Lady Rochford.

[Eddie_uk]

Hey, I would love to learn more about this rather fascinating woman.

I think she suffered some "poetic justice" perhaps (?) but would love to know more and what people think of her? Her story is definitely an interesting one  

[Kimberly]

You are right Eddie boy, she is a fascinating creature. There isn't a huge amount of information about her out there most of the stuff being romantic fiction. However, I think she was a woman scorned by the Boleyns, it wasn't a happy marriage- possibly unloved by George( and he a notorious womaniser) and therefore not loved by Anne...who knows? It was she who provided the damning evidence which helped condemn her husband, that is surely without doubt.
I cannot understand how this woman got so enveigled with Katherine Howard and her machinations with Culpepper, she knew how the poisonous underbelly of the court worked by experience,.....maybe she got power hungry or a little mad. She had definately lost her sanity by the time she climbed the scaffold  

[Elisabeth]

I agree with you, Kim, I think she had a lust for power. Informing on her own husband gave her a taste for it, and for vicious, underhanded court intrigues in general. I'm sure that arranging Katherine Howard's assignations with Culpepper gave her true emotional satisfaction, the illusion of total control and illicit power over others, one of them the queen consort of England. But she was in over her head, and she paid the ultimate price -  first her sanity, then her life.

If one were really cynical, though, one might suspect that Lady Rochford, having been the undoing of her husband and his sister the Queen, had in her sights the undoing of yet another Queen, related to the Boleyns by blood... Only, perhaps this time around she underestimated the degree of her own complicity, perhaps she mistakenly believed that she'd escape justice... Perhaps indeed she was playing a double game. The woman is a genuine mystery, a true psychological enigma.

[helenazar]

Lady Rochford doesn't sound like someone I would want to be around    . I think there is a sketch of her somewhere on the "Name that Tudor..." thread, let me see if I can bring it over... She was kind of odd looking.

[helenazar]

...there is a sketch of her somewhere on the "Name that Tudor..." thread, let me see if I can bring it over... She was kind of odd looking.

I can't find it... Maybe Kim remembers where it is, I think she may have been the one who posted it, or PL...  

[Eddie_uk]

Thank you everyone   She was indeed a strange creature! I agree that as she had a lot of experience in court affairs you would think she would have been more careful about getting involved in such risky business!! Maybe she was slightly unbalanced?

[ilyala]

i'd say it's pretty sure that she was, considerring that she accused her own husband of sleeping with his sister  :-/

[Eddie_uk]

Yes, but maybe she just wanted shot of him and wanted to "be in" with Henry?  

[ilyala]

oh come on, how sick can you be? she could have done that had she said he eased the way for anne's lovers. it would have had the same effect.

second of all, wanting somebody dead and making sure that someone is dead... is just sick

[Kimberly]

Well, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and I think she probably WAS scorned by George and Anne. Please understand, I am NOT making excuses for her but maybe (speculation here) she was insane with jealousy......what we would call "a bunny boiler. Her picture is on the "who is this" topic, its the one that looks like it was drawn by a 12 year old.......she has very peculiar eyes IMO

[Eddie_uk]

Hahah Kimberly, i second the "bunny boiler"bit!!  

[stacey]

"A little unbalanced"??

HA!!

How about: A TOTAL PSYCHO!!

This was one very very strange and devious woman and I would have run at the very sight of her!!

She was T-R-O-U-B-L-E !

And she was NUTS!!

[Kimberly]

I think she was fascinating,  in a slightly repulsive way. It is such a shame that there is so little information about her. I wonder if she was popular at court, wether she had many friends or wether people steered well clear of her

[Prince_Lieven]

Did she remain at court during the interval between Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard?

[Kimberly]

I don't know about her being at court during the time of Queen Jane but she definately had a place at court with Anne of Cleves. Indeed it was Jane Rochford who questioned Anne about the consumation or otherwise, of the marriage with Henry