The Other Boleyn Girl pt. 3

Mary Boleyn is a newly widowed women. Her husband William Carey and her had just been reunited as husband and wife after years of Mary's affair with the king when Carey came down with the sweat. He warned Mary to go to Heaver with her children where she would be safe while the court was sick. Mary's sister, Anne also came down with the sweat and it almost killed her. To Anne's dismay the king spent the summer with Queen Katherine while she was sick. With Anne's growing health, she begs her sister to return to court with her, although Mary would rather stay at Heaver with her children. Anne explains that she cannot go on living an act all the time, she needs a bedfellow she can trust. Finally, Mary gives in and returns to court. While the girls were away at Heaver there was a secret family meeting held about possibly bringing Mary back to the kings attention, since she is newly widowed. They are worried the king has lost interest in Anne in her absence. Over the next few weeks Anne spends getting the kings eyes back on her. One day in November, Anne asks George and Mary to walk with her by the river at Greenwich place. "I thought I would adopt little Henry as my own son.' I was astounded, i could only look at her. 'You don't even like him very much,' I said, the first foolish thought of a loving mother. 'You never even play with him. George has spent more time with him than you."(page 313) Anne explains that she doesn't want Henry because she likes or even loves him, but to give the king a queen and an heir at the same time, a true Tudor by birth. This also makes Mary less desirable to the king. Mary has no choice but to agree because Anne has had the adoption papers signed and sealed. Mary's son is no longer hers, but her sisters.

The Other Boleyn Girl pt 2

I found a quote that I think is significant to the story so far. Mary Boleyn has been the center of the most glamorous court in Europe for three years now, but the king’s eye is turning to her biggest rival, her sister. Anne is supposed to hold him off during the day and Mary is to please him at night. Although Mary is Henry’s acknowledged lover, for many years now, Anne is slowly stealing him away. Anne has dreams of ruling all of England as queen, her plan is to make Henry fall for her and have him put the rightful queen aside.

 

“So I shall be queen,’ said Anne dreamily. ‘I shall be brother-in-law to the King of England,’ George said, as if he could hardly believe it. ‘And what shall I be?’ I spat. I would not be the king’s favorite, I would not be the center of court. I would lose the place I had worked for since I was twelve years old. I would be last year’s whore. ‘You’ll be my lady in waiting,’ Anne said sweetly. ‘You’ll be the other Boleyn girl.”  (p. 258-259)

 

Anne knows just how to keep the king wanting more, and she has a hard time keeping him off. There is an intense lust between the two and Anne thinks that she can get him to give up his loyal wife of almost thirty years for her. She just needs to play her cards right. But all her sister wants to do is be with her children, at the Howard home in Heaver, but she is even forbidden that. Will the king leave Queen Katharine for the beautiful Anne Boleyn? Will Mary ever find true love again?

The Other Boleyn Girl

The book that I am currently reading is called The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. I am on page 123 out of 661. The book starts off in the spring of 152; Mary's uncle has said the forbidden out loud, that the King cannot produce a male heir to the thrown. For this he is sent to the block. At the last minute the King Henry is supposed to publicaly forgive him, so those who attend the execution are not expecting to see a murder. But as the ax is raised the king is still seated, and at last the ax falls and the duke is dead. It is a gruesome depiction and Mary tells us that the king needed to show the world that those who speak this atrocity against the thrown. The book continues a year later with the return a Mary's older sister from France. Mary is eager to see her sister, but also to show her how much better she is than her, because she is a lady in waiting to the lovely Queen Kathrine. Mary has always been jealous of her older sister, and before Anne's arrival she even thinks how much better her life would be without her sister to compeate with, and wishes her to die at sea. She then realizes that she could not live in a world without her and is sorry to have even thought of such a tragedy. Although she wanted to show her sister how much better her life is than Anne's she is so happy to see her sister she gives herself away by running to greet Anne. Several days later there is a masque where 5 ladies are to dance with 5 knights, Mary and Anne are both chosen along with their brother George's bethrothel, the kings sister Queen Mary and the kings aunt. At the masque the king asks Mary to dance, but she is supposed to play along with his disguise and not recognize him. When he finally removes his mask, Mary faints. When Mary's family finds out about the kings interest in their youngest daughter, they order her to leave her husbands bed. This is because if she is to become the kings mistress he must know that he has been with only him, so Mary moves to the Queens chamber. I am looking forward to find out how the Boleyn family manipulate their family and friends for the "advancement of the family". 

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