These notes are from part 3 of ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ documentary with David Starkey. For part 1 on Katherine of Aragon, click here and part 2 on Anne Boleyn, click here.

- The day after Anne Boleyn’s execution her lady-in-waiting was rowed up the Thames to the royal palace
- Jane Seymour was to be Henry VIII’s new wife
- Anne Boleyn’s body was barely cold, but Jane was getting betrothed to the king who banished one wife and beheaded another
- There was a complete contrast between Anne and Jane
- Anne Boleyn was a dramatic brunette with dark eyes with a spirit and temper to match, arousing Henry to rage
- Jane was fair, almost pallid with pale blue eyes, a receding chin, and a doormat personality
- She had helped to engineer Anne’s downfall
- Could she really have been such a doormat to step over Anne’s body to the throne?
- To marry Anne Boleyn Henry made himself Supreme Head of the Church
- Traditional Catholics were appalled by Henry’s religious changes, including Jane
- Jane had served Katherine of Aragon
- As Henry flirted with Jane traditionalists wanted to take advantage
- Thomas Cromwell would always fight Jane’s influence
- Henry wasn’t taking Jane seriously at first, wanting her as a mistress
- He sent her a letter and purse of money, but she rejected the money and returned the letter unopened
- She flung herself on her knees, saying that she had no greater riches in the world than her honour – she would only accept a gift of money when she was married
- “Masterpiece of seduction”
- For Henry it was powerfully attractive
- Jane was coached by Nicholas Carew to play up her demureness
- Carew had chosen the right moment and the right woman
- Henry’s behaviour transformed from seducer to suitor, only seeing her with a chaperone
- Jane, her brother and her sister-in-law moved into an apartment beside the king
- 10 days after Anne Boleyn’s execution Henry and Jane were married in private
- She took as her motto ‘bound to obey and serve’
- She kept her traditional Catholic faith
- She put her own stamp on the court, with her ladies told to be demure and dress in the English style rather than the French
- “We have come from a hell into heaven”
- Religion was a key area where women had a certain freedom of action
- Anne had pushed that freedom for reform, but Jane’s beliefs were the opposite
- Would Jane be as persuasive as Anne had been?
- The first test of Jane’s influence was in defence of the Princess Mary, a devout Catholic who refused to accept the illegality of her mother’s marriage
- Nicholas Carew urged Jane to approach Henry directly
- Jane made Mary’s cause her own – even to name Mary heir was treason
- Jane’s position wasn’t secure, but she was prepared to risk everything out of conviction
- Jane begged Henry to restore Mary to the succession, saying that their children would only be safe if Mary was restored
- Jane was playing with fire as Henry still required Mary to surrender to his will
- Mary’s friends were summoned before the council and questioned about their activities on her behalf
- Mary confronted with a choice between her friends and her conscience gave in and submitted to the king’s will
- Jane had hoped Mary’s restoration would signal a Catholic resurgence
- This backfired, but she would try again whatever the risks

- Autumn 1536 Catholics were in despair
- Jane’s influence wasn’t as strong as Cromwell’s and monasteries were being destroyed, relics burned
- Only direct action could halt the attack on the church
- In the countryside men were bolder than those at court
- The Pilgrimage of Grace started in Lincolnshire and spread across the north
- Their leader was Robert Aske and the rebel forces were strong
- Henry couldn’t trust the loyalty of his nobles
- Jane’s sympathies were with the rebels, but her loyalty was to her husband
- Jane questioned the king’s religious policies, saying that perhaps god allowed the rebellion because Henry had destroyed too many churches
- Henry reminded her that Anne had died for meddling too much in state affairs
- Jane accepted the warning and backed off but her real opinions were common knowledge
- There was talking in Jane’s chamber during the revolt to get a nunnery exempted from the dissolution
- Henry wasn’t strong enough to defeat the rebels and had to negotiate
- Henry told the rebels he and Jane would travel north together, and Jane would be crowned at York Minster
- At Christmas 1536 the rebel leaders were invited to court and Henry and Jane processed through the city, Jane triumphant
- Jane also discovered she was pregnant
- Even as he celebrated Jane’s pregnancy Henry betrayed her
- Henry had used the people’s love for Jane to pacify them
- Henry ordered the arrest of the rebel leaders and their heads were spiked on Tower Bridge
- 9th October 1537 Jane’s labour pains began, continuing for 2 days
- By 11th October there were real fears for Jane and the baby
- At 2am on 12th October Jane delivered a son
- For the first time in almost 30 years marriage to 3 wives, Henry had an heir
