Anne returned to England in 1522 to marry her cousin but that fell through. She secured a position at the court of Catherine of Aragon. When Anne first came to court it was rather a dull affair after France and dominated by the Spanish fashions and tradition. Anne was like a breath of fresh air, she was soon the center of attention and soon in love. She secretly betrothed to Henry Percy.
Catherines styles were somber, pious.........
Annes were fresh and new
By January Thomas Wolsey broke off he betrothal and sent Anne back to Hever, her fathers home. Percy was married off. She had caught he eye of the King. Henry was a loyal if not faithful husband up to this point. He was young, sexy, brilliant and athletic, he could no longer ignore that Catherine was not going to give him his heir. Badly needed and something that was beginning to obsess him. He remembered how England had been in his fathers day and knew that if nothing else, he must have a son. So when Anne caught his attention and refused him he began to rethink his marriage to Catherine. So the country would become forever changed.
Anne had changed. She was unforgiving by nature and was to become vindictive as well. She realized she had it in her power to become Queen of England if she played her cards right. I should not say she had changed, but she was being prompted and manipulated by her father who's only interest was power. So Anne became what she needed to become to get Henry under her spell and she did that completely. There may have been a short time that she loved him but Henry was obsessed. Deeply in love he could not say no, so systematically she destroyed all who had stood in her way and anyone who slighted her. She was vindictive and responsible for he deaths of many of Henry's friends. He was weak in as much as he wanted to captivate her and please her............and get her into his bed.
Henry always comes off as the bad guy but people need to take a long hard look at Anne and her part in it all. She was no longer an innocent girl she was cruel now.
After the way was clear and they married she was pregnant and Henry could never say no to her....unfortunately for Anne the child was a girl. Henry was livid he had come to dislike his bride rather a lot. She was scheming and demanding and accusatory. His eye had began to wander. She was insulted. Still there could still be another child. He had made her Queen of England and given her lands and titles, raised her friends, destroyed her enemies, real or imagined. He had broken with Rome and destroyed the monasteries. He had some bad advisors around him. Henry was gullible, he listened to people. So the beginning of the end for Anne. She had made many enemies, she had destroyed Henry's friends and he was beginning to have many regrets about that. Especially as it was for nothing. He could not know that his daughter Elizabeth would become the best and most beloved monarch England was to ever have. Three miscarriages were to follow and Anne was now a real bitch, he detested her and when she lost her son that was her death sentence. She now had powerful enemies and they began to see a way out and began to plan. Easy does it, Henry's pride did not allow for tales with no substance and so the planning began.
If Anne had been a wiser woman she would have lived through it all and probably have had a son, but she had made herself so unpopular, so disliked by Henry he could not stomach her. He was courting Jane Seymour by now, a quiet girl who would give him his son. Annes fate was sealed and soon Henry was convinced by Annes enemies of all kinds of betrayals by her.More innocent people were to die. I feel worse for Henry than for her simply because he so loved her, he would change the world for her............at what a cost and to his lasting regrets. They were human after all and who was the one who lost the most in the end.? Henry would have 4 more wives and ironically as a much older man he fell in love again, with Annes cousin Katherine Howard a very young girl who was much like Anne and who broke his heart.
