Behead over heels..

by LotusFlower | February 14, 2009 at 05:21 am

414 views | 52 Recommendations | 22 comments

Henry the Eighth was a bloody king especially when it came to wives but a recently uncovered love letter to Anne Boleyn shows his other loving side.

It's not been seen for 500 years but shows he could write a love letter fit for Valentine's Day in any age.

Famed for chopping the heads off his ex-wives, Henry VIII is not exactly known for his tender side..

But a love letter, kept under wraps for 500 years, now shows him in a different light.

Henry's note to Anne Boleyn, who became his second wife, is gentle and affectionate as he goes out of his way to woo her..

He says her letter to him obliges him "to honour, love and serve you for ever

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Jordan Yerman

at 06:15 on February 14th, 2009

... and he looked nothing like Johnathan Rhys Meyers!

Amy Judd

at 13:37 on February 14th, 2009

Yeah, unfortunately...

Blue Crush

at 06:17 on February 14th, 2009

Yesterday was the anniversary of Catherine Howard's beheading. She was all of 18 - I doubt if she got to see a loving side.

Fripouille

at 06:50 on February 14th, 2009

Henry VIII is a unfortunate victim of the sensationalist press aka the Sun or the People. Ok, he may have made a couple of minor errors in his life, but who hasn't? I'm sure he was as gentle as a lamb, and that all these scurrilous accusations are no more than thinly-veiled jealousy. All this beheading stuff. Where's the proof? Do you have photos or videos? No. See! That proves I'm right.

Yours sincerely, a faithful Amy Winehouse fan.

Fred Miller

at 09:03 on February 14th, 2009

Second verse, same as the first.........

I am 'enery the Eighth I am,

'enery the Eighth I am, I am.........

generaldecay

at 09:08 on February 14th, 2009

I love this story! I am fascinated by Henry the VIII's era. It truly changed England (and Ireland) forever.

Fripouille

at 09:33 on February 14th, 2009

It certainly changed Anne Boleyne forever!

(Sorry, couldn't resist. Scathing and irreverent english humour....).

Fripouille

at 09:31 on February 14th, 2009

Henry VIII was a true 'head' of state. In truth, he was a romantic aetheist with just the slightest soupçon of a wry and wicked sense of humour.

I am glad that the truth cometh now to light with the unearthing of damsel Anne Boleyn's adoring missive.

He shall one day dethrone Lady Diana as the most kind-hearted representative of the proud reign of Britannia ever to be born within the virtuous and indomptable boundaries of its proud and eternal shores.

Believeth me.....

Blue Crush

at 16:47 on February 14th, 2009

Don't hold your breath there, eh, Fripouille?

Fripouille

at 17:03 on February 14th, 2009

Gard thy tongue missy. Thou shalt see afore the morrow......Prithee do not behead this man in haste!

Blue Crush.....

Roy C

at 11:00 on February 14th, 2009

The older I get, the more disgusting someone like ol' Henery seems to me. He was a sociopath suffering from a monumental ego-mania, brought on by his repressive father who actually made it where to enter Henry's bedroom, you had to enter his.

He started off his young adult life with a treatise of some question of religion and was quite fervent.

His health was awful. Refined sugar had just been developed and was recommended by doctors as a health food.

The wealthy didn't eat much in the way of veggies. Just meat and gravy. His weight reflected this.

LotusFlower

at 11:22 on February 14th, 2009

he also was ravaged with syphilis and passed this on to his wives and consorts

Fripouille

at 13:48 on February 14th, 2009

Pfftt...balderdash.

Fripouille

at 12:05 on February 14th, 2009

Lotus Flower and Roy C,

Who is paying you to put up this infamous and bald-faced propaganda?

Henry VIII was a devoted gardener. He loved begonias and roses in particular, although tomatoes were not, it has to be said, his strong point. He also had a cat called Sybil, who represented peaceful inspiration to him.

His use of internet is well documented. The hard drive saved from his last computer, now hidden in a garden shed in Wilmslow, shows that he spent his time writing loving emails to his wives, who were all abducted and killed in a vile plot to discredit and replace him with a parvenu Saudi Prince.

You people should check your facts.

