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Jane Rochford was sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and Lady of the Bedchamber to Katherine Howard, whom she followed to the scaffold in Hers is a life of extraordinary drama as a witness to and participant in the greatest events of Henry's reign. She arrived at court as a teenager when Katherine of Aragon was queen. Even before Henry's marriage to Anne, her own marriage to George Boleyn brought her into the closest royal circles - and there she remained through the unfolding spectacle and tragedy of Henry's succession of marriages. She survived the trauma of Anne and George's executions and despite briefly being banned from Court managed to regain her place there to attend on Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. Her supposed part in both Anne Boleyn's and Katherine Howard's downfall has led to her being reviled through centuries. In this fascinating biography Julia Fox repudiates the idea of the infamous Lady Rochford and Jane emerges as a rather modern woman forced by brutal circumstance to fend for herself in a politically lethal world. Julia Fox is an author and historical researcher, and a former teacher. She lives in London with her husband, the Tudor historian, John Guy.
Lady in Waiting to Five Queens of Henry VIII
Jane had been a member of the household of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. It is possible that she played a role in the verdicts against, and subsequent executions of, her husband and Anne Boleyn. She was later a lady-in-waiting to Henry's third and fourth wives, and then to his fifth wife, Catherine Howard , with whom she was executed.
He had received an excellent education and inherited his father's talent for languages and was fluent in Latin and French. He was also an accomplished poet and translator and developed a strong interest in religious and political theory. Jane was given the title Lady Rochford. Jane was appointed as lady of the Queen's bedchamber. According to a statement later made in court, Anne told Jane that after a few months of marriage, that the King was incapable of making love to her and he had neither "skill or virility". Anne had bitterly resented Henry's last affair, and had conspired with her sister-in-law Lady Rochford to have the girl removed from court, but the King found out and banished Lady Rochford instead. In April , a Flemish musician in royal service named Mark Smeaton was arrested and interrogated at the house of Thomas Cromwell. He eventually broke down and confessed to having a sexual relationship with Queen Anne. David Loades has suggested that the story was "certainly fictitious, and probably a fantasy produced by psychological pressure".
