No offense to Jonathan Rhys Meyers(SP?), Eric Bana, or Damian Lewis, but my Henry VIII has always been the late, and great Keith Michell from the Seventies "Six Wives of Henry VIII"...
The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518
- Thread starter FalconHonour
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No offense to Jonathan Rhys Meyers(SP?), Eric Bana, or Damian Lewis, but my Henry VIII has always been the late, and great Keith Michell from the Seventies "Six Wives of Henry VIII"...
I'm not going to fight anyone for anything. Not cast-wise. The world would be boring if we all thought the same way!
Sarah Bolger really doesn't fit Mary tbh. Maybe if they made her dye her hair red back in The Tudors. All the Tudors had red hair and I hate that every single production bar Wolf Hall gives Catherine and Mary stereotypical Spanish traits. So as much as I wanted to hate The Spanish Princess, I do like that they finally casted Catherine as what she actually looked like in real life. Plus as much as I want to love Nat, Wolsey called Anne the Crow for a reason, so her blue eyes don't cut it for me.
It's borderline hilarious in the first season where Thomas Boleyn says to Anne "your eyes...dark hooks for the soul" (which IIRC WAS a thing Thomas actually said) and the camera zooms in on Anne's face to show...blue eyes. And you're like, "couldn't they have just given her coloured contact lenses or something?" Normally I don't mind things being a little off but where we know that Harry Potter has green eyes and there's a whole portion of the plot (why Snape is so affected by him) built around it, can't you edit it/get coloured contact lenses for Daniel Radcliffe to at least match it up? Same with Anne's eyes, Katherine's hair (I don't know what Maria Doyle Kennedy's natural hair colour is, but in two other shows I've seen her in (Dexter (I think) and Call the Midwife) she has red hair) and Henry's colouring (Lewis has red hair, but Bana and Rhys-Meyers are both dark). Does it really cost THAT much to fix it?
@BlueFlowwer I forgot about Genevieve. I would've loved it if Anne as a final show of defiance in RL had said "MY* Elizabeth SHALL be queen. And my blood shall have been well-spent" I mean, your head's being chopped off for treason and witchcraft, what's a little more treason (saying that Henry and Mary will die childless) and witchcraft (a prophecy about the future, she said it wouldn't rain when they locked her up).
*Parents have a tendency to refer to their kids as belonging to their spouse when they do something wrong and own them when they do something right (its how my parents raised us, and a few of my friends' parents do it too, so I figure it's a tendency, since we all come from different towns and backgrounds. I never took child rearing-101 classes so it could just be ALL parents)
Which last part? The Genevieve as Anne quote? Or the footnote about parenting?
I'll always see Gabrielle Anwar as an Anne of Austria from the cheese-tastic 1990s Three Musketeers movie, mainly because the film doesn't realise Anne of Austria was actually from Spain and I find this... oddly endearing. Though that's a little outside the present time period.
The irony is that MDK apparently has naturally red hair and they had her dye it to fit the stereotypical olive skin and dark hair Spanish look.
I want Scarlett Johannson to play Katherine of Aragon, but not here where it opens with KoA's death. And Henry VIII and Charles Brandon supposedly looked enough alike for there to be rumors that Charlie was one of H7's by-blows. H8 a ginger and Charles brunet.
Had not heard that before. That makes their relationship fascinating. Also, Charles and Mary's marriage squicky.
Neither have I. Can you imagine if when the pope offers to legalize a marriage between Fitzroy and Mary Jnr, Katherine (and a couple others) object. And Henry trots out that one and is like "tada! *expression says "look I did something wonderful"*
VI: France, February 1519
“Mary,
I am coming over to Paris on State business as soon as the sailing season starts. I shall be taking you back to England with me on my return to join your cousin Isabel in the Dowager Queen of France’s household . Queen Mary has asked for you specially, so I hope you won’t be silly about coming back. Anne shall stay in France for a while longer, since she seems to be doing well for herself there.
Your future Mistress asks to be remembered to you both and I ask you also to remind Anne always of her duty to the Boleyns and Howards. Remember yours too, daughter, and behave accordingly.
God be with you,
Father”
Mary Boleyn’s hand clenched on the letter she was reading. Her heart sped up and she had to fight to control her breathing. She’d known this day would come, had almost been expecting it, but she still couldn’t quite believe the words she was reading. She was to go back to England. After all these years in France, she was to go back to England.
“Marie? Are you all right?” Her best friend, Jeannette, called to her softly.
The question snapped Mary out of her reverie. Anne! She had to know! Mary was leaving her behind; it was only fair to give her due warning. Ignoring Jeannette, she whirled round and fled down the corridor.
“Marie? Ça va?” Jeannette called after her, but Mary was gone. She raced away down the passages, heedless of decorum as she sought her younger sister.
Suddenly, the door of a nearby schoolroom swung open and Anne came out, laughing and teasing a younger girl over her shoulder.
Despite the situation, Mary couldn’t help but scold her younger sister as she pulled her aside.
“How many times must I tell you this, Annie? You mustn’t speak to Her Highness like that! Renee might only be nine years old, but she’s a Princess of France![1] You’d do well to remember it.”
“Agh, Marie, leave it. You’re my sister, not my Maman. When we’re in private, Renee wants to be my friend, not Renee, file de France. As long as she wants that, I’ll treat her like it, d’accord?”
Mary opened her mouth to argue further, but Anne merely shrugged elegantly and changed the subject with a grace that was far beyond her years.
“Now, I assume you didn’t come looking for me to scold me on my conduct towards the Princess Renee. What’s going on?”
