The Mistresses of Henry VIII
A sovereign King, he was big, bold and very irritable.
He turned the church on its head,
and all for the power he could exert over women and wealth.
He married six times in total but only two of these
were said to be claimed as true and legal.
Yet his infatuation with the fairier sex brought more misery than good.
He would dominate all who challenged him, a philanderer
and cheat yet surprisingly he was true to each one.
But the culture and dynamics would be changed forever,
and he became the most charasmatic King in the history of England.
So what drove these women to enter into a relationship with this
most feared of men we now take a look at the mistresses of Henry VIII.
On St Georges day 1509 England welcomed a new King, he was Henry VIII.
A feisty character whos love of women and hunting seemed to be his forte.
Henry now seventeen had been betrothed to a young spanish lady, infact
his brother's widow.
She was a princess, aged twenty three, and for Henry
she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen!
Catherine of Aragon would become his wife and Queen of England.
But within a year, rumours were already circulating that Henry
was already involved with other ladies.
Lady Anne Stafford was an English noble.
She was the daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lady
Katherine Woodville. She was born around 1483.
It would be this lady that caused a massive scandal around Europe.
Henry's wife Catherine was pregnant at the time of this revelation.
However, Henry quite
possibly didn't realise that his fling was with a potentially dangerous woman.
She was the sister to the Duke of Buckingham, Englands top peer,
and this could become a major problem.
The Duke, Edward was outraged at this turn of events,
he said " how can any woman become the mistress of another,
never mind it being a King." The family name in the Dukes
eyes was being dragged through the mud
and it wasn't going to clear up anytime soon.
It's always been know that royalty have mistresses,
but these ladies provided much more than a sexual contentment to their partner.
Courtiers would also use them to gain information for their own devices.
Being close to a mistress was as being close to the King himself,
and anyone who was anyone, would have gone
that extra mile to be well aquainted with any of them!
Henry was undaunted by the speculation around court, he would be cunning
and attempt to conceal every little detail from his wife Catherine.
The biggest problem for Henry was, he was never alone.
Whether at rest or play,
there was always someone on hand to oversee everything he was up to.
You could say he had his work cut out to make any inroads into these other women
he clearly required.
When Henry did find time to sleep with his Queen,
Henry would have been accompanied to her room, and then back to his own quarters
under strict supervision.
But after Henry had been thrusting, the guards would do the same,
by checking the Queens room for any intruders
and thrusting their swords into the mattress of Catherine.
Back to Lady Anne, it's said her sister was the one
who informed the Duke about this affair.
It was now the Duke went into full investigative mode!
Buckingham and Henry never saw eye to eye after the revelation.
Yet for Buckingham,
he should have been wary that this King, holds a very long memory!
As for Catherine, she was devasted by the words now publically spoken.
However, this affair was set to run and not even Buckingham
could do anything about it.
The records of Henry continuing with Anne cease, yet it's
thought the couple were together over a period of three years.
After this time, Henry seems to have repented his actions in some way,
maybe even come to his senses and returned to Catherine, this time
giving his full devotion.
Catherine quite possibly rediscovered the man she had married,
she would certainly praise him and attend to his needs, although it's not certain
whether Henry actually complied to every aspect of loyality.
Jane pops up in the history books around 1514, yet
although there is no official
records of herself and Henry making hay, there is some circumstantial evidence.
In the court of Louis XII and later Francis
I, Jane served as a French maid of honour.
After serving as a distinguished tutor to the princesses Margaret and Mary
during Henry VII's reign
as well as a maid-of-honour to Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon,
she spent the next twelve years at the English court.
In 1513 at the Battle of the Spurs Henry managed to capture
some French nobles after the fall of Thérouanne.
These were transported back to England.
Upon their arrival it's said that Louis I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville
had a bit of a crush on Jane, which seems to have been reciprocated.
He was classed as a hostage, but Henry used him as an temporary
ambassador, he would arrange the marriage of Mary Tudor to Louix XII.
However, Jane had got herself in a pickle, her reputation had been damaged
when it came to light that she had been having an affair with Henry.
She tried to return to France but would fall well
short of appeasing Louis who said "she should be incinerated"
and " would not allow this woman anywhere near his new wife"
Jane remained
in England until 1516 at which point she returned to her homeland.
Henry made sure she would not be out of pocket
and gave a gift of £100 to help sweeten her return.
Henry's gaze now fell on another, this one quite
possibly the most famous of all his extra marital affairs.
Elizabeth or Bessie Blount was born around 1498,
it's said she was a true beauty of the day.
