Love is in the Heir

The love letters that Henry VIII sent to Anne Boleyn are interesting, to say the least. How eerie that the same man who later orders her beheaded is lavishly singing her praises in love letters. He continually makes claims that he will love her forever, making statements such as “written by the hand of him who is and always will be yours." But then again, what lover does not make these claims? Somehow I do not think that “Darling, I will love you until I find a woman who can give me the son I need” would go over well.

Yet even if his heart was not truly filled with “un-ending” passion, I think that the letters do show a genuine love. Henry was the king of England and had he simply wanted to fill a sexual desire he could have chosen from a host of women, simply giving the word and ordering them to be his mistresses.

In the fifth letter Henry VIII tells Anne that “...henceforward my heart shall be dedicated to you alone. I wish my person was so too. God can do it, if He pleases, to whom I pray every day for that end, hoping that at length my prayers will be heard.”
If these words were simply empty promises, there would have been no point in uttering them? I believe that this letter shows that he truly loved Anne Boleyn and also that he realized that although his heart was reserved for her, his body could not be. The position he held may not have prevented him from experiencing emotions as a normal man but it also placed him in a precarious situation. As head of the state it was his duty to produce a male heir. The daily prayers he makes reference to may very well include pleas for a son.

The extent of Henry VIII's love is evident in his future actions. No matter how he felt towards Anne Boleyn, his dedication to the precedents of male heirs overcame him.
Still, the man who wrote these letters was a man in love...