I'm going to read a short extract from Anne Boleyn
the second novel in the Six Tudor Queens series
It is the summer of 1533, the year in which Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen.
In July, King Henry took Anne to Hampton Court
to rest in the final weeks of her pregnancy.
They spent the balmy days taking slow strolls in the beautiful gardens,
picnicking in the little banqueting houses that Henry had built in the grounds,
reading companionably together in Anne's privy chamber
and making merry at supper.
He no longer came to her bed, he did not wish to disturb her rest,
and in truth, the sigh she was, she preferred to sleep alone.
She felt well. She'd never seen Henry looking so happy.
It was only in these last weeks of her pregnancy
that she began to wonder about the possibility of the baby being a girl.
Henry had always referred to it as the son he most desired
and she too had come to think of it as a boy.
But what if it wasn't?
Henry had done all he had sworn to do,
he had broken with Rome to have her,
he'd married her and had her crowned with as
much pomp as if she were a reigning monarch.
It was now up to her to seal her part of the bargain
by presenting him with the son that, at 42, he needed more desperately than ever
Not only to ensure the succession
but also to justify the risks he'd taken on her account
The blessing of a male heir would show the world
that God smiled on their union
and would undoubtedly bring many waverers and dissidents over to their side.
And it might silence once and for all that infuriating woman Katherine at Buckden
So much hung on the sex of the child,
that it might not be a son did not bear thinking about.
And so Anne grew daily more anxious when she should have been enjoying
the calm euphoria of these last weeks before giving birth.
The wretched 'Nun of Kent'
had chosen the day of Anne's coronation
to prophesy doom for the King and his new Queen.
This time the authorities had pounced
and Elizabeth Barton had been brought
before Archbishop Cranmer to be examined.
'He should not have let her go without a warning,' Anne complained
'She's already ignored it.'
'Sweetheart, do not excite yourself'
Henry exhorted, all concern,
as they sat down to cold chicken, a raised pie
and a dish of cherries in the banqueting house
that stood on the hillock overlooking the privy garden
'Cranmer examined her again today. She's admitted she never had a vision in her life.'
'What will you do with her?'
'Let her go. She's being discredited out of her own mouth.'
'That won't deter her, mad or not,
she's never held her peace before.'
'If she spouts more sedition she will feel the full force of my displeasure,' Henry declared,
'But darling let us not speak of unpleasant things,
you do not want to agitate the babe.
I am of the belief that what a woman thinks or feels
can affect the child in her womb, it stands to reason.'
'I don't know about that.' Anne smiled,
'But this one leaps about as if it's practicing for the joust. Feel.'
She guided Henry's hand to her belly.
'By God here's a future King to be proud of,' he roared.
'Darling, I know I can't be there with you when our son is born
but I want to be near at hand.
I'm not going far on my progress, I'm keeping within 60 miles of London.'
'Now that is a comfort to me,' Anne said
reaching across and squeezing his hand.
He smiled at her.
'I'm ordering that prayers for your safe delivery be offered up in churches
and asking my loving subjects to pray to Jesus, if it be his will,
to send us a prince.
I've consulted the physicians and they all assure me the child would be male.'
How did they know that, Anne wondered,
they'd never examined her merely inquired how she was feeling
and exhorted her to take care of herself.
Childbirth, as everyone knew, was women's work.
She'd already engaged a midwife
who was, even now, in residence here at Hampton Court,
guzzling on rich food and idling away the days in luxury,
she'd come highly recommended.