I was so excited to receive a copy of Amberley Publishing’s “Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress” by Josephine Wilkinson that I sat and read it in a day – ignoring work, the family and the housework!
I’ve always wanted to know more about Anne Boleyn’s sister, and Henry’s mistress, and this book has definitely helped me with that mission.
The First Biography of Mary Boleyn
Described as the publisher as “The real story of the `Other Boleyn Girl´”, this book is the very first biography of Mary Boleyn and paints a detailed picture of this woman who is almost as shrouded in mystery as her sister, Anne Boleyn.
Josephine Wilkinson’s biography catalogues Mary Boleyn’s life from her birth at Blickling Hall, through her time as a “sex object” at the French Court and her years as Henry’s mistress, to her eventual fall from favour when Anne stole the limelight. The book also looks into what happened to Mary once she had been discarded by Henry, who her children were fathered by, her eventual second marriage to William Stafford, her return to court and the fall of the Boleyns, right through to her death in 1543.
There are also 16 pages of beautiful illustrations including portraits, photographs of places and drawings.
Henry’s Favourite Mistress
What really struck me, as I read the biography, was the depth of Mary Boleyn’s relationship with Henry. According to Wilkinson, and she provides plenty of evidence, Henry VIII and Mary fell in love and it was a relationship that lasted from 1522-1525, making it longer than many of Henry’s marriages and much longer than any of his other affairs.
It was also a relationship that may well have produced two children, Katherine and Henry Carey (Wilkinson provides evidence to argue that these two children could well have been the King’s), and, unlike his previous affairs, Henry did not discard Mary when she became pregnant, but carried on seeing her throughout her first pregnancy and resumed the affair again after her confinement.
Wilkinson really brought it home to me that there was a true affection between these two people, shown later by Henry stepping in to help Mary after the death of her husband William Carey, and I can only imagine how hurt Mary must have been to be replaced in the King’s affections by her own sister. Mary had accepted her “lot” as the King’s mistress and yet here was her sister not even content to be the King’s “mâitresse en titre”, the King’s official and only mistress, but aiming to be Queen.
Josephine Wilkinson ends her book with these words:
“Just two weeks before her death Mary’s former lover, King Henry, had married his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, but he was never again to find the peace and the love he had shared with Mary.”
Well Researched
Another thing I love about this biography is that it is obvious that Wilkinson values accuracy and truth over myth and rumour. Any opinions put forward are backed up by evidence and all sources are listed as “Notes” and in a “Bibliography”. I hate maybes and assumptions, and this book is not guilty of them.
Josephine Wilkinson
Amberley Publishing say that the author, Josephine Wilkinson, “received a First from the University of Newcastle where she also read for her PhD. She is currently a scholar-in-residence at St Deiniol’s Library, Britain’s only residential library founded by the great Victorian statesman, William Gladstone. She is the author of “Richard III: The Young King to Be”, also published by Amberley. She lives in York”.
I also notice that Wilkinson is writing “The Early Loves of Anne Boleyn” which is sure to be enlightening for us Anne Boleyn fans.
Josephine Wilkinson’s “Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress” is available as a hardback from Amazon US, Amazon UK or from your local bookstore.
P.S. The cover on my copy of the Mary Boleyn book (see photo at top of post) is the same cover shown on the Amberley Publishing site, but is different from that shown on the Amazon site so don’t get confused!
The cover is very similar to the Kelly Hart book’s cover as they are both from the only surviving portrait of Mary Boleyn. The cover shown on both Amazon sites is shown here on the right – totally different but the same book!
Whatever the cover, there are beautiful illustrations inside the book, including the famous Mary Boleyn portrait.
