If They Were To Remake This...

but OTOH I do wonder waht it was about Henry VIII, Anne MAY well have been in her mid twenties when he fell in love with her and wnated to marry her, Jane Seymour was also (albiet we dont know much about her birth date) around 25 or so. While anne and Jane at 25 were certainly more fertile than Katherine of Aragon would have been (after all she was over 40), they weren't really all that "young and fertile" so why did Henry pick both of them at various times as his wives? Why didn't he look aroudn for a younger woman?

Traditionally the preference was for royal women and noblewomen to marry young however in reality this preference was sometimes compromised.
Perhaps ideas about what ages women should marry were becoming more relaxed? Frequent studies into this period have noted that amongst the ordinary people in England, men and women were marrying later (I believe the average age for marriage at this time was in the mid to late 20s which was on the increase compared to previous decades). This was primarily over the economic reasons (couples had to spend longer working to gain enough money for a household etc). For the nobility, the ideal was for girls to still be married at a young age. But when they married slightly later, there appears to have been little shock. Henry would not have married a woman who he believed would not give him children. So his actions indicate that society did not entirely frown upon the idea that women could marry in their late 20s. So the preference remained for younger ages, but in reality this idea was often compromised (usually for political reasons). For example look at Elizabeth I; questions about her possible marriage carried on into her 40s.

With Jane, Henry probably married her because he felt she was the perfect wife to follow Anne; she was good at modelling herself as the opposite to Anne. The faction she was involved in was also busy pushing her in the king’s way. Perhaps Henry wanted to marry a woman who would not bring about much controversy, and Jane was the ideal woman to pick (although his quick engagement and marriage to her after Anne’s death wasn’t exactly uncontroversial). And he must have felt that she was capable of providing him with a male heir which made her more appealing.


We are born princes and the civilizing process makes us frogs - Syrus

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I'm just going to do Henry and Anne.

Anne:
Hmm, i think it would be good to cast a french actress, just because Anne was said to appear like a frenchwoman, due her time in court there. So... Eva Green or Marion Cotillard could be good possibilites. I also think Ameila Warner could make a good Anne.

Henry:
I agree with the above poster only Russel Crowe or Kenneth Branagh come to mind.

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