As well as spending time with her at Hatfield, Anne and the king visited their daughter at Eltham, and Anne derived intense satisfaction from the obvious delight that her husband took in their daughter. “Her grace is much in the King’s favour,” observed one courtier who was present. [Tracy Borman]
After dinner Henry went down into the Great Hall where the ladies of the court were dancing, with his sixteen-month-old daughter in his arms, showing her off to one and another. After several days of such paternal enthusiasm, he evidently decided that something more masculine was called for, and the tiltyard was soon busy with his favorite form of self-exhibition. Even though, as is possible, he paid public court there to Jane Seymour, Anne could be sure that Elizabeth and her unborn child were the true centre of Henry’s interest. [Eric Ives]
He [Henry] entered the Chapel Royal clad all in yellow and Elizabeth, who was visiting the court for the Christmas festivities, was carried into Mass, too, with the sound of trumpets. After dinner, Henry took his little daughter in his arms, ‘like one transported with joy’, and showed her off to the assembled company. [David Starkey]
It is a commonly-held idea that Henry VIII was extremely disappointed, even upset or angered, by birth of his daughter Elizabeth in September 1533. Indeed, many historians and authors judge her arrival as the sort of “beginning of the end” of her parents’ marriage, then not yet a year old. Henry himself is often erroneously portrayed as being indifferent to or disinterested in Elizabeth, even while still married to her mother Anne, due to his disappointment in her sex.
In fact, Henry’s affection for Elizabeth and the pride he took in her were plain for everyone at court to see. The birth of a second daughter, rather than a longed-for son, had hardly been ideal; however, Anne’s quick conception, easy labor, and the baby’s good health all boded well for the future. Henry must have been pleased that the infant princess clearly took after him with her red hair and fair complexion. It may be telling that he chose to name her after his mother, Elizabeth of York, to whom he had been very close.
As was royal custom, little Princess Elizabeth was raised in a household in the country. However, her parents visited her–both together and separately–as often as they could and frequently sent her gifts. When she was brought to court at Christmas in 1535, Henry publicly indulged his paternal side by carrying Elizabeth, already a precocious, pretty, and promising child, among his courtiers to be admired.
Henry does seem to have neglected at least some of Elizabeth’s needs directly following the execution of her mother in May 1536. Perhaps he harbored some doubts about her paternity in light of Anne’s alleged adultery. If so, however, these proved temporary. His older daughter Mary, writing to him that summer, told Henry that he would “have cause to rejoice of [Elizabeth] in time coming.” Contrary to the popular belief that Henry conveniently forgot Elizabeth during this time, she was at court again by October. Her circumstances had changed dramatically in the preceding six months–yet her father’s feelings had not. One observer wrote that “the King is very affectionate to [Elizabeth]. It is said he loves her much.”
[happy birthday @alicehoffmans–thank you for waiting so patiently for the Henry/Elizabeth set I promised weeks ago!]
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