Virginia Is For Families

Henry needed a break after the death of his latest and most appreciated wife Jane Seymour.  She was the girl of his dreams after all.  She let him do whatever he felt like doing.  Mistresses were not the problem they seemed to be under the previous administration.

And so Henry was happy for awhile.  In fact he was nearly perfectly happy for a few days after Jane gave him a son.   One can only imagine his joy.   He has the ability of a good administrator to put things into compartments and turn the key.  The fact that his soldiers are killing his subjects, including women and children, in the northern part of the country is far from his thoughts.

But then as so often happens the  castle and all its  rooms begin to fall down!   Jane sickens and dies.  And Henry goes off the deep edge for awhile.  He removes himself from the world and cries.  Then he starts drawing pictures of castles while his “Fool”  who is the resident philosopher keep him company.

Henry:  What’s it all about Fool?  It’s about building castles and empires and being remembered.   I am after all King Henry.  I know I will join Jane and “sleep forever by her side” someday but I’m also comforted by the notion that I will live forever in history and in the hearts of my subjects.

Fool:  Yes but then you have a tendency to want to kill people, chop off their heads if you’re feeling compassionate and do more terrible things if you’re mad, and then they won’t be able to remember you.  (He doesn’t say “they will hate you too!” .   He may be the Fool but he’s not an idiot.)

The Fool seems to be suggesting that since everyone dies there really won’t be anybody around before long to care about Henry.  In fact there are probably precious few alive at this time who care about him.  And he seems to understand in his more depressed moments.   In years to come they  may read about him but they won’t love him like Jane  and they may abhor him.

But somehow Henry rallies and manages to come up with some guidelines for his new church that he and the Fool must have discovered during one of their drinking sessions.  The penalties for not adhering to them include being burned at the stake.

The last scene in this memorable episode shows the Fool sitting in the dark with a crown on his head laughing uncontrollably.

Lovely.  Henry is in constant pain now and walks with a cane.  His descent into hell is complete although in the years to come he will see his son sicken and die.  Why am I watching this drama unfold?

I was caught up in the life of the young king.  He had it pretty good for awhile.  He could ride at top speed through the countryside with his cloak flying behind him like a flag.   He was jousting for awhile and having a good time with the ladies.  He made friends with the king of France.   But things really started going downhill fast when he chopped off the heads of his best friend Thomas More and then his wife Ann Boleyn .

So I was drawn  into an idealistic presentation of  the 16th century.  It was before the Industrial Revolution and it has a certain charm for many who remember the more organized horrors  yet to come.  Henry was monstrous at times but he also had certain charms and he was never boring.  And he was not part of an organization of any kind.  He made new ones.  He was one of those men  who stood above our world and changed it forever.

And the show is well done.  It’s an artistic piece of work.  Television rarely reaches this level.

Henry is probably watching it somewhere too.  While he tells the Fool (who runs their  establishment and keeps the heat turned up pretty high):

“See!  They are watching me on Showtime.  I told you they would never forget King Henry.”

“But where is Jane and why am I not sleeping for eternity with her?”