There had been persistent rumours throughout the summer of 1532 that
Anne and Henry would marry during the interview at Calais. At first,
Anne had gone out of her way to encourage the gossip. ‘Not later than a
week ago’, Chapuys reported in late August, ‘she wrote a letter to her
principal friend and favourite here, whom she holds as sister and
companion, bidding her to get ready against this journey and interview,
where, she says, that which she has been so long wishing for will be
accomplished’. But,
just before leaving England, she changed her tune. She ‘assured a great
personage’, Chapuys discovered, ‘that even if the King wished to marry
her now she would never consent to it, for she wants the ceremony to
take place here, in England, at the usual place appointed for the
marriage and coronation of Queens’!
Why the alteration?
Why the alteration?