Part One: Prologue

Title: Tales of the Queen

Author: Anne-Marie Boleyn

It was said that Anne Boleyn was a cruel, cynical, harsh woman who deserved what she got. They say she deserved to have her head chopped off for false accusations of adultery. She was well hated by women, by the church, by nearly everyone. Women because she captivated men like they never could. Poets recited love poems to her, exalting her beauty. The church despised the control she had over Henry VIII, they blamed her for the formation of the Church of England. Everyone else loathed the site of her, this peasant, that woman who dared to call herself queen by usurping the throne from the beloved, Catherine of Aragon.

But, I merely saw her as a woman in love. A woman willing to do anything to be with the man she loved; no matter whom she harmed in the process. And then, there she was, a queen, intelligent, powerful. And then there was Henry, romancing up some dim half-wit who looked like a horse. Then again, Henry’s type always changed. From an obedient, pious woman; his first love; to a moody, strong-willed, exciting woman; his greatest passion; to a simpering idiot, quiet as a mouse; the mother of his only child; to a Bavarian princess unschooled in the ways of sex; his sister; to a young, foolish girl; his child bride; and finally an intelligent widow who was smart enough not to get beheaded or divorced. She was just one of many, six wives and more mistresses; her sister, Mary, being one of them. I was there to see her rise and then predestined fall, from maidenhood to her final moment as an unhappy wife. I knew her first love, the handsome, charming Henry Percy. I witness her silent battles with Cardinal Wosley. And, I, along with the rest of the court, beheld the king’s transformation from a young fit king, to an aging, obese invalid. However, I saw this woman, Anna Regina, go through the many ups and downs in love. I grew up under her rule in England. And, I admired her, simply for the fact she was willing to go so far for love and the power. Of course, the mere fact she was as refined and elegant as a French lady didn’t hurt.

And now, I, Aimee Garnier, lady-in-waiting to the brazen Anne Boleyn shall tell my tale of this queen, my mentor, as I saw it.