Catching up a few days late, but what an interesting delve into the badges, mottoes and their meanings. I do believe all the queens meant to live by their mottoes, except perhaps for Katherine Howard, but things were most likely out of her control most of her life. I most admire Catherine of Aragon and Anna of Cleves. Both took the biggest risks of leaving family and county and everything familiar to become Queen of England. They didn't know the language or the customs and had the weight of international alliances on their very young shoulders. Both, in my opinion and to my knowledge of them, did exactly as they were expected to, and survived in hostile circumstances - Catherine by becoming a warrior queen when needed, and Anna by stepping back whether by bravery or cunning or plain terror we'll never know. Thank you for this insight. Always love your programs, Philippa. 👑👑👑👑👑👑
Regarding Anna... I suspect it was more terror than pragmatism. Why? First of all, she had a brother who was playing some risky political games, trying to get England as a Protestant ally, but he also had other Protestant allies and I think at a certain point, he reached an understanding with the Emperor, or something happened that he didn't really need England anymore. And her brother just left her on her own in England. Now what happened to her in England? Henry created a comission to get out of the marriage and also step away from the alliance he had with Cleves. The remarks you hear about her looks were worse than you think, because Henry wasn't saying "she's ugly", he's saying "she's not a virgin". As this video says, their understanding of human anatomy was... rudimentary and that's putting it nicely (I'd recommend a book, funniest history book I've ever read: "Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England" by Carol McGrath, they sounded like modern day incels and how they think women function). They thought virginity can be ascertained by the shape of breasts and other stuff like that. Hymen? It was a theoretical concept to them, open to debate. Clitoris? It was discovered in 1569 or something. That's the level we're talking about. Because if she's not a virgin, then the marriage was null and void. The commission had witnesses, it was a race who can describe her in the most vulgar and demeaning terms. Even Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, gets in on the action later on and in a discussion calls Anna a drunk (after the whole Katherine Howard disaster, he was afraid of Henry returning to Anna). She's down, she shuts up and takes it and they're still kicking her. But there's more: terms and conditions are placed on the stuff she does get and these included not getting re-married and never leaving England. So this all sounds to me like she was deserted by her brother and imprisoned in a guilded cage. She didn't really have much of a choice.
I admire Katherine of Aragon probably the most of Henry's wives. For a European royal, she went through extreme ups and downs in her life and handled them with grace and stuck to her principles. I wonder if Katherine Howard had an affair while married to Henry because she was terrified that he would kill her if she didn't give him an heir, and Henry was probably having erectile problems at that point. I feel so sorry for this abused child. 👑🕯
