This is an honest question, no hate, but: why are the people who seem to like Henry VIII the most always Anne Boleyn fans? Like, from what I’ve seen of the other wives fans they all seem to mostly despise him. And even the fans of people like Thomas Moore or Cromwell, privycouncilors and people who are less presented in pop history, at least mock or seem to dislike him. But the Anne Boleyn fans always really, really like him. Is there a reason? Because it seems like it should be the opposite considering he had her killed.
I mean, I can’t speak for other Anne fans, but for me, studying Anne shows a completely different side to Henry.
All those other people like More, Cromwell, Wolsey, etc they only saw Henry the King so that’s really all people who study them see as well. And with Henry’s other wives, well, it’s pretty obvious he didn’t really love any of them—he respected Catherine (for a time), he only loved the idea of Jane, and he lusted after Katheryn. But with Anne, it was completely different.
When you study Anne, you see Henry the Man. You see his capacity for genuine love and affection in his letters to her. You see his ability to remain steadfastly loyal in all the years they were together. In 10 years together he was only known to take 2 mistresses, both of whom he only took after he and Anne were married and the affairs only happened when Anne was pregnant (or shortly after her miscarriages). (Well, there’s also Jane too, but I don’t really count her as a “mistress” because they never had sex before they were married.) You also see Henry’s sense of humor and his intelligence.
I challenge anyone to not feel at least a little bad for him when you read his letters to Anne (especially the one he wrote when Anne got sweating sickness).
Like yeah he beheaded her—and I guarantee no Anne fan is letting him off for that—but you can’t let the last 5 months define their entire decade-long relationship. What I think a lot of people tend to forget is all the outside factors that contributed to Anne’s downfall. Henry didn’t just wake up one day and say “I think I’m gonna have Anne beheaded”.
