As with Elizabeth Blount, he finished his affair with Mary Carey as soon as he knew she was pregnant. Since Mary’s son was born on 4 March 1526, this must have been by the late summer of 1525, when Henry travelled around the south-east for several months with a few chosen intimates, restlessly moving between his houses and hunting lodges, rarely staying at any of them for more than a week.1 The child was christened Henry, and inevitably Katherine’s supporters darkly insinuated that he was the king’s and not William Carey’s, but no proof exists.2 Henry never acknowledged the boy, and if the younger Carey knew he had royal blood in his veins, he took the secret to the grave. The king’s new love’s looks were surprisingly unconventional. As the Venetian ambassador observed, ‘Madame Anne is not one of the handsomest women in the world; she is of middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the English king’s great appetite, and her eyes, which are black and beautiful.’3 A natural brunette with an unremarkable figure, she lacked the pale, translucent beauty and blonde hair then in vogue.
What do You think about The Children Of Henry VIII?