She was first seconded as a maid
of honour to Catherine, Henry's Queen.
It was around this time she caught the King's eye
and a relationship began which lasted for around eight years.
Affairs were such commonplace at court, it was difficult to keep track
of who was with who and when, where.
It's a messy situation with rumours circulating on a continuous basis.
But don't get me wrong, it's not all based on sex.
There was as many emotional ties and genuine courtly love.
At the time gifts were often given as a means of thanks,
small tokens which somehow made the whole experience more personable.
Let's get back to Elizabeth, who was now way past the stage of gaining tokens!
Henry who was twenty three when he first danced with Bessie,
wait for it, she was thirteen.
Yes, she was way too young, yet again
in those days, sex was thought to be an OK pastime.
Life expectancy was short and the dangers of illness
or disease were always close by.
Gossip first started when Bessie's father received two years of wages
in one handout, good job if you can get it.
But there was more going on behind the scenes.
Blount gave birth to the King's illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy on
15 June 1519. He was later introduced Duke of Richmond
and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham.
He was Henry VIII's only acknowledged illegitimate son.
Following the birth of the child, the relationship ceased for reasons unknown.
Elizabeth Blount's declaration that King Henry
was equal to the task of fathering healthy
sons inspired a common expression, "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount,"
which was frequently mentioned during and after this period.
The King formed a relationship with Mary Boleyn
shortly after his son was born, which may have contributed
to Blount's dismissal.
Much like with Blount, Boleyn was not officially acknowledged
as the King's mistress, and Henry never offered the position of public mistress
in title to anyone other than Anne Boleyn, who repeatedly refused the offer.
But all the birth did for Henry was convince him
he was in fact a great dad, one who could certainly father a healthy son.
So what was wrong with Catherine?
Mary was the sister of Anne who would go onto become Queen consort of England.
She was born around 1499 in Norfolk, but spent much of her
childhood at Hever Castle with the rest of the family.
This is where we can possibly go one better than Bessie previously,
it has been suggested Mary was the mother to not one but
two children to Henry, although he did not acknowledge them as he did with Bessies.
Let's not get carried with this, you see Mary had built up
quite a reputation for herself, she was not the whitest
but certainly the sweetest to other men at this time.
Let's not for one moment pretend that Henry was not the only bees knees
when it came to looks and charisma, he was charming and knew how
to string a sentence or two together to get what he wanted.
When Mary and her sister Anne returned to England after what
you might call a turbulent period for the sisters especially Mary in France.
Then we have the account of potential blackmail to ponder!
Henry and Mary were thought to have begun a romance sometime around 1522.
However, Mary had married Sir William Carey in 1520.
But Henry gave Carey some land and grants enough
to keep him in clover for the foreseeable future.
Or maybe it was a way of telling Carey to keep quiet and allow him
to make further advances on his wife.
It's very cloak and dagger.
As we heard earlier, compliancy is not always the best measure to getting
what you want, go against the King and you could end up like Buckingham.
The majority of women back then would have been more than enticed
if the King came calling, regardless of what happens next!
It was a scary situation for some, and the risks were far higher than any rewards.
Throughout the early part of the 1520's Henry and Mary were together
quite often, Henry would visit Penshurst Palace, close by to Hever
and managed by none other than Thomas Boleyn, Mary's Father.
Two things of interest here, Henry didn't like to share his women
and Mary was never given her
married name, well, under the leadership of this King anyhow.
Henry looked upon her as a single unmarried woman.
No one knows why the pair drifted apart, it seems for four years
they were having a royal fling,
and it's noted that in this time Henry only serviced her.
But by 1525, Bessies boy was now reaching new heights of fame,
Henry was planning and scheeming again, maybe his illigitimate son FitzRoy
was being nudged towards the throne after all.
Yet as we are aware illigitimate sons could prove a fatal stumbling block
to Henry's kingdom, and more so as he was still to have a legitimate one!
But let's not beat about the bush here, Henry was certainly a womaniser, OK,
he may not have been the heavy
breathing up and at em type of guy, but you can't disguise the facts.
His obliging methods cornered many into his web of deciet and scurilous activity.
He may have been to bed with Mary, but now it looks like this was no more
than a cover for what he thought was his true love Mary's sister Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn would spend around six years getting to know
Henry, this in itself is a remarkable time span of history.
Remember at this point Henry was still married to Catherine.
But cometh the hour cometh the man and on 25th January 1533.
The secret was out,
Henry secretly married his mistress and now Queen of England Anne Boleyn.
Fabrication, story lines and general gossip was one thing,
but THIS, it shook the pillars of power to the core.
