Romance during the Tudor Era

My own opinion of Anne is that she was an innocent victim of a King's lust, not the scheming woman that history depicts her as.

She was in love with Henry Percy, the future Earl of Northumberland, but when they asked the King's permission to marry, Henry noticed her and wanted her for himself.

He rushed through Henry Percy's marriage to Mary Talbot, which was already arranged, and decided he would make Anne as his mistress. Anne, of course, had other ideas.

It is believed that she kept Henry at bay for years in order to increase his ardour, but I think she probably thought he would get tired of the pursuit and give up. I don't believe she ever loved him.

Even at her execution she said she was happy being plain Nan Bullen. She was a tragic figure who was not the only woman used by men to gain power, though why anyone would want to be close to King Henry VIII I cannot imagine. It seems to me to be a very dangerous place to be.

Anne did have the last laugh. Her daughter became one of England greatest and longest reigning monarchs. So there, Henry! Stick that up your codpiece!

You can see in this where Edward has crossed out his previous rules, for the Grey ladies' heirs male when he realised there were not going to be any heirs male.

Northumberland's plan to marry his son to the heir to the throne would have been clever, had he not underestimated the royalist loyalties of the people of England.

Poor Jane would ever be known as the Nine Day Queen and is often left out of the lists of monarchs, although she was Queen Jane for those nine days.

When told, on the death of Edward, that she was Queen, she at first refused, saying it was Lady Mary's right to be Queen. But Mary was off in Norfolk and it took time for her to get there. Also Jane was a fervent Protestant and had no wish for a Catholic monarch, but she was not happy about it.

Jane's husband thought he was going to be King, but Jane would not grant him that honour. It has happened many times, the husband of a reigning Queen thinking they ought to be King. It has never happened, thank goodness.

According to Hollywood, these husbands are King Consorts; let's be clear - there is no such thing as a King Consort. The title of King is higher than the title of Queen and since nobody can be higher than the reigning monarch, the husband of the Queen is always a Prince Consort.

When told that Mary Tudor had won, had been declared Queen in London, Jane's words were 'can I go home now?' I believe those words are some of the saddest in history, that she thought she could simply leave and return to her life before. She in fact, never again left the Tower of London.

Mary was inclined to be lenient with Jane, knowing she had simply been a pawn in the game of power hungry men. She imprisoned her, but did not want to execute her. She also pardoned Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, and was on the point of pardoning and releasing Jane when her father once again reared his ugly head. He formed a rebellion against Mary, wanting to once again put his daughter on the throne, and because of that rebellion, Mary was forced to end the life of her young cousin, who was probably no more than seventeen or so.

Jane is mentioned in Foxe's Book of Martyrs as a Protestant who lost her life for the faith. It is thought that Mary did offer her a pardon if she recanted and became a Catholic. Jane refused.

Mary Tudor, Queen Mary I, the first Queen of England (not counting Queen Jane or Matilda) and the first female monarch among the Tudors. 

She is known throughout history as Bloody Mary. Her religious fervour was such that she burned alive nearly three hundred Protestants during her five year reign. That's more than all the other monarchs put together.

Being the first Queen in her own right, although that should have been Matilda, she had the opportunity to show that a woman could rule wisely, that a woman could make those difficult decisions and be just as efficient as the men. All right, she was unlikely to lead an army, although the Empress Matilda did just that and that was really her downfall.

Mary wanted to return England to the Church of Rome and that was really all she cared about. She was over forty years old when she took the throne, and in those days that was a great age to even think of having a child. But she believed that God would give her a male child to continue the Tudor line.

Mary would arrest Protestants and others who did not follow the Catholic faith, and condemn them to be burned at the stake. If they recanted and agreed to become Catholic, they were pardoned. She said she was doing the right thing for God and her faith, but when the former Archbishop, Thomas Cranmer, agreed to recant in order to save his life, she condemned him anyway. That was an act of pure revenge, as he was the one who had granted her father's divorce from her mother, Katherine of Aragon.

