The problem with Anne is that most people are on one side of the fence or the other.. there is not enough middle ground with her, and I think there should be.
Was she a pawn? Yes. Was she also a schemer? Yes.
Anne's position was not only difficult but treacherous. Here was a woman of good family and education, with high connections, in an age where every promotion and position at court was decided by the king. Indeed, everyone's lives and fortunes were at stake and at the mercy of his whim.
Becoming the king's mistress was one thing.. becoming his wife was quite another.. and a feat that could not have been achieved without planning and intelligence - on the part of Anne herself and her family, who were her advisors as well as her handlers.
Of course the Howards wanted her to succeed where Mary had failed, to elevate their position and bring them closer to the throne, which was the font of all power in England. Unlike Mary, Anne was calculating and just as cunning as her Howard relatives.. and she had the advantage of having lived in the French Court, which was considered the most sophisticated realm in Europe at that time.
But to some degree, Anne was a pawn of her family, and was at the mercy of her father and her Howard uncles. Women were chattel. They had no power of their own to speak of, and were used and bartered into marriages without consideration of their own feelings or desires. If Anne really loved Henry Percy, then there is your example.
No one today can really say what her personal feelings were for Henry VIII. I do believe there was at least a great passion between them, but who can say if either of them felt true love?
There is no doubt that she did weald some power of her own over Henry himself. Anne was the only one of his wives that spoke to him with impunity. Even Catherine of Aragon was circumspect of his authority, and every wife that followed Anne was kept firmly in her place as consort. Not only is this evidence of her intelligence, but it's also an indicator of Henry's strong feelings for her.. to allow her to be the closest to his equal as any woman could expect to be.
She certainly was cunning enough to keep him dangling for six years.. holding out for marriage, and reforming the entire English religion in the process!
But even the reformers considered incest taboo, and I have never believed that either Anne or George would have considered such a thing, even for the sake of giving Henry a son.. at best they would have only had a 50/50 chance of success anyway.. and regardless of this, they had to be aware of the possible consequences of such a liasion (meaning deformities and birth defects).. and what good would it do to give Henry such a son? Absolutely none.
I also think that both Henry and Anne relished and enjoyed the chase and the game of their courtship. After they were married, however, Anne became the jealous wife while Henry expected her to be finally satisfied. He expected to be satisfied, too, with a male heir to the throne.
Had she provided that son, Henry would have remained married to her despite the state of their private relationship.. and today we would have an entirely different view of Anne Boleyn.
