Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford

A fascinating debut biography of Jane Boleyn, the lady-in-waiting who witnessed and survived Henry VIII’s perilous reign, until she too became a victim.

In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted from the obscurity of the English countryside to the forefront of Henry VIII’s spectacular court, as lady-in-waiting to not just one, but five of Henry’s wives. Always at the centre of court life and intrigue, Jane attended the parties, the masque balls, and the jousts, and participated in the royal births, the weddings, the funerals, and the personal drama that swirled around the king, his wives, and their courtiers. As Henry’s wives rose and then fell, taking so many down with them, Jane stayed on. Her story gives readers an amazing, ongoing view of the personal toll that Henry’s long and ruthlessly violent reign took on the people closest to him, and positions her as a survivor — that is, until she herself became the subject of the king’s rage.

History has not always been kind to the “Infamous Lady Rochford,” but in this fascinating biography, Julia Fox goes back to the original documents to rehabilitate Jane as a modern woman forced by brutal circumstances to fend for herself in a privileged but vicious world.


From the Hardcover edition.