King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: The Boleyn Inheritance


author: Philippa Gregory

genre: historical fiction


published: 2006


pages: 518


rated: 4 1/2 stars

I rise from my great chair with the gold canopy over my head. On either side of the box the curtains billow in the Tudor colors of green and white, my initials are everywhere, my crest is everywhere. The other initials of all the other queens are on the underside of the curtains only and they don't show. To judge from today, there has only ever been one queen: myself.

It seems every time I pick up a Philippa Gregory book, I cannot put it down. Since reading The Constant Princess, I have been hooked on her books and find myself totally absorbed in her storytelling. The Boleyn Inheritance was no different.








The story is set between 1539 and 1542 after Jane Seymour dies and King Henry VIII decides to marry once again. This time he marries a German princess, Anne of Cleves, making her his fourth wife. After a bad first encounter with Anne, Henry quickly begins to hate her. Once Anne is in England she finds herself alone and barely able to speak the language, with a husband who will not consummate the marriage and who dislikes her from the start.






The story is told from the points of view of Queen Anne, Katherine Howard who is a lady in waiting, and Jane Boleyn, who is George Boleyn's widow. Jane's own testimony helped send her late husband and his infamous sister Anne Boleyn to the chopping block.




The young, beautiful and silly Katherine Howard has captured the kings eye, who is already looking for a way out of his new marriage.



The Henry in this book is old and obese, no longer the young, handsome, charming prince he once was. He is nearly fifty years old and a tyrant, twisting the law to serve himself and having innocent people killed.

A fat old man, a vulgar old man, like a drunk sheep farmer on market day. His face is terribly bloated, like a great round dish of dripping; his hair is thinning and gray; he is monstrously fat; and he has an old injury in his leg that makes him so lame that he rolls in his walk like a sailor. Without his crown he is not handsome; he looks like anybody's fat old grandfather.

Katherine Howard made me laugh a few times with her self-centered comments and observations. She was definitely vain and flighty, and had no clue about the danger she was putting herself in. I pitied her since she was just 14 years old when she arrived at court and 16 when she was sentenced to death. Katherine became Henry's fifth wife and he called her his 'rose without a thorn'.

The king is on his throne looking powerful and fatherly, and Lady Anne is as pretty as she can be (given that awful dress) beside him. She might as well just have thrown the sables in the Thames and have them sewn on that taffeta tent. I am so distressed about such wonderful furs all but thrown away that it almost dims my pleasure for the moment.

Jane Boleyn is back at court after helping send her husband and sister-in-law to their deaths. She was constantly sneaking around, eavesdropping and following them in The Other Boleyn Sister. But in this book she misses them and keeps thinking about how much she loved them, that didn't make any sense to me. Towards the end of the book she somewhat admits to herself that she was insanely jealous of the bond between George and Anne Boleyn.

The two of them used to ride together, racing, neck and neck like lovers, and I could hear their laughter over the thudding of the hooves as they went flying by. Sometimes, when I saw them together, so rich, so young, so beautiful, I couldn't tell which of them I loved more.

I liked Queen Anne, and I pitied her. Her marriage to the king was doomed from the start. Once she knew that Henry was trying to find a way out of the marriage, she just hoped and prayed her life would be spared.

There is a silence between us, as we both come to realize the simple truth that is being spoken. We are two women who have recognized that we cannot control the world. We are players in this game, but we do not chose our own moves. The men will play us for thier own desires. All we can do is try to survive whatever happens next.

I enjoyed this book very much. The Boleyn Inheritance has been the perfect read on a cold winters night. There was drama, romance and plenty of interesting characters. I was completely hooked on the last few chapters and was up until late into the night reading.

Everyone tries to forget that Henry is a ruthless man. Henry himself tries to make us forget. When he is being charming, or setting himself out to please, we like to forget that we are playing with a savage bear. This is not a man whose temperament is tamed. This is not a man whose mood is constantly sweet. This is not a man who can manage his feelings; he cannot keep constant from one day to another.