Meanwhile, Jane is her polar opposite routinely described as pious, devout, unworldly and obedient.
I wanted to rediscover both their voices.Ĭatherine was, for many years, described as a flirt, flighty, promiscuous, therefore earning a reputation as a good-time girl, the suggestion being, she got what she deserved. These two young women whose lives were destroyed by Henry VIII were both queen of England and have both been treated harshly by history. One Henry supposedly mourned for two years, one he refused to mention again. One was beheaded, one died in childbirth. However, I kept them on file because despite flaring only briefly in the pages of history, Jane, like Catherine Howard, intrigued me.Ĭatherine was queen consort for nineteen months and Jane for seventeen. The scenes were later deleted as they did not sit comfortably in the story as it developed. Jane Seymour was a character I first wrote about in an early draft of Book One in The Marquess House Saga: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy. In order to assuage his conscience, Henry claimed this was all done in the name of God, leading him to declare himself as head of the Protestant church in order to achieve his other ambition: siring a legitimate heir, which is when Jane appears on the scene.
Despite seeing his wealth increase, Henry wanted more and the debasement was followed by the spectacular idea of stripping the monasteries of their wealth and selling their land to the highest bidder. This led to debasement of the currency in order to gain extra bullion for the king, even while causing hardship to his subjects. Due to lavish overspending and mismanagement, Henry’s royal coffers were dangerously low. In The Jane Seymour Conspiracy, I have tried to show how frightening it must have been, as a woman, to know you were often only a glance away from being forced into the king’s bed and all the danger this could involve.ĭuring the 1530s, Henry VIII was obsessed with two things: money and dynasty building. Each relationship may have begun with love but this did not last.
Jane and Anne were second cousins.Īll these women were in thrall to the king who held their lives in the balance. Both Anne and Jane were ladies-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon. The lives of Henry VIII’s first three wives, the women who provided the future Tudor monarchs, were woven together in a way that is rarely discussed. One died on the executioner’s block, her head severed by a Frenchman’s sword in response to fabricated charges against her and one died from infection after childbirth, having finally delivered the king his heart’s desire: a legitimate male heir, Prince Edward, who would become King Edward VI. One died alone, separated from her estranged husband and beloved daughter. The lives of these three women were inextricably linked through the king and, through him, all their lives were blighted. In The Jane Seymour Conspiracy, the fourth book of The Marquess House Saga, I explore the relationship between Henry VIII’s first three wives: Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, as seen through the eyes of Jane. The Secrets of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII
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