Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford

And whilst the old face was still intent upon the problem, she said, I think that if a woman come to be queen it is odds that she'll live chastely how lewd soever she'd have been before time.

Lady Rochford set her fingers in between Catherine's.

But when she drew them back with the strings upon them, they wavered, lost their straightness, knotted, and then resolved themselves into a single loop as in a swift wind a cloud dies away beneath the eyes of the beholder.

"Why, 'tis pity," Catherine said.

Upon occasions when men swore she had been with other men o' nights, the queen was in my bed with me." Catherine nodded silently.

"Who was I that I dare speak?" the old woman sobbed, and Catherine nodded again.

Lady Rochford rubbed together her fat hands as she were wringing them.

"Before God," she moaned, "and by the blessed blood of Hailes that cured ever my pains, if a soul know a soul, I knew Anne.

Henry had just executed his second queen and was looking for another male heir, making any potential scandal more dangerous.

Moreover, Lady Rochford, a senior lady-in-waiting, was rumored to have supported the claim of adultery in order to gain favor with the king or protect her own standing.

In the months that followed, petitions and speeches were filed to Parliament by nobles who wished to either support Catherine’s release or confirm the severity of her crime.

The majority turned toward swift punishment, reflecting how the monarchy could dictate judicial outcomes when politics aligned.

The actual execution took place at 7:00 AM on 13 February 1542 in the Tower of London, beside a mound that had already been prepared for such sentences.

Her head was then thrown into the Thames as part of Henry’s ritualistic display meant to discourage future transgressions and cement his absolute power over moral conduct among his consorts.

In addition to her own death, Catherine was accompanied on this path by Jane Seymour, Lady Rochford, who was also executed for alleged complicity.

The simultaneous fates illustrate how quickly a queen could be reduced to a political tool within the Tudor justice system.

She takes on people she's related to.

Lady Rochford, for example.

Jane's related to her, of course, because Lady Rochford is married to George Boleyn, whose mother is Jane's mother's cousin.

Yeah.

It's quite difficult to unpick because all of these women are related.

And so Anne is very much in the business of saving women, magical or not.

And a character that I admit I kept expecting to see appear was Jane Boleyn, given her role in so many of the Queen's lives, and in particular, her relationship with Anne Boleyn and later Catherine Howard.

So did you ever consider putting her into the story? And I suppose, why wasn't she in there, if that's all right to ask?

I, yeah, no, I feel like I did a disservice to all, almost all the Janes because Jane Seymour has a very small role.

Jane Boleyn isn't even really mentioned.

Um, I, I did have an entire tangent at one point where, um, it was set in the pilgrimage of grace and they stayed in England shortly after Anne's beheading, beheading in quotes, um, to try to help disrupt, uh, you know, Henry's reign.

And that had both of those Janes in it.

Um, But it didn't make the final cut.

So Catherine is on tour of the north, and they're moving between house and house at this point.

And she, through her favorite lady-in-waiting, Lady Rochford, starts to arrange nocturnal meetings with Thomas Culpeper throughout the progress

A dangerous game

A dangerous game.

[laughs]

Um, so there's a lot brewing.

The ladies in waiting are really irritated because Lady Rochford is now the favorite.

That's because she knows all the queen's secrets.