- Jane was everything he could wish for and there was an outpouring of rejoicing
- Jane was most triumphant of all, having given Henry a son and heir, making her completely secure – whatever she asked for Henry would grant
- The christening was sumptuous with the Seymours prominent
- The same day Jane suddenly fell ill
- Jane became delirious and the physicians blamed her attendants for allowing her to catch a cold
- It was puerperal fever and septicaemia set in
- The court prayed, but in vain
- On 24th October 1537 Jane died
- Jane satisfied Henry best giving him a son and was submissive
- Behind the submission were serious convictions and courage, but she understood the limitations
- Jane’s is a story of promise unfulfilled
- Jane and her supporters had hoped her marriage would restore Catholicism
- Would things have been different had she lived? Doubtful
- Henry was more wedded to the royal supremacy than to Jane
- Jane had fought a battle for Catholicism and lost
- Henry was grief-stricken and withdrew from the court with Cromwell taking over affairs of state, including looking for another wife for Henry
- Cromwell wrote to the ambassadors of the birth of the prince and death of the queen, as well as the news that Henry needed a new wife
- England had a new heir but no queen
- For the first time Henry was alone and had no appetite for a new wife
- One son wasn’t enough – Henry’s own elder brother had died
- Henry accepted the pressure to find a new wife, looking all over Europe
- Henry had disposed of 3 wives and was no longer an attractive prospect – princesses turned him down
- Christina of Milan was alleged to have said that if she had 2 heads, she would marry the king
- Marie de Guise was suggested but she said she only had a little neck
- A bride from Cleves was suggested but the others in the frame dropped out
- Cromwell had his own motives for a German bride
- Henry needed to find her physically attractive and Hans Holbein was dispatched to paint a portrait
- Henry’s ambassadors raved about her appearance and temperament
- Anne couldn’t sing or dance or speak foreign languages but was a talented seamstress
- Holbein had concentrated on Anne’s dress, leaving her face as dreamy
- Henry projected his fantasies onto the portrait
- The problem was how to get Anne to England safely without her being captured by the French or Spanish – sea or land
- Henry had a special chart constructed to show the sea route
- The Cleves ambassador objected that such a sea voyage in winter would damage Anne’s delicate complexion and she was taken over land
- Anne was tall, beautiful, and notable virtues as reports flooded in
- Anne tried to learn about Henry and was taught etiquette and card games

- Her new companions found her unusual
- She arrived at Rochester on New Year’s Day 1540 where she watched a ceremonial bullfight in the courtyard below
- A group of gentlemen enter and present her with a gift
- The gentlemen then leave and return without their disguises
- The king is the lead gentleman but seems unimpressed with the woman “I like her not”
- Comedy of errors which got the relationship off to the worst possible start
- It was the king’s love of disguisings, and Anne should have recognised the king from love at first sight
- The violence of Henry’s initial reaction took everyone by surprise
- Henry felt he had been lied to and that Cromwell had tricked him into the match for political reasons
- Cromwell replied that they couldn’t just return her to Germany
- There was no way out
- While Henry raged in private, he behaved with politeness towards Anne in public and she had no idea what he thought of her
- Henry claimed that she was nothing that had been described to him
- Her German dress seemed heavy and lumpen and her complexion was dark with a full body
- Cromwell was ordered to find a way out of the marriage
- The first idea was to question whether she was legally free to marry – she had previously been contracted to the Duke of Lorraine
- The ambassadors swore that the engagement had been broken years ago
- Anne swore that she was legally free to marry
- Henry submitted with the worst grace “I must needs against my will but my neck into the yoke”
- Anne was preparing for the wedding, unaware of the activity going on around her
- The formality of the court took some getting used to
- She had no way of determining whether anything was wrong, and Henry was treating her with kindness and generosity
- The marriage took place 3 days late
- Henry told Cromwell that he wouldn’t marry her if it wasn’t to satisfy the realm
- The wedding ceremony was only the first hurdle – they had to go to bed together
- The pair were undressed, and the bed was blessed then the couple were left alone
- Anne was unaware of Henry’s thoughts – he was miserable but determined to do his duty
- Carved on the wooden bedhead were two obscene images – one a boy with an enormous erection and the other a heavily pregnant girl
- The morning after Cromwell asked the king how he liked Anne
- Henry responded that he liked her even worse – it had been a failure