“Papa’s written from London. He’s coming over at the beginning of the sailing season and he’ll take me back with him. I’m to serve our Dowager Queen again, but this time at the English Court.”
“ Reine Marie?”
“Oui. Reine Marie.”
“Et moi aussi? Moi aussi? Marie, moi aussi?“
As she often did when she was distressed, Anne lapsed into French. Mary glanced down at her sister, suddenly realising what a child she still was. She was happy here in Fontainebleu; Paris was more of a home to her than England. It was hardly surprising. Anne had only been seven when they’d come to France with Dowager Queen Mary. She scarcely remembered England.
Gently Mary shook her head.
“Non, Anna, non. Tu non.”
Once she had soothed Anne enough for the latter to listen to English, she went on, unfolding the letter and rereading the words she’d already burned into her memory aloud to her sister. When she’d finished, she looked back down into Anne’s dark eyes, offering her a reassuring smile.
“See? You are to stay here, Annie.”
Relief flickered in Anne’s eyes before she managed to pull herself together. The Boleyn sisters shared a long glance before Anne whispered, “I’ll miss you.”
It wasn’t the warmest of sentiments, but Mary knew Anne meant what she said. She was happy to be staying in France, but given the gap between them in age and the absence of their blood mother, Mary was the closest thing to a mother that Anne had ever known.
Without another word, she closed the gap between them and pulled the younger girl into her arms. Despite herself, Anne returned the embrace. For a few moments, the girls let themselves forget that their worlds were changing around them. For a few moments, they were nothing more than what God had made them in the first place. Sisters.
[1] Renee of France, younger daughter of Louis XIII and Anne of Brittany, b.1510
I am coming over to Paris on State business as soon as the sailing season starts. I shall be taking you back to England with me on my return to join your cousin Isabel in the Dowager Queen of France’s household . Queen Mary has asked for you specially, so I hope you won’t be silly about coming back. Anne shall stay in France for a while longer, since she seems to be doing well for herself there.
Your future Mistress asks to be remembered to you both and I ask you also to remind Anne always of her duty to the Boleyns and Howards. Remember yours too, daughter, and behave accordingly.
God be with you,
Father”
Mary Boleyn’s hand clenched on the letter she was reading. Her heart sped up and she had to fight to control her breathing. She’d known this day would come, had almost been expecting it, but she still couldn’t quite believe the words she was reading. She was to go back to England. After all these years in France, she was to go back to England.
“Marie? Are you all right?” Her best friend, Jeannette, called to her softly.
The question snapped Mary out of her reverie. Anne! She had to know! Mary was leaving her behind; it was only fair to give her due warning. Ignoring Jeannette, she whirled round and fled down the corridor.
“Marie? Ça va?” Jeannette called after her, but Mary was gone. She raced away down the passages, heedless of decorum as she sought her younger sister.
Suddenly, the door of a nearby schoolroom swung open and Anne came out, laughing and teasing a younger girl over her shoulder.
Despite the situation, Mary couldn’t help but scold her younger sister as she pulled her aside.
“How many times must I tell you this, Annie? You mustn’t speak to Her Highness like that! Renee might only be nine years old, but she’s a Princess of France![1] You’d do well to remember it.”
“Agh, Marie, leave it. You’re my sister, not my Maman. When we’re in private, Renee wants to be my friend, not Renee, file de France. As long as she wants that, I’ll treat her like it, d’accord?”
Mary opened her mouth to argue further, but Anne merely shrugged elegantly and changed the subject with a grace that was far beyond her years.
“Now, I assume you didn’t come looking for me to scold me on my conduct towards the Princess Renee. What’s going on?”
“Papa’s written from London. He’s coming over at the beginning of the sailing season and he’ll take me back with him. I’m to serve our Dowager Queen again, but this time at the English Court.”
“ Reine Marie?”
“Oui. Reine Marie.”
“Et moi aussi? Moi aussi? Marie, moi aussi?“
As she often did when she was distressed, Anne lapsed into French. Mary glanced down at her sister, suddenly realising what a child she still was. She was happy here in Fontainebleu; Paris was more of a home to her than England. It was hardly surprising. Anne had only been seven when they’d come to France with Dowager Queen Mary. She scarcely remembered England.
Gently Mary shook her head.
“Non, Anna, non. Tu non.”
Once she had soothed Anne enough for the latter to listen to English, she went on, unfolding the letter and rereading the words she’d already burned into her memory aloud to her sister. When she’d finished, she looked back down into Anne’s dark eyes, offering her a reassuring smile.
“See? You are to stay here, Annie.”
Relief flickered in Anne’s eyes before she managed to pull herself together. The Boleyn sisters shared a long glance before Anne whispered, “I’ll miss you.”
It wasn’t the warmest of sentiments, but Mary knew Anne meant what she said. She was happy to be staying in France, but given the gap between them in age and the absence of their blood mother, Mary was the closest thing to a mother that Anne had ever known.
Without another word, she closed the gap between them and pulled the younger girl into her arms. Despite herself, Anne returned the embrace. For a few moments, the girls let themselves forget that their worlds were changing around them. For a few moments, they were nothing more than what God had made them in the first place. Sisters.
[1] Renee of France, younger daughter of Louis XIII and Anne of Brittany, b.1510
Oh Gosh. I could so see Henry looking like that, but that image... I did not need that in my head today!
Not your fault. But really, Brandon marrying his half-sister, even if unknowingly? Whoever brought that up... No, just no! I refuse to believe that!
Likely that were only rumors caused by the favour demonstrated by King Henry VII to the young Brandon (favour likely owed to the fact who the King felt to have a debt with Charles’ late father who died serving shim faithfully)