Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Keeper of the Queen's Jewels > Status Update

“You shame yourself, Madame. Get up.” He yanked me to my feet. “We think it best you concern yourself with other matters. As well you remember, the lady afore you meddled all too often in our affairs of state. Look what has become of her in consequence. It would be a great pity if you were to share her fate.”

“I shall put it plainly, Your Grace: there is great danger in striving to make the king happy. For when you reach that point, where you believe you have accomplished this impossible task, you will be lulled into a false sense of safety. And that is the most dangerous place to be.”

“I shall put it plainly, Your Grace: there is great danger in striving to make the king happy. For when you reach that point, where you believe you have accomplished this impossible task, you will be lulled into a false sense of safety. And that is the most dangerous place to be.”

All I keep thinking is how terrifying it must have been for Jane Seymour after Anne Boleyn was executed. I know a lot of people don’t like her because they feel she caused Anne’s death, but really there was no precedent for that and that was all Henry. Also do we really think these women had much of a choice in the matter?

‘Would he still be so keen if I told him the truth, that while I happily sowed seeds of discord in the king’s mind, I never once dreamed the fruits would be so deadly?’

‘A new sigil had been worked in alongside the king’s—a phoenix. My phoenix. I hated it on sight. The bird was a grim reminder of the destruction worked in service to my elevation. It felt like an insult—a bastardization of the Seymour wings that had represented our house for generations. My husband had commandeered it for his own, remaking it in his image. I was losing myself piece by piece.’

‘A mere fortnight after the spilled blood of their mistress stained the scaffold stairs, Anne Boleyn’s maids pledged their fealty to me. It happened almost effortlessly; there were no tears, no outbursts, no angry words. Still, the weight of our shared betrayal sat heavily upon me. When each girl knelt before the throne, I found myself gazing at the woven tapestries on the wall, desperate to hide the shame’

‘My pride had been wounded by the rapid ascension of this son of a carpenter. What hypocrisy. I was the daughter of no one, given my place at court by those better than me. We were one and the same. Yet, I begrudged every crumb sent his way. Smeaton had caused no harm to me, save revelling in the attention lavished upon him. Attention I coveted. The interrogations began soon after my careless words.’