Anne Boleyn, a King's Obsession

She was cool toward him when he arrived, and while the first course was served.

“I hear that you gave Cardinal Wolsey a warm welcome this afternoon,” she challenged, looking him directly in the eye, and was gratified when he would not meet her gaze. She laid down her knife. “If any nobleman in this realm had done but half so much as the Cardinal has done, he would have lost his head.”

Henry looked grieved. “Why then, I perceive that you are not the Cardinal’s friend,” he said.

How could he be so devastatingly naive?

“I have no cause,” Anne said quietly, “nor any other that loves your Grace, if you consider well what he did.”

“Darling, I have spoken with him, and I do believe that he is as distressed as we are at the verdict of the court. He assured me he had done everything possible to ensure that it went our way, and I believe him.” Henry’s tone was plaintive.

“Lies, all lies!” she flung back. “He is hand-in-glove with that apology for a pope!”

Henry reached across and tried to take her hand, but she pulled it away. “You cannot receive him back into favor, you cannot,” she insisted.

“Anne, Wolsey is clever—”

“Too clever for you!”

“Hear me out, please. He is the one man who can find a solution to our problem.”

“Is that what he’s been telling you? Well, it’s strange that this one man who can help has not found a solution in over two years of trying. And whatever he does, his influence in Rome does not exceed the Emperor’s.”

“Anne, I will hear what he has to say,” Henry said, in the voice that had silenced many an importunate petitioner.

They ate on in silence, Anne seething at his refusal to heed her, and horrified at the very real prospect of Wolsey returning to prominence. Really, the situation was laughable, if it hadn’t been so appalling. First Katherine had returned to court, and now Wolsey looked like doing so. They were all back where they had begun! It was hard to stop herself from bursting into tears—not that that would help in Henry’s present mood.

When he had eaten his last mouthful, the King put down his napkin. “Sweetheart, be reasonable,” he said. “I am only trying to do what is best, and it is worth listening to what Wolsey has to say if it leads to our being together.”

She did not answer. He rose, pressed his hand on her shoulder, and left.



They were meant to be going hunting in the morning, but Henry spent a long time closeted with Wolsey, and now it was afternoon. Anne was pacing the gallery, convinced that the Cardinal was worming his way back into favor. As soon as Henry emerged, she pounced.

“You promised we would leave after breakfast,” she complained. “It’s one o’clock already.”

Henry capitulated. “Very well. I will tell the Cardinal to continue our discussion with the lords of my Council,” he said, and went to put on his riding clothes.

Anne had a mission of her own to accomplish. Her task completed, she met Henry, booted and spurred, in the porch, as the courtyard filled with men, horses, and dogs. And there stood Wolsey and Campeggio, who were to depart after supper that evening. Anne, standing at Henry’s side, smiled at them.

Henry mounted his steed. “I will be back before you leave,” he said. The two men bowed, and he wheeled the horse around. Anne adjusted her feathered riding bonnet and followed close behind on her palfrey, thankful that Katherine never hunted these days. She did not look back. With luck, she would never have to see Wolsey’s face again.



When they were a few miles from Grafton, riding abreast, she turned to Henry.

“I have a surprise for you,” she told him.

“For me?” He looked so humbly grateful. “May I know what it is?”

“Later!” she teased. If she told him now, he might countermand her instructions.

He laughed, and then the quarry was sighted and the chase began.

It was nearing six o’clock when the afternoon’s sport ended, and the carcasses of six deer were being loaded onto a cart. It was a beautiful evening, with the lowering sun’s rays casting a golden light on the landscape.

“It’s perfect weather for dining out,” Anne said.

“Dining out?” Henry echoed.

“Yes. That’s my surprise. I have ordered an open-air dinner to be prepared in Hartwell Park. It’s only a few miles in that direction.”

Henry hesitated. She could see him warring with himself. Would he continue to placate her and do as she wished, or would he risk angering her by insisting on returning to Grafton in time to see Wolsey before he left?

Belatedly he smiled at her. “Darling, you think of everything,” he said. “Nothing would please me better. Come, let us make haste! All this sport has given me an appetite.”

She had won the battle, if not the war. Now she must make sure that Henry saw the truth about Wolsey and was persuaded never to receive him again.



Two days later, Henry welcomed the new Imperial ambassador at Grafton. The Emperor had withdrawn his previous representative before the Black Friars hearing, in protest that it was biased in the King’s favor. Now that the case had been revoked to Rome, Charles had relented and sent this new man.

Anne watched as Eustache Chapuys approached the dais and bowed low. He was dark-haired, with patrician features, and wearing a sober lawyer’s gown. She saw the King receive him cordially, and the Queen’s warmer welcome. Afterward, at a reception, Henry introduced Anne to Messire Chapuys. He was courtesy itself as they exchanged pleasantries, but he knew who she was, and she sensed that he did not approve of her—how could he, when she was set to supplant his master’s beloved aunt? And it was clear from his cultured conversation that he thought highly of the Queen. Anne realized that, for all his civility, he would be no friend to her.

“His instructions are to bring about a reconciliation between me and Katherine,” Henry told her later. “He didn’t say so outright, but it was implied. Well, he’ll have his work cut out!” He gave a mirthless laugh.

The next day, Thomas Boleyn sought Anne in her lodging, looking concerned. “This Chapuys is clever,” he warned. “He has already made it plain to the Council whose side he is on, and I fear he could make trouble for us. He has the might of the Empire and Spain behind him. Be watchful.”



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