Love Letter 3
ALTHOUGH, my Mistress, it
has not pleased you to remem-
ber the promise you made me when I
was last with you — that is, to hear
good news from you, and to have an
answer to my last letter; yet it seems
to me that it belongs to a true servant
(seeing that otherwise he can know
nothing) to inquire the health of his
mistress, and to acquit myself of the
duty of a true servant, I send you this
letter, beseeching you to apprise me
of your welfare, which I pray to God
may continue as long as I desire mine
own. And to cause you yet oftener
to remember me, I send you, by the
bearer of this, a buck killed late last
night by my own hand, hoping that
when you eat of it you may think of
the hunter; and thus, for want of
room, I must end my letter, written
by the hand of your servant, who very
often wishes for you instead of your
brother. H. R.
Claire, what does Henry mean by “who very often wishes for you instead of your brother???
Hi Liz,
George was one of Henry VIII’s favoured courtiers and so spent a lot of time with the King socially. He was also the one who delivered the love letters to Anne. Hope that helps!
When I read this letter and other love letters that he sent her, I find it so hard to understand how Henry who waited so long,,(seven years at least) to finally be with Anne,he could of then treated her the way that he did and her brother as well, who was a favourite courtier…The lovely and brave Anne Boleyn was and always will be my favourite Queen of all time.. I have followed her life story for over 45 years and it still never fails to this day to give me a lump in my throat when I read about her…
Henry was also a spoiled brat. Not getting what he wanted for so long made it even more important to him, but then when he finally got it, it wasn’t what he expected. He wanted Anne, after they married, to no longer be the bold woman she was during their courting days. He wanted her to suddenly be meek and obedient, to ignore his affairs and to give him a son. Or two. Or seven. She couldn’t do any of that – it wasn’t who se was (except for the son thing – idk why she couldn’t have a son), and so when he realized that, he discarded her like a piece of trash. God, I love Anne so much and her end was so tragic and extremely saddening. I wish she could have married Henry Percy and Katherine had been able to give Henry a boy. Wouldn’t the world have been a much better place? I believe so.
Ok sorry for my rant. Lol. I love the Tudors. XD
I believe everything happened as it did for some cosmic reason to set the stage for Elizabeth. Out of all the wives, only three children were born, and only one to outlive all of them to become queen. She brought about the Golden Age. I don’t think our world would have turned out the same if she had not became queen.
If Anne had married Henry Percy, Henry may have never broken from the Catholic church. Think of how different the western world would be without that key action? I believe Anne was our most important queen for that reason alone.
Hey there! Sorry to get a little bit off subject but in regards to Anne’s “inability to have a son”, I just felt the need to say something! This is something I am very passionate about. Too often in past years women were criticized and ostracized for their inabilities to have sons. This is in fact now known to be nothing but ironic. It is ALWAYS the father who determines the sex of the child. All humans are composed up out of two chromosomes in regards to gender. Females are XX and males are XY. Female mothers supply the baby’s X chromosome and then their second chromosome is entirely dependent on the fathers contribution. If HE gives a Y chromosome, then the baby’s a male. If he gives an X chromosome, then the baby’s female. There are some VERY rare disorders that can make it hard for a woman to carry a male child to term but this was almost certainly not the case with Anne Boleyn. 1. She showed little to no other symptoms of this disorder. 2. Out of all of Henry’s other wives only ONE was able to give birth to a healthy male baby. This indicates that, especially when giving consideration to the multiple miscarriages both Anne AND Catharine of Aragon had, that there was instead something healthy lacking in HIS sperm and from HIS contribution instead of Anne’s or any of his other wives for that matter.
Isnt that henry had a bastard son before married anne?
Cmiiw im new to this. But im so in love with theiir love story
Actually, it may not always be the father that determines the sex of the child. There is a theory that Y sperm thrive in a more alkaline environment and X sperm thrive in a more acidic environment. If a woman has a higher-than-average alkaline cervix, it would favor the Y sperm, and she’d be more likely to have boys, and if she has a higher-than-average acidic environment in her cervix, it would favor the X sperm, and she’d be more likely to have girls.
That said, Anne Boleyn had two pregnancies that are definitely verified, and one produced a female and one spontaneously aborted at four months and the fetus was male. So there is no evidence that she had either a highly alkaline or a highly acidic cervix. I think Catherine of Aragon’s obstetric history was due to simply bad luck, and Anne Boleyn had just one miscarriage that can be verified, and one miscarriage is not really unusual for any woman. By the time Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves, he was obese and in poor health, so it’s not really surprising that he fathered no more children after Edward. I don’t really think that it’s supported to believe there was something wrong with his sperm.
He was just tired of Anne so, after her miscarriage, he did not want to give her any further chances.
The Conquest and love of the hunt. Henry spoke of the buck he had killed by his own hand the night before and had hoped when or if Anne ate it she would think of the hunter. This he said to impress Anne. rather it did or not Who knows. His letters seemed so needy. For a King to write such things and in the manner he wrote leds me to think he was so insecure and unsure of himself. And Why. He was a married man and a King to boot. The Church was dead set against any divorce. Anne was young and Henry may have felt that he had the upper hand when dealing with her after they were married, but until that time he played with kid gloves as it were to woo her. And I think Anne fell for it lock stock and barrel. . Yes she must have fell in love with him too. Who wouldn’t, after all the man has everything in a young girls eyes. Makes me think about President Clinton and his little inturn stealing some here and there. Henry was jealous of Anne and her brothers and all the lies told about them was in Henrys mind I believe. Then Henry was in love with another mistress and so Anne was no longer in the Kings eye. The loss of baby boys and the hurt and pain that caused. However, I believe and I have heard this before that the King led a life of fun games when he was about court. He was probably infected with a certain disease caused by having relations with different women some of which was also infected. Little boys seem weaker at birth and girls and with all of Henry;s wives, the presence of little boys seems to be non existant.
I have always suspected that as a man and a hunter, Henry enjoyed the chase more than he enjoyed the catch. I think they spent so long building up In their heads what their relationship would be like, and when it finally happened it just wasn’t what he thought it would be.
Very well said, I think you’re right.
Yes, I think Henry was one of those people who was infatuated with infatuation who expected romantic love to always be passionate and exciting and once that started to fade, as it inevitably does, he became frustrated and started searching for that infatuation ‘hit’ again. I think the reason it lasted so long with Anne was not simply due to being infatuated or even just the chase of Anne herself, but it seems like as time went on, the obstacles in the way of their relationship, the long drawn out process of trying his marriage to Catherine etc, were part of what kept her attractive to him too. Idk, I just get the feeling he eventually got caught up in the drama and the battle of it all so that when it was over and there was nothing left to “fight” for, the reality didn’t seem as great as he’d built it up to be (confounded by Anne’s strong personality which, once infatuation had faded, probably became irritating to him).
Lmao, poor George
Not one person here has mentioned the severe head injury that Henry had jousting where he was unconscious for 2 hours. Anne miscarried from the shock, it’s believed. CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is well known these days with athletes and sports stars showing signs of mood change, which Henry did, aggression, (again, Henry, ) and other conditions after the accident. He was also left with Chronic leg ulcers that failed to heal for the rest of his life. Notwithstanding the CTE, the ulcers alone are enough to make him grumpy at the very least! Then he also had Thomas Cromwell whispering lies about Anne in his ear. Lies that Cromwell boasted about after Anne’s execution! If they had been left alone from the tender mercies of the Court, they probably would have sorted it out.