- Henry had been turned off and tried on different nights to consummate the marriage but failed
- The blame was put on Anne as Henry had ‘wet’ dreams, showing that he was capable with any other woman, but not with her
- Henry told Anne nothing of his feelings and their public life continued as normal
- Anne was welcomed to London with a water pageant
- Easter was celebrated together at Hampton Court
- After 2 months of failure Henry unburdened himself to his principal gentleman – he claimed her found her body repulsive
- Cromwell feared his triumph would turn against him – he was the architect of the match
- As far as Anne was concerned everything was fine
- She presided over the May Day festivities and talked about her coronation
- Anne couldn’t see what was happening under her nose, but Londoners saw the truth
- Henry’s boat had crossed the Thames late at night to visit Katherine Howard, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting
- 10th June 1540 Cromwell was arrested and sent to the Tower
- A few days later the Cleves ambassador, Harst, was summoned by Anne, who told him she had been ordered to leave the palace
- Henry had decided to get rid of Anne and marry Katherine Howard
- 29th June preparations began to try Anne’s marriage
- The first possibility was the precontract between Anne and the Duke of Lorraine
- The second was non-consummation, but this was difficult to prove
- Only a handful of Henry’s intimates knew the truth at first

- Evidence was gathered and Anne’s ladies-in-waiting questioned Anne, who didn’t believe herself to be pregnant
- Anne was believed to have said that Henry said goodnight and good morning, but she thought that being kissed could get you pregnant
- Was this conceivable, aged 25 and married?
- Anne had been brought up in a puritanical and provincial court, so it is conceivable that she believed kisses were enough
- 6th July 1540 the king’s men were sent to Anne to get her formal consent to try her marriage
- Anne broke down at the news, the first that she had heard of a divorce
- Anne’s resolution strengthened and she wouldn’t give way meekly to pressure
- The ambassador comforted her
- Anne showed a sharp legal brain and asked to see the documents about the Lorraine marriage
- When her requests were ignored, she sent to Henry for the evidence
- Henry replied that she should stop sending him messages
- Without the evidence and with no legal representation Anne was helpless
- On 7th July, the formal trial began and moved quickly
- On midnight on 8th July Anne summoned the ambassador who finds her sobbing
- She had been told that the court was minded to find the marriage invalid – she sends him a message that she still regards herself as his wife and only god can part them
- Harst told her she had nothing to fear from Henry as she was a foreign princess
- They were taking a gamble
- The next day, 9th July, the court decreed that since the marriage was consummated it had never existed, so she wasn’t queen
- Along with news of the divorce Anne was told she would be known as the king’s sister
- It remained to work out the detail
- On 14th July Henry offered terms – she would be known as the king’s sister and given precedence over everyone except the queen and the king’s children
- She was also given Richmond and Bletchingley palaces, an income of £2600 a year and a great household
- Anne responded with queries, like the number of servants and where Bletchingley was
- Anne’s moment of hysteria was brief, and she was now level-headed, determined to make the best of a bad job
- Katherine of Aragon had resisted and been discarded, Anne Boleyn beheaded – only Jane’s obedience was rewarded
- Anne chose obedience as well and accepted the offer
- Henry was reassured when he received a letter from Anne
- Henry still feared that Anne would change her mind and make trouble for Henry abroad by complaining to her brother
- Anne was too realistic to think that her brother would make trouble
- Anne was required to write to her brother and follow the official version – all communications between her and her family would be monitored
- Anne was entirely alone, exiled from court and her own country
- Anne wouldn’t return to her country as a discarded wife
- Her public face was accepting, and she wrote to Henry to return her wedding ring, asking him to crush it as a thing of no value
- Henry didn’t reply
- A month later there was a new queen
- At New Year 1541 Anne returned to court as the king’s sister
- Katherine Howard was the queen and had to be instructed how to behave
- Anne curtsied to Katherine and spoke from bended knee
- Henry, Katherine, and Anne dined together as a family
- Henry and Anne’s marriage had lasted less than 6 months – she had survived and gotten a good deal from her ex-husband and lived well until Henry died
- After Henry’s death her life became harder
- One of the few letters remaining from Anne is to her brother, asking for money, as she could no longer afford to keep her household
- “England is England, and we are strangers”