Free Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's Obsession by Elizabeth Norton Page B

that I might rid you somewhat of your unreasonable thoughts’.
     
    Henry signed this letter ‘written by the hand of him who is, and always will be, your Un H Rex changeable’. Henry was anxious to reassure Anne of his unchanged feelings for her and Anne may have been in need of some reassurance. The reference to Anne between Henry’s arms suggests that she had already taken their relationship a step forward and she must have been uncertain about just where her relationship with Henry would lead.
    An undated letter from Anne to Henry survives from this period and demonstrates that the confusion and uncertainty in the relationship was certainly not one-sided. Anne wrote:
 ‘It belongs only to the august mind of a great king, to whom Nature has given a heart full of generosity towards the sex, to repay by favours so extraordinary an artless and short conversation with a girl. Inexhaustibly as is the treasure of your majesty’s bounties, I pray you to consider that it cannot be sufficient to your generosity; for if you recompense so slight a conversation by gifts so great, what will you be able to do for those who are ready to consecrate their entire obedience to your desires? How great soever may be the bounties I have received, the joy that I feel in being loved by a king whom I adore, and to whom I would with pleasure make a sacrifice of my heart, if fortune had rendered it worthy of being offered to him, will ever be infinitely greater. The warrant of maid of honour to the queen induces me to think that your majesty has some regard for me, since it gives me the means of seeing you oftener. And of assuring you by my own lips (which I shall do on the first opportunity) that I am, Your majesty’s very obliged and very obedient servant. Without any reserve, Anne Boleyn’.
     
    Anne’s letter shows that she responded to the king’s affections and implies that she was also falling in love with him. Anne was still unsure as to just what he was offering her and had already made it clear that she would never accept the role that her sister had filled.
    If Anne was in confusion about the future of her relationship with Henry, this was nothing compared to the confusion of the king who was utterly perplexed by the mixed signals she gave him. He searched desperately for some role that would please Anne and lead her to consent to becoming his mistress. Matters came to a head in early 1527 when Henry wrote to spill out all his doubts about Anne’s feelings for him:
‘In debating with myself the contents of your letters I have been put to a great agony; not knowing how to understand them, whether to my disadvantage as shown in some places, or to my advantage in others. I beseech you now with all my heart definitely to let me know your whole mind as to the love between us; for necessity compels me to plague you for a reply, having been for more than a year now struck by the dart of love, and being uncertain either of failure or of finding a place in your heart and affection’.
     
    Anne must have been surprised at the effect that she had on Henry and that he had continued to pursue her for over a year. After a year of pursuit, Henry was also still desperate to make Anne his mistress and in the same letter he had a suggestion for her:
‘If it pleases you to give yourself body and heart to me, who have been, and will be, your very loyal servant (if your rigour does not forbid me), I promise you that not only the name will be done to you, but also to take you as my sole mistress, casting off all others than yourself out of mind and affection, and to serve you only’.
     
    Anne would have been shocked by the content of Henry’s letter and he was making her a very different offer to the one that he had made previously. Henry, unable to live without Anne, made her the unprecedented offer of giving her the permanent role of royal mistress. This was still not marriage and still not what Anne required but it must have shown her just