I was about 350 pages through Philippa Gregory’s 500-page Boleyn Traitor when it finally hit me. The author isn’t simply fantasizing about the Tudors and Henry VIII in particular. She is also writing about the slimy piece of garbage currently occupying the Oval Office. Perhaps that’s why I found Gregory’s King Henry particularly revolting.
Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that I don’t know a ton about England’s Tudor period. Most of what I do know comes from a couple of Elizabethan and Jacobean Shakespeare college classes I took a lifetime ago. Any history I learned then was framed within the context of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. Sure, since I first learned to read I’ve devoured tons of historical fiction and fantasy that centered on that and other periods of English history. I’ve visited historical sites, walked in the footsteps of kings and queens, and oohed and aahed over museum displays. I probably know more about the Tudor and other periods of British history than most Americans. But let’s face it. That’s not saying much.
My interest in Tudor times picked up a little these last few months. After seeing the musical Six in January, my interest was piqued. I wanted to know more about Henry’s doomed wives and the times in which they lived. So, I read Antonia Frasier’s, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. It took me far longer than I expected to get through that, an indictment of where I’m spending my free time -- mainly on social media. I think social media will be the downfall of our society, and yet here’s me, sacrificing my focusing ability because I want – nay – need to slake my quick fix thirst. Those dopamine hits are addictive. More on that another time perhaps. I’m working on curing myself by writing more, reading more, and staying longer at the gym. Just to be upfront: Not cleaning the house more.
Now back to the topic.
Lady Jane Rochford, Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law and lady-in-waiting, is the narrator of Boleyn Traitor. Her story intertwines with that of Henry’s wives two (Anne Boleyn), three (Jane Seymour), four (Anne of Cleves), and five (Katheryn Howard), starting shortly after the birth of the future Queen Elizabeth, and ending right after number five’s – Katheryn Howard’s – beheading and just before her own. Lady Jane is portrayed as an educated, erudite spy who interacts regularly with the main players of the day, primarily Thomas Cromwell, but who always looks out for the queen du jour’s best interests as well as her own. This portrayal of Lady Jane does not track historically, but nobody says it needs to. It’s historical fiction, not non-fiction. Playing fast with the facts goes with the genre.
And I do appreciate how Gregory plays. When I first suspected that the author was going all Trump on Henry, I did some quick searches to verify my suspicions. Yup. See her interview in The Herald, 10/9/2025. I can’t post actual quotes from it because there’s a paywall and I neglected to copy and paste when I was first granted free access. (I know. I should have paid.) She calls Henry VIII “Trumpian,” I believe.
In this interview, “I think he’s a psychopath,” she talks about questioning the stories we’ve been told are fact about Henry VIII: BBC Radio 4, 10/28/25. (Sorry, I don’t know how to post the link.)
Additionally, on Literary Hub, 10/29/2025, she explains how her purpose in writing the book in the first place reflects what’s going on in the world today, echoing the words of Pastor Martin Neimoller, who wrote:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Gregory writes:
All of us must decide what attack on our institutions, our traditions, our liberties is our breaking point: the point where we say “no.” History tells us that we must find the courage to defend each other and our societies before the danger is immediate and personal. By the time the tyrant comes for us—it is too late. We must not be like Jane Boleyn, recognizing the dangers too late to say “no,” or we will be silenced as she was, and the tyrant will write our history, too.
Pretty sobering stuff.
Throughout Boleyn Traitor, Henry is described as a guy who always gets his way. What more proof do you need other than that he creates alternative facts and establishes an entire new religion to prove that he was never married to the woman he was actually married to? First wife Catherine of Aragon, to whom he was married 24 years, was a few years his senior. He manipulated his court and the rule of law to get out of that marriage because, just like Drumpf, he likes them young and again just like the orange one, he likes variety. Anne Boleyn was age 26-32 when she married Henry, 41. Jane Seymour was about 17 years younger than him. Anne of Cleves was 24 and he was 48. Katheryn Howard was just 15 and Henry was 49.
As he ages, it’s obvious Henry is doing poorly, but none of his sycophants acknowledge this. For how this reflects with us in the US today, read anything. Two rational, evidence-based starting points: Scott MacFarlane, Heather Cox Richardson.
Tudor England has an additional layer, because talking negatively about the king can get you killed. In the US, we’re not there quite yet. But as in the US among Trump’s followers (google Mike Johnson for starters), the kiss butt parasites of Tudor England pretend everything is fine. Just fine: “It’s illegal to speak ill of the king: You can’t say anything but praise. It’s against the law to say that he is old or unwell. It is illegal to say he might die. . . Nobody matters more than the king. . . We all put him first” (p 314).
Just like contemporary DC, the court thrives on lies, all in the name of protecting the king. As in our present day when the prez goes social media silent, some even wonder if the king is dead and/ or someone else is ruling: “People start to whisper that the huge trays of food are a deception, and he is not in there at all. I wonder if there is another greater deception: if he has died in there and the Seymours are concealing his death until they have made alliances” (p. 316).
And then there’s this, echoing Trump’s social media post exhorting destruction of an entire civilization: “Nobody knows what he’s thinking. . . He does nothing but sleep and eat, except for when he raves like a madman” (p. 319).
Here Drumpf, arguably, raves like a madman in an early April 2026 social media post that put the entire world on edge:
A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?
I could write more about Gregory’s interpretations of societal norms in the day and Henry VIII’s proclivities in particular, but I’m not writing all this to bang out a thesis. I’m simply writing to get some things out of my system and to share some thoughts. I set some goals this year regarding reading and writing, primarily because I wanted to distract myself from the incessantly dreadful news cycle. Finding meaning in what I’ve been reading, and sharing ideas is helping me sort things out a bit and find focus.
In her afterword, Gregory discusses how historical views shift and talks about Henry VIII in particular: “Henry VIII has evolved from the first, Elizabethan view of him as the founder of a nation, and from a post-war view of him as a jolly eccentric. Now, there is a growing understanding of him as a dangerous man; an abuser of women, a false friend, and a tyrant" (p. 483).
There will come a day when history writes about us and how we responded to Drumpf and company. I wonder what lessons future generations will glean from our actions and inactions. I don’t expect them to be kind but I hope my family will see that at least I tried.
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