Well of course they have all that in common, but did you know they share a common ancestor?
I am a huge fan of Alison Weir as an author, who puts in the research that would scare off a lesser writer.
The language of this book is fine genealogical historical writing. Where Weir has come to disagree with a previous author she will state that there is no evidence for prior conclusions. Weir is fine at teasing out detail within ACCURATE HISTORICAL CONTENT, using clues such as changes in fashion in portraits.
(When we run into a similar block in our own research, we must also state what the evidence is and the various conclusions we could reach, but have no evidence for.)
Although I know that the people of the British Isles have been keeping genealogy records for a long long time compared to records in some other countries, I'm actually surprised so much exists from the 15th century.
Did or did not Mary Boleyn, the older sister of Anne Boleyn, (who would marry the King and also be executed by him), become King Henry VIII's mistress first? Weir says yes, though reports that the young woman was promiscuous at the French Court years before are probably wrong. She was young though and suggestive and maybe been seduced by the French King.
Was she, compared to Anne, dull or simple? At the time of her sexual liaison with Henry, Mary was married and her family seemed to be displeased with her. But maybe this was just because they saw their daughters as a way to greater fortune if married as virgins. x
Mary left court, her husband died, and she married for love, much to her family's upset. But in the end it was Mary, not Anne, who survived.
Based on the evidence that Henry provided well for Katherine and that she resembled him, we know so much more about the intertwining families of the Boleyns, the Careys, the Spensers, and other old families, (genealogy charts provided).
Page 272 "It is often said that Henry VIII's line died out with Elizabeth. None of his legitimate children left issue, and his acknowledged bastard, Richmond, was childless. But if Katherine Carey was Henry's daughter, as seems likely,. then his direct bloodline
survives in numerous direct descendants.
"Under the Stuarts, the Carey Family remained prominent until the senior line died out in 1677. Among the illustrious descendants of Mary Boleyn are numbered Winston Churchill... Baron de la Warre, after whom the state of Delaware is named... Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, Princess William of Wales, Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales (through the Earls Spencer), the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth II."
(Her list is longer than this!)
MARY BOLEYN The Mistress of Kings is C Alison Weir and published by Ballantine Books.
