Lily Lesser As Princess Mary Tudor In Wolf Hall

Lily Lesser as Princess Mary Tudor in Wolf Hall

He's in love with you. Give me the letter! You're not in love with him, are you?

Relates his conversation with the Pope after his sentence in the English matrimonial cause. His Holiness gave him to understand that such was the opposition offered [by the cardinals] that it would never have been pronounced had it not been for him (the Pope). In consequence of this the Popes advice is that unless the Queen has a great number of trusty and devoted servants about her person, she ought to quit England at once lest they should administer poison to her. If, on the contrary, she was so guarded as to have nothing to fear on that score, she might remain.

Count Cifuentes to the Emperor. July 1533.

On the 11th of this July, the Pope in Consistory pronounced a sentence restoring the Queen to her royal state, annulling the King's marriage with Ana, whose children are declared illegitimate, and declaring that the King is excommunicate, and has incurred the penalties contained in the briefs.

✧ It’s not exactly known when Henry VIII fell for Anne Boleyn, but it’s likely to have happened in the year of 1526. This love letter was sent sometime after May 1527, circa July, and reveals Henry’s great anxiety and despair, as he tries to win over Anne. The King pressures her into declaring their relationship official by writing and even attempts to set up a ‘date’ with her.

“I beseech you to give an entire answer to this my rude letter, that I may know on what and how far to depend. And if it does not please you to answer me in writing, appoint some place where I may have it by word of mouth…”

This part of courting appears to be quite similar to what still happens today. The familiar aches of the heart, waiting for a response from a love interest, and feeling desperate for some kind of reply. This is something with which almost any admirer could sympathize with. Henry VIII’s letter itself demonstrates the chivalric concept of the noble quest of a lady, and it seems to have ultimately worked for him.

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Hans Holbein, Oval pendant set with a ruby, sapphires and pearls, one of nine designs for pendant jewels, from the Jewellery Book 1532-1543 © The Trustees of the British Museum