Is it true that Princess Mary is not abused by Anne Boleyn? Some Anne Boleyn enthusiasts said that she barely participated in the abuse, only Henry was doing it. However, some would far as to say that Mary should have just agreed to Anne Boleyn's proposal to accept her as Queen. Is the Tudors portrayal of Anne and Mary I relationship accurate?
While Anne herself didn't every physically abuse Mary, she most certainly partook in emotional, spiritual and mental abuse of Mary and allowed , even encouraging her family to do the same. I don't understand why people act like Anne was a passive bystander during the abuse of Mary. It was not just Henry, it was Anne. On top of that, it was also Anne's family that played a huge part in Mary's abuse/mistreatment.
Mary was given to the household of Anne's aunt, Anne Shelton, the then caretaker of Elizabeth I, and Mary was sent there to not only serve as a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth, but to also be reminded of her new place and status as a bastard. This was not just Henry's idea, Anne had a lot to do with this as she was furious that Mary opposed her as queen and Elizabeth as heir. While in Anne Shelton's household, Anne was said to have sent letters to her aunt regarding Mary , praising the mistreatment. Mary was constant ill under Shelton's roof, and grew severely depressed. There are even some speculations that Mary was slapped/pinched by Anne Shelton - however these reports come from Chapuys. While he is a court gossip, it's important to realize that Mary never refuted any of this. This means that it could have possibly been true.
We also know that the Duke of Norfolk, Anne's maternal uncle, had made a violent comment toward Mary, stating that he would beat her head like an egg for not accepting Anne --if she were his daughter.
The point I am trying to make is that the Boleyn and the Howard family--this includes Anne--were incredibly cruel to Mary to the point where she became ill because of it. She was isolated, and her bastard status was always used against her. She was forced to serve/wait for Elizabeth, and every turn she was reminded that her life was pulled from the rug. She was essentially trapped/a prisoner and had no one to help her (well, there was Cromwell lol).
On top of that, she was barred from seeing her own mother.
It was not just Henry. While Henry was absolutely awful to Mary and allowed all of this to happen, we must remember that Anne does need to take some responsibility. She and her whole family were absolute brutes to Mary. Mind you, those in Henry's family who were alive (the Poles specifically), were quite literally Mary's cheerleaders anyway they could be and Henry knew not to send Mary to Margaret pole for 'punishment' because they'd treat her like a king. He knew however that if he sent her to Anne's family she would suffer the most horrid abuse.
Mary also didn't owe Anne anything. Anne came into Mary's life and expected her to not just admit that her mother was a liar, but to admit that she herself was never truly the princess and was a bastard. For people to expect a royal princess to step aside so easily and to allow herself to be so mistreated and disrespected is pure misogyny. in fact, if Anne's fans weren't so dead set on hating Mary, I believe they could look at her in almost and empowering light, because do you know the strength it took for a teenager to quite literally oppose not just a king, but a queen and noble families in England, when she knew that she was virtually alone and by herself? Mary was one of the strongest, if not the strongest woman in Tudor history, right next to her mother. What they had to endure for YEARS, is awful and for people to just expect Mary to have stepped aside and damned herself and her mother?
I believe both the Tudors and Wolf Hall does a GREAT job at showing Anne and Mary's relationship. The Tudors actually shows intearctions between the two of them, whereas Wolf Hall - both the show and the book - does a great job at showing how awful Anne was to Mary and the way she spoke about her and directly/indirectly treated her.
TBH when it comes to Mary I, never listen to anything hardcore Anne Boleyn fans say. NEVAH.
And as always I know that not all Anne Boleyn fans are like this, and luckily, i've got most of the ones on here who are annoying about Mary blocked.
