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“When Henry wrote his love letters to Anne and she turned the tables on him by demanding marriage, she envisaged a mould-breaking role for herself. Unlike Katherine, she never intended to sit quietly in her own apartments sewing her husband’s shirts. As early as December 1530, she hired a shirt maker. She was not prepared to while away her time in her privy chamber, to be paraded on state occasions or to be a gentle feminine presence, a foil to her husband’s masculinity. She it was who, with the help of her family, had destroyed Wolsey and propelled Henry into breaking with the pope. Now she wanted to set herself apart from her predecessors, to associate herself with everything new and to exercise power on her own account. Passionate about religion, education and poor relief, she wanted to change England.”

Despite his privileged access to the king as Master of the Horse, the younger John Dudley is never mentioned as one of the persons influential with Edward [VI], nor [does it seem] his father [was] able to use him [...] to promote his policies. This became clear when Northumberland proposed to bring "in by writ some heirs-apparent into the parliament-house, whereby they may the better be able to serve His Majesty and the realm hereafter."²² Indeed, young Warwick was summoned to attend the Lords in March 1553, but he left no mark on proceedings and it is unclear whether he was allowed to participate in debates at all.