The story behind the story……………..

I have long been interested in Tudor history particularly that of Elizabeth I and more recently her mother Anne Boleyn, especially since reading Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ and its sequel ‘Bring up the Bodies’.

Find it deeply ironic that Henry VIII who was so obsessed with securing England’s future with a male heir should through his second wife Anne, produce arguably one of its greatest and perhaps most successful monarchs.

Through the eyes of Elizabeth I wonder what it might be like to realise that your father was ultimately responsible for the death of your mother and the loss of your estate and privileges and yet still be expected to be ‘humbly’ and ‘gratefully’ in awe of this man and ‘grateful’ for the life and the privileges you did enjoy.

I also wonder what it would have been like for Anne, formally so powerful and in demand, now to be bought ‘so low’ in the Tower. At what point would she have realised that she was completely ‘doomed’ in the eyes of her husband, family and ‘friends’?

An ambitious and fierce woman, who did not suffer fools gladly, it’s just as likely that Anne gave no thought to her daughter, as she struggled to come to terms with her own fate.

However I simply like the idea of one final communication from mother to daughter, if such a letter had ever been written I believe, Anne’s overriding concern might well have been to ensure that her daughter, stayed alive.

So this story ‘A letter from Anne’ is my small tribute to these two women, Elizabeth I and her mother Anne Boleyn.

A letter from Anne…………..

 

My daughter,

When you read this, I will be no more. I had hoped and prayed that I would see you grown into womanhood. Well married, with estates, power and influence.
Believe me when I say I would have laid the world at your feet.

But first things, first.

Be a good and dutiful daughter to your father, the King.

Obey him in all things and remember he is both your beloved father and King.

Be thankful that in his beneficence he will bestow on you all things due to you as his most beloved daughter and in accordance with your birth right.

Be humble, remember that all you are, all you have and all you will be, comes from the King your father.

Take courage my daughter, remember you are a princess of royal blood – the blood of the Tudors runs through your veins.

Hold us both in your prayers.

Your loving mother and ever faithful and loving subject to the King.

Anne