Not to mention how very unpopular this was with the people of England.
Henry had cared for Catherine at the start of their relationship,
and yes, he had been unfaithful to others including Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn,
but now Anne had superceded everything
before her, Henry was completely over the moon by this woman,
the only thing standing in his way now was finding a way
to legitimise the secret wedding and make it public knowledge!
But as per usual Henry could not keep it inside his codpiece, and Anne was furious,
who can blame her!
Mary would have been a 'lady-in-waiting' to Anne, and although the two
were cousins, there respective families were not what you could call allies.
Mary was quite adept at writing poetry, to the point she was part of a group
of well known poets of the day such as Henry Howard and Thomas Wyatt.
But where as their poetry was more likely to contain references towards
love of a female, Mary's were more singular
in there approach and made many references to the King.
It's possible Mary was dazzled by the bright lights of fame on offer,
an amazing opportunity to get great reward and even become Queen, well why not?
Other's had successfully carried out this path not always with the perfect result.
The question needs asking, If Henry thought Anne
was a bit of a liability, why would would he
then put more effort into another member of the same family, albeit a cousin.
As Mary's mother was the sister to Anne's father Thomas.
It's complicated isn't it!
However, the liason was aparently short, lasting no more than six months.
Mary quite possibly felt gutted after the relationship ended, although she
accepted her fate with good will.
But how close do you have to be to gain titles, land and lots of money!
Unfortunately her sister Madge, fell by the wayside when she got tangled up
in the treasonous case against Anne Boleyn, luckily she escaped death,
and was sent away to spend the rest of her days in a convent.
Henry being the good chap
he was spared his queen the axe, thought to be too much of a burden
and at the very least a clumsy way
to dismiss someone from this world.
NO, he hired a french sword man, quick
and clean were the order of the day!
Other notable mistresses include that of Elizabeth Carew
She was an English courtier who became the wife of
Nicholas Carew but he suffered execution
when he allegedly got caught up in the Exeter
Conspiracy a supposed attempt to overthrow Henry in 1538.
However, rumours
circulated that Elizabeth was now in the mood for love, and with Henry.
however, it is thought that her flirting with the King
was in order to get her fingers on his brother in law, Charles Brandon.
Henry unaware of this alternate ending still continued to enjoy her company,
and likewise she did too, as Henry would shower her with many gifts of jewels.
But again this ended when Elizabeth married Sir Francis Bryan,
maybe a parting gift from Henry as it's almost certain
he was the man behind this duet getting together.
Henry and his infidelity were coming to an end,
he'd had a good run of things up to this point, fathering
at least one known child in FitzRoy but the possibility of others
who were never taken onboard.
Henry married Jane Seymour
almost immideiately after the death of his previous wife Anne in 1536.
But rumours were still rife and even though it says he had found
the love of his life in Jane, where have we heard that before?
It also begs the question as to why it was reported he regretted
any involvement with Jane after spotting two new ladies in court!
But Henry wasn't getting any younger and those days of stamina
sapping confrontations were coming to an end.
Yet, he was finally rewarded with the one thing he had always desired.
Jane gave birth to a son, the future Edward VI,
unfortunately she died during childbirth.
There is little doubt that Henry struggled to cope with this,
although he had gained Edward, his heart felt feelings for Jane proved too much.
In those final years Henry would go onto marry Anne of Cleves, but after failing
to consumate the marriage Anne was shipped out of court and the marriage annulled.
Catherine Howard was next as wife number 5, but a complete disaster
for the young Queen led to her being executed.
Rumours surround Henry and passion
for the ladies again, this time Ann Bassett may be inline.
She was thought to have
possibly been involved with Henry and the potential to become his next wife.
But instead he went for Catherine Parr, this was his sixth and final wife.
One can only imagine the greatest sigh of relief from around the court.
Henry was now in a very bad way, he could hardly walk
never mind chase a young maiden.
Just four years after his marriage to Catherine, Henry VIII died,
his final instruction was to be buried next to what he considered
the love of his life. Jane Seymour.
Henry was lauded as England's glorious king and a brave
and heroic defender of the true faith, the women in his life from wives
to mistresses and short term flirts were at the mercy of this one man.
The ladies showed great strength and character to come through
most of his affections with at least with some dignity.
The 16th century was a mans world, and maybe it still is today to some extent.
Henry VIII gave the world a history lesson like no other,
but the women in his life are more than worthy of a mention.
His transgressions may not have been to the liking of many,
but in Henry's eyes they were simply Tudor transgressions and ones that were
quite acceptable to him!