Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen > Status Update

Weir’s theory is that Jane suffered with several things which contributed to her death - food poisoning first which then led to dehydration and embolism, causing heart failure. I’m not sure if I believe it, I know historians are divided, but this is very different to what anyone else has proposed.

‘They laid the child in her arms. He was wailing lustily, a fine child with a heart-shaped face and a pink, healthy colour; he had Henry’s blue eyes and her own fair hair and pointed chin. She had triumphed. She had borne England an heir, and as she gazed down in wonder at her son, she was consumed with the most powerful love she had ever felt in her life.’

‘“It is wrong for subjects to rebel against their Prince, but perhaps God has permitted this rebellion as a punishment for the ruin of so many churches.”
“You forget yourself, Madam!” he snarled. “This has nothing to do with you. I might remind you that the last Queen died in consequence of meddling too much in state affairs. Go and attend to other things!”’

‘It came to Jane forcibly that they looked like an ordinary happy family: father, mother and two daughters. Who, watching them, could have guessed at the tragedies and dramas that lay behind this touching tableau? She realised that she herself was in no small way responsible for restoring harmony, and that made her feel infinitely better. Good had come out of bad, and that was something to thank God for.’

“Do not meddle in this, sweetheart,” Henry said. “I do not want to quarrel with you. God knows, I had enough of that with Anne!”
“I am sorry if I spoke out of turn,” she said. “I was hoping that the Lady Mary could return to court and keep me company.”
...”What I do with my own daughter is my affair!” he snarled, his anger erupting. “And you, Madam, would do well not to meddle in matters that do not concern you.”

‘It was at nine o’clock that she heard the thunderous sound of a distant cannon, followed by a dreadful silence interrupted only by the merry sound of birdsong. Feeling faint and dizzy, she gripped the altar rail for support. It was done. Now she must live with the guilt. She doubted it would ever leave her.’

I am enjoying this much more than the Anne Boleyn one, nearly as much as the Katherine of Aragon one but not quite. I think the big difference is that for most of this book Jane doesn’t do a lot, she overhears things and makes comments, but she isn’t very active, at least not compared to Katherine and Anne. I am nearly halfway and she has only just caught Henry’s eye.

“I know enough to be convinced that with you I could be a happy, contented man, at peace with myself. I no longer want a wife who flirts with others and mocks me in what passes for wit. I want a loving woman with an even and constant temper. I like your gentleness and I admire your virtue, for I know that neither is feigned. Anne is too bold; she must have her own way. I do not think you are like that, Jane.”

‘It was notorious that he tired of his mistresses all too quickly, and no decent man wanted another’s leavings, even the King’s. No, she would not let him spoil her for marriage. Besides, he was married himself. Not that she would have any qualms about betraying Anne, for Anne was not, and never could be, his lawful wife. But Katherine, his true Queen, lived, and Jane would never be disloyal to her.’

‘Jane crossed herself. The child was lost or deformed, there could be no doubt of it. Detest Anne as she did, she could yet feel a sisterly pity for her. It was tragic for a woman to endure months of the discomfort of pregnancy, only to lose her babe at the end of it. It was so easy for the King - or any man - to demand sons; they did not have to undergo the bearing of them.’