was wearing instead by the councilors?  I have always wondered what Henry was thinking at this time.  His french campaign was not doing so well.  Then there is Katherine showing him up by winning her battle and killing a king no less. 

 Katherine was definitely her Mother's daughter.  She was a fighter.  Her beliefs never waivered.  She stuck by her convictions to the end of her days.  That is the part of KOA that I admire.  I don't like the effect that had on Mary, but KOA felt she was doing right by her daughter.

  I've always thought that KOA believed since there was no such thing as Salic law in England, there would be no problem with her daughter one day being Queen.  It is unfortunate that Henry did not agree.

Hmm, does anyone sense an actually *valid* reason to not like CoA here?? Okay, maybe it's just me, but I have to admit that I struggle to find one in order to champion Anne! It's wrong of me, I know, but it would be nice  And, actually, I've read secondary sources that claim to have proof against all her supposed kindness, gentleness, etc.

My least favourite wife is Katherine Parr. I just can't seem to get very interested in her.  And as someone has mentioned already, I don't understand what she was doing, holding Elizabeth down so Seymour could slash her gown. Bizarre.

My favourite wife is KOA hands down, I have long admired her strength and dignity,  the way she stood up for her beliefs and wouldn't just go quietly off to a nunnery.  Why should she have, she was an Infanta of Spain, she had been Queen of England for over 20 years, and held the position of regent for a time.  And yet she was expected to slope off to a nunnery just because the king had tired of her and her inability to give him a son.  I don't think I would have gone quietly either.  As Cromwell once said of her 'If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History'.

That doesn't mean I dislike Anne Boleyn though.  To be honest I don't 'dislike' any of the wives. I just find some of them not as interesting as others.

My least favorite wife would definitely have to be Jane Seymour – she seems to be a popular one here, although that's not why she's my least favorite. She was either a meek doormat or an ambitious women hiding under the mask of a domicile, meek, innocent, dim-witted twat! There is nothing about her that's intriguing to me besides two questions: “Was she really a sweet quiet mouse?” and “And, why would Henry choose a 'Plain Jane' over unconventionally beautiful, passionate, exciting, Anne Boleyn, with whom he could try again to get a son with?” And, although I somewhat understand her being referred to as a phoenix, I think she should be called a rat instead! I mean, honestly, doesn't anyone else get annoyed that Anne Boleyn is often portrayed as a home wrecker, when Jane Seymour did the exact same thing? And Jane did it worse then Anne! While Anne split up Katherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, KoA, although I admire her greatly for her strength and will power, should've backed down, and at least Mary would've had an easier life. And, also, if it wasn't Anne B, it would've been someone else – but I'm glad it was her, she's such a fascinating person! And, Katherine of Aragon was loved by the people after she died! Anne was disliked, and because of Henry's interest in Jane (and a male heir!) Anne was executed a traitor, and adulteress, a witch, etc. and little Elizabeth was branded illegitimate! It's honestly fascinating how Jane was a home wrecker too, but is never credited as one! I may be a little biased, but she {Jane} doesn't have that charisma behind her character like Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr do, at least to me. And, as I am a rambler, she literally stepped over Anne Boleyn's dead body to marry Henry and become Queen Consort. And getting engaged and married the guy only 11 days after Anne was beheaded is just cruel. I'm sure that if she at least had the decorum to tell Henry to wait longer, “For the sake of the people's thought's..you wouldn't want to impugn my honor and make it hard for us to marry and have a legitimate son, *bats eyelashes* would you?” I could just lose a little bit of my dislike for her. And it might sound like I hate her, but since I haven't met her, I can't really say that. Also, she's only my least favorite for the Jane vs. Anne thing and I just don't like her compared to the other 5 wives. It's kind of hard to hate H8's wives because they all have “something” about them that it interesting.

But then again, this is only my humble opinion, and I'm sorry if I'm getting a little heated. I'm new here and I didn't mean for any of my statements to be hurtful to other members.