John Guy and Julia Fox reveal how international diplomacy supercharged the rise of Henry’s VIII’s second wife – and hastened her fall
ILLUSTRATION BY DÓRA KISTELEKI
On 5 May 1527, the great and the good of England and France descended on Greenwich for 24 hours of jousting, feasting and dancing – all to mark the signing of a diplomatic treaty that would signal a new chapter in the two nations’ long and turbulent relationship.
This wasn’t the first treaty signed during Henry VIII’s reign. Nor was it the last – but it was certainly one of the most momentous. For the Treaty of Westminster, as it would be known, saw the English king ditching his relationship with one European superpower – the Habsburgs, led by Emperor Charles V – and throwing his lot in with the French.
When describing the celebrations at Greenwich, English chroniclers focused on the great lengths to which Henry had gone to impress his French guests. At a newly constructed banqueting house, a majestic triumphal arch led into a candlelit theatre with a spectacular ceiling, lit by candles and mirrors, creating the illusion of the heavens, with stars and planets and signs of the zodiac.
French chroniclers, however, took a different tack. Henry’s choice of dancing partner, they noted, was not the king’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, but “Mistress Boleyn, who was brought up in France with the late queen”.
Six years later, in 1533, Henry and “Mistress Boleyn” would complete the journey from dancing partners to husband and wife, instigating one of the most consequential marriages in British royal history. Theirs was a tempestuous relationship, one that both divided and electrified public opinion in England. Yet, as the French diplomatic reports prove, Henry’s subjects weren’t the only ones watching their every move with alarm and incredulity; the king’s love affair with Anne was the talk of Europe, too. Just as importantly, Henry and Anne’s marriage shaped – and was shaped by – European geopolitics. Almost every aspect of Henry and Anne’s relationship maps onto international diplomacy. Theirs really was a love affair played out on a European stage.
Given Anne’s background, it’s perhaps hardly surprising that the French tracked closely her romance with the English king, nor that she would influence Anglo-French relations as queen. Anne had, after all, spent almost seven years of her adolescence serving Queen Claude, the young wife of French king Francis I, as a demoiselle (maid of honour).
During that formative period, Anne received a masterclass in what powerful women
