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5/11/14

Talking Statues: mutilated text (2nd part)



Here you have the mutilated text of the 2nd part of the interview to Henry VIII's statuehttp://sanchezbenedito.blogspot.com.es/2014/11/historias-y-humor-talking-statues.html. I invite you to fill in the blanks. To help you, I give you the first letter of every word omitted:


J: Well, it was Jane Seymour, your third wife, who finally g..... birth, in 1537, to a son, Prince Edward, the future Edward VI. You must have been very h.... the day he was born?


H: Yes, it was, without a doubt, the happiest day of my life, and the e..... was celebrated all over the country, but my happiness soon t....... to sorrow. It had been a difficult d....., and Jane died 12 days later from an infection.


J: Well, in any case, you had at last the male heir you had so l.... wished for, why then did you have to marry Anne of Cleves, your fourth wife, a German lady who cannot be s..... to have been a paragon of beauty, her face a..... being pock-marked and her laugh resembling a horse's n.......?


H: She was not as ugly and disagreeable as you are making her o....to be, but it is true that I was misled by a much too flattering p...... Hans Holbein the Younger had painted of her a.... my request, and indeed when we first met, I found she was quite unattractive. I married her n....... in an attempt to ensure my succession. I was worried about Edward. The royal doctors had told me that the Prince's health was poor, and I somehow sensed that he wouldn't outlive me b.... many years.


J: Anyway, it seems that you could not o....... the revulsion Anne's hideous looks made you feel, t..... the extent that it was rumoured you could not even make love to her. T....., less than six months after you had married her, you expressed your desire to annul the marriage so that you could w..... another. Anne had the g..... sense to confirm that the marriage had never been consummated, probably s....... her life by her admission.


H: Yes, the marriage was dissolved, but we r......... good friends. Anne received the title of 'The King's Sister', two houses and a g......... allowance.


J: Well, free again, you married for the fifth time, the woman of your c....... being now the young and beautiful Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn's cousin and her lady-in-waiting. But the marriage to Catherine didn't l....... long either, as she was, like her cousin Anne had been, b...... But why did you have her beheaded?


H: Well, she was found guilty of a........, this time without the shadow of a doubt so, m....... to my regret, the only thing I could do was to order her e....... to safeguard my honour.


J: Finally, in 1543, four years b........ your death, you married the wealthy widow Catherine Parr, your sixth and last wife. What can you tell me about her?


H: Catherine p...... to be a good choice. She looked a..... me, patiently enduring my frequent changes of m......., brought about by my painful disease and, soon after we were married, she persuaded me to be r...... with my daughters Mary and Elizabeth who, through An A..... of Parliament, were duly put back in the l...... of succession after Edward, Prince of Wales.


J: And they both became Queens in due t......: first Mary, when Edward died when he was only 15, confirming your premonition about him, and then Elizabeth, after Mary died w........ issue. Concerning Mary, it's been suggested you may have entertained hopes that when she a....... to the throne, she would serve as a mediator between Catholics and Protestants, but she proved to be an intolerant Catholic Queen, and she had hundreds of her subjects p...... to death for religious reasons, a fact which e..... her the sobriquet of 'Bloody Mary', which is how she's known in history. Now that you know what happened, can you state an opinion about your daughter's reign?


H: It's not for me to judge her, but I can tell you that her behaviour does not s........ me in the least. I always knew Mary was a fervent Catholic, like her mother.


J: However, you may be pleased to know that as far as Elizabeth, your daughter by Anne Boleyn, is c........., it was a completely different story. 'The Good Queen Bess', as she was sometimes affectionately called, or 'the Virgin Queen', because she never wished to get married, r....... wisely for 44 years; in religion, she was a convinced Protestant, but much more m....... than you or Mary had been and, in the military domain, by d...... the all-powerful Spanish Armada, she gave England days of glory, something that you were never able to a........ Have you got anything to say about her?


H: I'm not surprised e...... Elizabeth was educated as a Protestant, and my blood ran t......... her veins. Regarding her brilliant military success, it shouldn't be forgotten that it was d..... my reign that a permanent Royal Navy was created.


J: Now, King Henry, after so many women in your life, your six wives and the g..... number of mistresses you had besides, can you tell me if there e...... was a woman you really loved?


H: Believe it o..... not, the only woman I ever really loved was Catherine of Aragon, my first wife.


J: You say you loved her, and y...... you repudiated her and had your marriage to her annulled.


H: For pure r...... of state. Much a...... I loved her, the fact remains that she f....... to give me a son. I needed a male heir, and so I had to marry s........ else, but she always had my respect, and I saw t..... it that she was treated fairly, even t..... she had refused to accept my suggestion that she r....... to a nunnery, facilitating in this way the annulment process.


J: Well, Your Majesty, the interview is now c....... to an end, but before we finish, here's my last question to you: I'm sure my readers would like to know, i..... view of the agitated life you led, if you have any r.......?


H: No, I have no regrets. I did what had to be d....... I played my role in English history and, w..... I to be born again, I would do exactly the same, with one exception.


J: What exception?


H: I spent too much time and money o..... festivals, celebrations, banquets, tournaments and t..... like. Actually, it was in the last tournament I took p...... in, in 1536, that I had my unfortunate jousting accident. I fell o..... my horse, and a leg w...... I had suffered years earlier re-opened. The doctors treated it, but it could never be h....... The wound festered and b........ ulcerated, thus preventing me f..... maintaining the level of physical activity I had previously enjoyed, giving me insufferable pain and making hell of the rest of my days on earth, my unsightly o...... hastening my death at the age of 55. Yes, you can be sure that if I were to be born again, I wouldn't make the same mistake.


J: Well, I thank you, Your Majesty, for the s......... of your answers.


H: You are w.......

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