(Ok, agreed. There is an unconfirmed rumour that it was he who had all his wives beheaded. But he is still innocent until proven guilty).

Bartholemew Quigglesby, PhD. (not verified)

at 18:31 on February 14th, 2009

I couldn't agree more, Fripouille. Henry VIII, without doubt, is one of the most misunderstood men in modern history, coming in a close second at the moment, as fate would have it, to none other than the greatest American president of the 20th century, Geroge W. Bush.

I offer here a citation from that cornucopia of Truth, Wikipedia®, which proves just what a despicable and immoral this silly young woman, the object of our poor Henry's fifth heroic but doomed attempt at the union of mind and body in the holy sacrament of love, Catherine Howard actually was.

Shortly after her marraige to the great man, we find -

Despite her newly acquired wealth and power, however, Catherine found her marital relations unappealing. She was not pregnant upon marriage and was repulsed by her husband's obesity. (He weighed around 21 stone, about 136 kilograms, at the time, and had a foul-smelling, festering ulcer on his thigh that had to be drained daily.) Early in 1541, she embarked upon a light-hearted romance with Henry's favourite male courtier, Thomas Culpeper, whom she had initially desired on her arrival at court two years earlier. The couple's meetings were arranged by one of Catherine's older ladies-in-waiting, Lady Rochford, the widow of George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn.

Henry and Catherine toured England together in the summer of 1541, and preparations for any signs of pregnancy (which would have led to a coronation) were in place, indicating that the married couple were sexually active with each other. However, as Catherine's extramarital liaison progressed, people who had witnessed her indiscretions at Lambeth Palace began to contact her for favours. In order to buy their silence, she appointed many of them to her household. Most disastrously, she appointed Henry Mannox as one of her musicians and Francis Dereham as her personal secretary. This miscalculation led to the charges of treason and adultery against her two years after her marriage to the King.

Alas, poor Henry's hands were tied once again, and in spite of the tender love which filled his being for this silly youngster 30 years his junior, he had no choice but to require that her head be separated from her body. After all he was the King of England, not some householder living on the commons. This was not about his own honor, but that of glorious Brittain Herself.

Fripouille

at 02:09 on February 15th, 2009

This common upstart led an infamous life and a famous afterlife. This, of course, is proof if ever it were needed that she lacked the insight and clarity necessary to be the Queen of fair England.

After all, the objective is to lead a famous life and an infamous afterlife. It is of no importance if people find out about one's dastardly deeds after one's death, but she got it mixed up, poor thing, and it cost her her head!

A salutory lesson for us all methinks....

Amy Judd

at 13:38 on February 14th, 2009

I bet he was romantic when he felt like it - he must have been a bit of a charmer, but I'm sure he was mentally unstable or something..

Cute story!

Fripouille

at 13:47 on February 14th, 2009

At last. A sane comment on this post!

I mean how can anyone be romantic and charming if he isn't a little crazy about his damsel?! He was just a sensitive and elegant man with a twist of originality.

(Euhhhhh...waddya mean I twisted your meaning..?)

LotusFlower

at 15:43 on February 14th, 2009

first crocus

the sound of Greensleeves

on a lute

Fripouille

at 15:46 on February 14th, 2009

Oh, how wonderful! Those beautiful words...................

Thank you Lotus Flower

René

at 23:08 on February 14th, 2009

The Queen of Hearts lost her head on Februaury 12, 1554. The Nine-Day Queen, Lady Jane Grey, was executed by her cousin Queen Mary Tudor. Only 17, she was laid to rest between two other headless Queens, Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, at St Peter-ad-Vincula.

LotusFlower

at 23:53 on February 14th, 2009

I Live between Leicester and Nottingham and less than 10 minutes drive from Lady Jane Grey's home in Bradgate Park - Queen Mary had her killed, beheaded, because of Jane's family and others pushing for Jane to be Queen instead of herself - the King's daughter and heir to the throne - politics. power and religion - still the main drivers of war - money too...

"Jane had been raised, with her two sisters, at Bradgate. This was the principal family home on the edge of Charnwood Forest. It was a beautiful and luxurious estate, suited to the Grey's semi-regal status."