“The Boleyn Inheritance” - Philippa Gregory

 (Tudors book 10)

👑 TBI is told from the POV of 3 ladies at court, each affected by the actions Anne Boleyn set in motion. I enjoyed TBI as it covers ground that is typically shadowed by that familiar drama. The narrative voices in TBI exquisitely match the book’s overarching mood of danger, shifting identities, and performance under the pressure of Henry’s volatility. These women are caught in a system where one misstep can be fatal.

👑 Anne of Cleves — turns out to be the most fortunate of the 6 wives of Henry VIII, though her entry into court life is the most inauspicious. 

Henry marries Anne sight unseen after the death of Jane Seymour. It’s purely a political union which is itself unusual for the lusty King. It’s an attempt to unite European Protestant powers against Rome, Spain, and France. By way of sharp contrast to her British ladies who were raised from infancy to be consummate courtiers lady Anne was not. She is wholly unprepared for the scheming machinations of Henry’s court which puts her at a further disadvantage.

Their marriage is a bust. However. Here’s where Anne is the luckiest of all the ex-wives. Because her brother is a European royal, Henry cannot risk angering a foreign power by killing Anne off. Thus, he decides to come up with some fiction and treat her as a sister. She is given an allowance and a nearby palace.

👑 Katherine Howard strikes Henry’s fancy even as he is set to marry Anne. Her story arc is tragic due to being a beautiful girl, in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Her great vice is the vanity of youth. She isn’t power mad like Anne Boleyn. She wants to enjoy all the fine things in life which is no great crime. Her undoing is age-appropriate love. When Gregory writes of Kitty practicing laying her head on the block in preparation for her execution so it looks well, it’s quite tragic. Meanwhile the adult Jane is next door in the Tower feigning insanity.

A normal 15-year-old, she lacks the canniness of an Anne or Mary Boleyn. However she is smart enough to realize she is best served in the role of pretty play thing where a sudden change in Henry’s affection wouldn’t end in death. Unfortunately for her, the Duke of Norfolk has other plans for her. She is eventually pushed forward as marriage-material after the Ann of Cleves debacle.

👑 IMO the most interesting POV was Jane (Rochford) Boleyn, the wife of George, whose damning testimony doomed him and Anne. I love the shift of the spotlight from the Boleyns to Jane. Gregory writes Jane as an unreliable (touch of madness?) narrator until the Duke of Norfolk lays out her culpability in George and Anne’s deaths.

Gregory explores the Duke of Norfolk’s hand in condemning Anne and George to death for treason. It is evidence from a source as credible as Jane that will obviate the need for a trial. Why does Jane agree to do it? Perhaps to protect herself from a traitor’s death by association to the Boleyns? Or possibly the Duke of Norfolk exploited her nastiness and jealousy and convinced her that testifying would cause George to confess and somehow save him and condemn Anne. 

To return to court, Jane will be in the power of the Duke. She accepts these terms gladly. This is a terrible mistake. She should have learned from watching him push Anne on the throne and then send her to the scaffold. He will sacrifice Kitty and Jane to save himself.

Next: “The Taming of the Queen”