Hello and welcome to the Queens of England podcast.

Supplemental, Henry VIII's love letters to Anne Berlin.

Henry's love and desire for Amblin is one of history's most oft-told stories.

I've talked about all of this before.

But often we see it through other people's eyes and prejudices,

and I include myself in that because no one is perfect.

Therefore, this Valentine's Day,

I thought I'd reach you all the love letters that the married king sent to the woman whom he courted relentlessly. There are 17 in all, and sadly we have none of Anne's replies,

making this all rather lopsided, I'm afraid. They all survive in the Vatican Archive,

for reasons passing understanding, and, rather unhelpfully, they'm afraid. They all survive in the Vatican Archive, for reasons passing understanding,

and, rather unhelpfully, they are not dated. I've put them in a generally accepted order,

but not everyone agrees with it. Just over half of them are written in English, with the rest,

including the first five, written in French. They appeared to been written from around 1526 when Henry began his

romantic pursuit of Anne and May 1529 when the Legatine Corps opened. They are signed at the

bottom in different ways, which I will bring up at the end of the letter, and are a truly

fascinating window into the mind of Henry. Okay, so the way I'll do this is this. I'll read the letter,

and then afterwards briefly talk about anything of interest that comes up. Okay, that's enough build-up.

Let's get going. Letter one. My mistress and friend, my heart and I, surrender ourselves into your hands,

beseeching you to hold us commended to your favour, and by that absence, your affection to us may not be

lessened, for it were a great pity to increase our pain, of which absence produces enough,

and more than I could ever have thought could be felt, reminding us of a point in

astronomy, which is this, the longer the days are, the more distant is the sun, and nevertheless

...