For a Valentine’s Day post I thought it would be fun to pull quotes from Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn and convert them into modern text messages. So I did! And it was fun. I hope you’ll enjoy reading these, though I certainly don’t recommend sending the vast majority of them.
- Quote: “The cause of my writing at this time, good sweetheart, is only to understand of your good health and prosperity.”
Text: Hey! Just checking in! Hope you’re having a good day!
. - Quote: “No more to you at this time, mine own darling, but that with a wish I would we were together an evening.”
Text: Gtg, babe. Can’t wait to see you! Dinner date?
. - Quote: “I would you were in mine arms, or I in yours, for I think it long since I kissed you.”
Text: I miss u. 😚😚😚
. - Quote: “…for what joy can be greater upon earth than to have the company of her dearest me, knowing likewise that she does the same on her part…”
Text: Love you! Thanks for putting up with me! 🥰😍
. - Quote: “…the beautiful mottoes of the letter so cordially expressed, that they oblige me for ever to honour, love, and serve you sincerely…”
Text: Perfect gif! Love you!! Want takeout tonight?
. - Quote: “…I send you by the bearer of this, a buck killed late last night by my own hand, hoping that when you eat of it you think of the hunter…”
Text: Surprise! I ordered you dinner. Delivery person is 5 mins away. Wish I was with u. ❤️
. - Quote: “I am sure that I have since never done any thing to offend you…”
Text: What’s your problem???
. - Quote: “Written after the killing of a hart, at eleven of the clock, minding, with God’s grace, to-morrow, mightily timely, to kill another, by the hand which, I trust, shortly shall be yours.”
Text: Bought a rotisserie chicken for brunch. Might do it again tomorrow. Binging comfort foods bc I miss you!!
. - Quote: “No more at present, from lack of time, but that I wish you in my arms, that I might a little dispel your unreasonable thoughts.”
Text: Gtg but hope to change your mind in person. 😉😉😉
. - Quote: “…I could do no other than mourn my ill-fortune, and by degrees abate my great folly…”
Text: Ugh! Today is the worst!! 😬🤦♀️ Everything I touch turns to 💩!
. - Quote: “Because the time seems very long since I heard concerning your health and you…”
Text: U there????!!!!!
. - Quote: “I wish the time may be short, but I shall think it long till we see one another.”
Text: Working late again. So frustrated. Wish I was home. 😩
. - Quote: “On turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them…”
Text: So frustrated! Scrolled through your texts. No idea what you’re talking about!
. - Quote: “…reminding us in a point of astronomy which is this: the longer the days are, the more distant is the sun, and nevertheless the hotter; so is it with our love…”
Text: Absence makes the heart grow stronger right? P.s. Mercury is in retrograde again lol 😂😬👌
. - Quote: “…for above a whole year stricken with a dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail of finding a place in your heart…”
Text: I really like you. Do u want to go out with me? Dinner and darts?
Sources
Henry VIII. The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn: With Notes. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform: 2015.
Read Henry’s love letters online here:
Henry VIII, The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. London: John W. Luce & Company, 1906. Accessed online February 2024. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/lovelettersofhen00henr/lovelettersofhen00henr.pdf
Published February 8, 2024.