Discussion: Mary Boleyn - did she love Henry?

"I didn't know much about Mary Boleyn, until I watched "The Other Boleyn Girl" last night. I felt so sorry for her as she was portrayed as someone who was in love with her husband, but her family forced her to go after Henry after falling for Anne initially failed. She then falls in love with Henry and Anne is jealous and seething when she sees Henry fall for her sister instead. Despite Anne's cruelty to her when she lures Henry away from her after Mary falls pregnant, Mary still supports Anne and "lies" for her about Anne's ex lover.

Does anyone know if any of this is true? Did Mary really love Henry? Did Henry love her? Was Anne jealous that Henry fell for her sister? "

"There are some question marks over the paternity of her children; I would say that if either of them were Henry's, it would be the eldest, Catherine Carey. Whatever about a daughter, an illegitimate son would probably have attracted some notice. For both of them to be his, the relationship would need to have lasted nearly two years, minimum, and it would surely have been remarked upon if that was the case."

"Also, another source I believe mentions that Mary and Henry slept together is an account written by a church offical who apparently saw Henry Carey and remarked how much like the King he looked and somebody (I forget who) stated he was the king's son. I'm going to have to check that source again, I think it was in Ives but it could have been a really dubious eyewitness."

"I think this is the quote you were thinking of Boudica :

"On 20 April 1535, John Hale, vicar of Isleworth, stated to the Council that he had seen the nine year old Henry Carey, identified as the king’s son. On 4 May 1535, just two weeks later, John Hale was executed at Tyburn "for denying the King’s supremacy."

Methinks he may have had an ulterior motive for saying it....don't you? LOL"

"The Other Boleyn Girl was an attrocious movie. It was a travesty! I hated it with a passion. The script was bad, the acting was mediocre (hard when the history was all false and such a terrible director probably). Natalie Portman's was at probably her almost worse (and there was no chemistry at all between her and Eric Bana) and Charlotte Johanssen was just there for her looks. They had the history all wrong. I read up on the relationship between Anne and the King and in the beginning they were happy and did have real chemistry, but you couldn't tell by this movie. Everything was so rushed, the King was portrayed as a complete numbskull from the beginning, and Anne was portrayed as a selfish immature idiot. While Mary was all innocent of everything. None of that is true and obviously, despite King Henry's bad temper and deterioration later in life (he was probably over 300 pounds when he married his 4th wife I think Anne Cleves or his fifth wife), he was actually was a very intelligent man. And Anne Boleyn was a very intelligent woman and helped change a lot of important things in history. Mind you the history lesson in this movie was reduced to a one liner on the bottom of the screen at the end of the movie. I had no sympathy for or understanding of any of the characters. And Mary just seemed like a pathetic martyr/victim. It was never about the fight between sisters as the movie would have you believe. I'm just so disgusted with that movie. Anne seemed like an idiot. And I do not believe the King raped her (but gentle to Mary of course - that seemed more like the director was in love with Charlotte Johanssen and just full of utter lies). If I had to burn a movie, it would be this one I'm so upset about it. Not to mention that Mary did not visit her siblings at the Tower of London and Anne Boleyn did not cry at her final speech. I can't even begin to express my disgust!"