Lady-in-waiting navigates tumultuous Tudors

Historical fiction queen Philippa Gregory returns to the court of King Henry VIII in her latest novel.

The prolific British author’s background includes 16 novels set in medieval England during the reigns of the Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs.

Among those titles is the 2001 novel that earned her international fame, The Other Boleyn Girl, which tells the story of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill-fated second queen, from the perspective of Mary, Anne’s sister and Henry’s former mistress.

Boleyn Traitor returns to that setting and is narrated by Lady Jane Rochford, the woman married to George Boleyn, Queen Anne’s brother.

Historians and novelists have long portrayed Jane as oversexed, jealous and mentally unstable — including Gregory in three previous works.

The historical Jane is popularly believed to have given evidence that led to Anne and George’s executions in 1536. In 1542, Jane herself was executed for treason after helping Henry’s fifth queen, Katheryn Howard, have an affair behind the aging king’s back.

Boleyn Traitor is Gregory’s well-intentioned but unconvincing attempt to explore Jane’s motivations and present her in a more sympathetic light.

The book opens midway through Anne Boleyn’s reign. Lady Jane Rochford is senior lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne and married to Anne’s brother George. Jane believes herself loved and valued by the two of them, proud of the influence she has behind the scenes.

“This is the life I wanted — to serve with love and to be treasured for it… this is the woman I wanted to be: at the centre of power, serving a woman of power,” Jane tells us.

However, Jane realizes how little she means to Anne and George after they let Henry blame Jane for a fight among the ladies-in-waiting. Jane is sent home in disgrace until Henry regains his good humour.

As George tells Jane, “If the king doesn’t want you here, then you’re no use to us.”

Jane returns to court in time to witness Henry accuse Anne of adultery with a group of courtiers, including George. Jane’s new role as a spy can’t save them from execution and she finds comfort in her spying.

Jane takes us through the reigns of Henry’s next three queens: Jane Seymour, who dies after giving Henry the son he so wanted; Anne of Cleves, who repels him at first sight, and finally, teenaged Katheryn Howard. Jane realizes Katheryn may outlive Henry, and that Jane could then be serving a Queen Regent. She decides to do what she can to keep Katheryn happy, even if it puts her own life at risk.

Gregory has been criticized for presenting her creative version of history as fact. Readers generally accepted Gregory’s dramatic license in earlier works because her storytelling and illumination of little-known historical women was so compelling.

Her feminist retellings of history have made her stand out from other historical novelists such as Sharon Kay Penman and Allison Weir, who stick closely to traditional historical interpretations.

Unfortunately, Boleyn Traitor doesn’t make up for historical inaccuracies with good storytelling, and Jane comes across as a flat and uninteresting character.

The novel is badly paced and rushes through some of the most interesting historical segments, such as Anne Boleyn’s trial for adultery and incest.

Gregory leaves in glaring inaccuracies from previous works, such as the portraying Anne of Cleves as Lutheran when she was, in fact, Catholic.

However, Gregory can be applauded for portraying the young queen Katheryn Howard as an unwilling child bride of the 49-year-old king — a victim of child rape by today’s standard.

Gregory also slyly compares Henry’s dictatorial ruling style to certain modern politicians, with characters frequently bemoaning that no one has the guts to stand up to Henry.

As Jane herself muses, “All that is needed to defeat a tyrant is the courage to say ‘no.’”

Kathryne Cardwell is a Winnipeg writer.