Henry was getting old, and Katherine, with her fun loving nature, made him feel young again. She certainly “perked” him up. Part of his problem with AOC was his bouts with impotence. With Katherine, that was no longer a problem. He acted like a young fool with her. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Ewww! Poor Katherine. I don’t know how she did it. She didn’t flinch at the way his leg must have smelled. Maybe that’s why he was attracted to her. She ignored his age and his illness.

Boleyn said
I agree K.H did put the lead back in his pencil

It didn’t take him long to eraser, sadly.

Kathryn, I believe, was hand picked by Norfolk to be Henry’s mistress. She was youngish(17-19), pretty, fun loving, fond of music and dancing..a perfect if pert handful of fun.

What Norfolk hadn’t expected was Henry NOT liking AoC and so Kathryn was suddenly in the running as a wife…She was from a fertile family being one of 10 and she was a compromise of Henry’s favourite attributes.

Pretty, young, not well educated, reasonably submissive, was able to make the best of a bad situation and Henry fell passionately in lurve with her. Henry’s imagination endowed her actions as her being in lurve with him too. The fact he was able to consummate their relationship was more due to her experience rather than ” love making it easy”…

That Kathryn was totally incapable of being Henry’s consort due to her lack of experience and being naive was her tragedy.

Boleyn said

Anyanka.
Yeah that’s true, his oversized ego along with rest of his oversized stinking body certainly took a beating, when AOC didn’t recognise him. But I actually wonder what she had been told about him in the first place. She must have been told something about his appearence surely?
I know that AOC was over praised (for want of a better word) to him, but I don’t think she was bad as he makes out, she was just different that’s all. I still feel that if he had given his marriage a proper go it would have been successful or at least mutually happy. He may have even been able to father another child, although I would say it was doubtful.

I think Anne was told about this golden shining prince who was going to meeet her in London but when confronted by this plainly dressed, fat, grey-haired man she would have reacted as any well-bred noblewoman and tried to “frost” him until he left.

Had Henry buried his pride, I suspect that the Cleves marriage would have worked. Anne has always come across to me as a woman who would make the best of any situation and made Henry’s comfort her priority. Bearing a Duke of York and other sons and/or daughters would have cemented Anne or any other wife as being worthy of being True Wife 2 tm.

Olga, Starkey says that they were known to have “loud and noisy sex”. I don’t think it was that often though as the pain in his leg was probably too great to even think about carnal desires, let alone a bit of shake rattle and roll with the missus.
There is a story how true it is I don’t know, that Lardarse came to her bedroom one night wanting to play a game of ludo, or tiddlywinks or something and that Culpepper was already there strip poker with her, as a result he had to grab his clothes quick and jump out of the window to avoid being caught.
I think Lardarse’s cannon was pretty much out of ammo by the time he married K.H. No proof of that of course, but I’m taking it on the sence that it took him quite a time to get Jane pregnant, where with K.O.A and Anne they got pregnant straight away. It’s possible that the fall in the jousting yard in 1536, the horse falling on him may have upset his sexual prowess squashed his testicles somehow. Maybe a brain injury affected his putruity gland. Or it could be something as simple as one of the medicines the doctor was treating him with had a side affect of stopping live rounds being fired. Mercury was a common medicine used to treat Ulcers, and the side affect to that is sterility so I believe. But I don’t believe he was treated with Mercury, for any ailment.
There is another thought he caught Smallpox in his mid 20’s? and although he shook it off quickly due to his fitness and strength. is it possible that some of the smallpox gene? had remained in his testicles and the horse falling on him triggered it up and could have affected his sperm count?
Did he have any mistresses at all after the incident in the tilt yard.?

I agree Olga. I don’t believe any sexual contact happened between K.H and Culpepper although I do believe the intention was there. Culpepper jumping out of the window is a pretty story and possibly invented to try a blacken K.H’s name, a little like the incest story between Anne and her brother.
Maybe H8 diet did help a little towards helping him regain sexual activities, but I dont think it made any difference for his cannon problems.
I think that the missionary position was considered the norm as if you think about it, the man being on top was again a form of expressing male superiority. Although I do think other positions were practiced, but perhaps, maybe in the wh*re houses more than in homes of the nobility and royality.
It could well be that there was problems on both sides K.H herself may have had gyno problems. If she and Dereham wer involved in a very torrid affair I find it strange that there was no hint of a pregnancy or miscarriage mentioned in all that time. Perhaps she was using a rudimentary form on birth control? But on the whole I think it was H8 who was the problem. it was a case of the body being willing but the spririt being unable.

LOL I wonder if Henry had a copy of the Karma Sutra on his bookshelves. That’s a kind of Mrs Beeton’s cookbook for sex maniacs.

Actually just veering off topic for a moment I wonder if Mary Boleyn was using contraception with Henry? Considering she didn’t conceive for four or five years.

I was curious to see in Tudor by Leanda de Lisle, that she took Dereham’s claim of “had her by the ****” to masturbating her. Puts a rather different spin on it in that case.

Most effective would have been the withdrawal method I imagine. I know they had various fairly ridiculous herbal methods as well lol, some were applied internally, some were taken as potions.
Well Catherine lived with quite a few other girls didn’t she?