Mary married her cousin, Prince Philip of Spain - another Prince Consort who thought he should be King. She imagined herself in love with him, but retained enough common sense to know that making him King was not a good move.

Her marriage was not a popular one, as the English at that time were xenophobic and wanted no foreigner anywhere near the throne. They excluded Queen Consorts from that because they were mostly powerless.

Despite her age, Mary declared on two occasions that she was pregnant. Her stomach swelled and she suffered all the symptoms of pregnancy, but on both occasions no child appeared. Both were phantom pregnancies, either brought about with her intense desire for an heir, or a growth which might have been the cause of her death in 1558.

She had no heir save her half sister, Elizabeth, whom she disliked. She had been forced to give up a lot for Elizabeth as a child and Elizabeth's mother was the hated Anne Boleyn. On her deathbed she asked Elizabeth to promise to ensure that England remained Catholic, to which Elizabeth replied that she would act according to her conscience. Her conscience was a Protestant one.

Queen Elizabeth I, the Tudors pride and joy and a woman who would prove that a woman could rule and rule wisely.

Today, we think of the elaborate clothing she wore, the ruffs around her neck, the enormous collars that must have made it hard to turn her head. The gowns had many layers, the fabric was heavy and covered in embroidered patterns as well as precious jewels.

Elizabeth is well known for having been a vain woman and liked to surround herself with handsome young men. But the love of her life was the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, the brother of that Guildford Dudley who lost his head for trying to usurp Mary and take the throne for his wife, Jane Grey.

Elizabeth was clever. As soon as she became Queen, her advisers and counsel were presenting her with suitable husbands from all countries in Europe. And she led them all on, pretending to be interested, even meeting with them and dragging it out for months sometimes. But this was, I believe, to keep her counsel and the people happy. They still did not believe a woman could rule alone and were anxious for her to pass over her powers to a husband. I don't believe she ever had any intention of marrying anyone. Yes, she would have liked an heir, but she did not want to give up her power to anybody.

Considering the way her father behaved toward all his wives, especially Elizabeth's mother, I don't suppose she found the notion of marriage to be an appealing one.

There have been rumours that she was really a man, which was why she would not marry. Had she been a man, Henry VIII, her father, would have announced it to the world and her mother, Anne Boleyn, would have kept her head.

Forever known as the Virgin Queen, rumours have also abounded that she was no such thing, that Robert Dudley was her lover. It is possible, of course, but once his wife died by falling down a flight of stairs, marrying him was never going to be an option. Rumours abounded that Dudley had murdered his wife, Amy Robsart, to make way for a marriage to the Queen.

She could not take the risk of marrying him with those rumours flying about. It was eighteen years before he finally took a second wife, Lettice Knollys, and Elizabeth never forgave him.

Elizabeth reigned for 45 years and died in her seventies, a great age in those days. Her reign was neither peaceful or easy.

There was the Pope who declared that killing Elizabeth would be no crime and anyone who murdered her would be carrying out God's work. There were the Catholics who wanted to replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots until she was forced to condemned Mary to death. Elizabeth did not want to do that; the judicial murder of an anointed Queen put her own position in danger. There was the Armada, the Spanish invasion by Philip, once her brother-in-law, who wanted to put his own daughter, Isabella on the throne of England. And he had the full support of the Pope.

But Elizabeth had loyal people around her, just like our own Elizabeth. She too has the right people around her, but she has no need to fight off a fleet.

Elizabeth saw off her enemy, her fleet being led by Sir Francis Drake. She wore a breast plate and she declared: 'I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King'. 

Those historical monarchs are remembered as they were in their old age. Henry VIII is remembered as the grossly fat, smelly old lecher who had to be hoisted onto his horse. Elizabeth is remembered as the old woman who covered her face in white powder to hide the wrinkles.

What she didn't know was that the powder was lead based and ate away at her flesh.

Her tomb in the crypt of Westminster Abbey is carved from solid marble and bears an effigy of Elizabeth in all her glory. It cost what would today be over £1million.