‘Do you believe all this?’ he asked. ‘Do you think Henry VIII would have gone to such lengths to revenge himself upon Elizabeth by destroying her children?’
‘I understand your scepticism,’ said Tabitha, ‘but when you view it through their mother’s eyes, there is a strange, macabre logic. Henry’s affair with Mary began after the Field of the Cloth of Gold. There are no dates chronicling the exact start of the relationship, but the mishaps of the Boleyn children all began after 1520. Henry’s behaviour is methodical, vindictive, yet it’s tied up in a superficial veneer of charm, benevolence and apparent love. It’s classic abuse, the smiling serpent.’
‘You’re right,’ said Gulliver. ‘Wasn’t Henry VIII supposed to be insane too? Was it syphilis?’
Tabitha smiled. It was a common misconception, but it was something she had studied during her degree. ‘No, Henry was a hypochondriac and very interested in medicines. There are detailed records left behind by his physicians and there are no lists of treatments pertaining to syphilis. However, as he grew older, he became increasingly paranoid.’
‘Was that after he fell from his horse?’
‘Both before and after. It’s a bit convoluted,’ Tabitha said hesitantly.
‘Go on,’ Gulliver said encouragingly.
‘Several medical historians have put forward a theory that Henry might have carried what’s known as the Kell blood antigen. If he did, it could explain the string of failed pregnancies.’
‘How so?’
‘If one partner is Kell-positive and the other negative – which is the case for about 90 per cent of women – it makes it extremely difficult to produce more than one surviving child.’
‘Then he’d have been the problem, not them,’ Gulliver said. ‘What does that have to do with his increasingly tyrannical behaviour though?’
‘The same medical historian suggested that if Henry had Kell blood, he might also have suffered from McLeod syndrome. It’s a related condition and symptoms appear in adulthood, these include muscle weakness, movement issues, but what’s more compelling in Henry’s case are the psychiatric symptoms, including cognitive decline and erratic behaviour.’
‘Interesting,’ said Gulliver. ‘I’d always been led to believe his change of behaviour was due to a fall during a joust. McLeod syndrome is an interesting theory, but the fall is documented.’
‘Actually, it isn’t – at least, not in England,’ said Tabitha. ‘The only record we have is from Rodolfo Pio, the Bishop of Faenza – the Papal Nuncio in Paris. He claimed Henry was unconscious for two hours. But he wasn’t a trustworthy source, and there’s no contemporary corroboration. Yet somehow his account has become the accepted version.’
‘So, the famous fall might never have happened at all?’
‘Exactly,’ said Tabitha. ‘Which makes you wonder how much of what we “know” about him is the truth and how much is convenient storytelling.’
‘What about the curse, though? In Elizabeth’s version, it was Henry who invoked a curse, yet we have a curse-like poem that’s been passed down through generations of Boleyn descendants?’
‘Perhaps the poem was only ever a poem, never a curse,’ said Tabitha.
‘It’s possible,’ he said.
‘By the way, what’s happening with the hawking whistle?’
Gulliver had rung a few friends from the art world to authenticate the gold whistle. When he had explained this to Tabitha, she had thought it was odd. His wife ran her family’s gallery and had a contacts list bulging with experts who could have helped.
‘My friend, Jez, who specialises in sporting antiques, is going to have a look at it,’ said Gulliver. ‘He has a shop near Waterloo Station. I planned to pop up next week. If you’re free, maybe we could go together.’
Tabitha grinned in delight, relieved Gulliver was on the end of a phone call and could not see how pink her cheeks had become at the idea. ‘Yes, that would be great,’ she said.
‘Perfect,’ he said, then he asked, ‘Where are you?’
‘In my cottage,’ she replied. ‘You?’
‘Going to the kitchen to grab Auntie Edie a cup of tea and a cake,’ he said. ‘I’m concerned her constant relapses are a sign of a more sinister infection.’ Tabitha heard the door open, then Gulliver’s voice became sharp. ‘What are you doing? Tabs, I’ll call you back…’
Tabitha stared at the screen, wondering what had caused Gulliver’s swift change of tone and to whom he had been speaking. She put the manuscript aside, considering the impact the new angle on the Boleyn story would have on the wider world. If it was true, then it rewrote history in a significant way: Henry’s obsession with Anne was never love, it was hatred. It was her mother he had loved, even sending similar letters and extravagant jewels to Anne, as he had sent to Elizabeth.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ gasped Tabitha aloud. ‘Anne’s symbol as Henry’s queen was a white falcon.’
Elizabeth had owned a white falcon and the argument over the earldom of Ormond had been tied up with Henry’s obsession with Elizabeth. Tabitha twirled a strand of hair around her finger, wondering if Henry had deliberately withheldthe earldom from Thomas Boleyn to taunt him. Thomas had the woman Henry loved, why would he ennoble him? Again, there was an undeniable logic to it.
But, she thought, why would Anne choose the symbol? Was it simply a feminine motif with noble connections? The Boleyn family was represented by the head of a bull, which would have been too masculine and challenging to use as her queenly emblem. Or had Anne been returning the taunt to Henry?
