Time Travel To The Court Of Old Henry VIII : Back To The Past (The Return Of Youth)!

    Alfred Muggins and his wife Mrs Muggins had both gone back together, inadvertently, and without rational intention, to the time of Henry VIII, and had been invited by the King himself to stay at his Court at the Palace of Westminster, and to become part of it. As they had both surmised before, the Time transference had probably occurred because they were both spending so much time watching ‘The Tudors’ drama, and many other documentaries and dramas about Henry and the times before and after, which the TV channels were inflicting upon everyone at that time. It seemed their semi conscious wishes to be part of Henry’s drama, and experience life there, had been taken seriously by someone in charge of Time Travel. (They never did find out whether it was a call for help by Henry or his Ministers, or an unconscious prayer, or a misunderstood one, taken a bit too seriously by God, or whether, someone sent them there as some kind of prank (be careful what you wish for!), or whether Lady Alexa was just being a bit hypersensitive in the kitchen that night, and Amazon had stumbled upon some new technologies it did not yet know how to control or manage. Anyway for whatever reason they had arrived there and had been there for quite some months by now, learning how to survive, and keep their heads and hats on in that strange old world!

    Both of them, technically in their late fifties now were a bit worried how the courtiers and ladies would find them, as it was well known that people in their fifties would have seemed old in Henry’s time. But youngish Henry, they calculated, must be around 34 years old when they first arrived, as it appeared to be 1525 and Henry had been born famously in 1491 (only 6 years after his father Henry VII took the throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth!) Henry would have been on the throne ever since his father died in 1509, so he must surely have got quite used to being King and exercising authority by now! That meant he had been on the throne for 15 or 16 years!

    Even so youngish Henry still seemed to look at Mrs Muggins with a glint in his eye, and so did many of the other courtiers. And quite magically Alfred seemed to be able to say just the right things to everyone to keep them convinced that they were a minor Gentleman and his Lady of property from distant Sheffield. Curiously in all the time they were there no one even bothered to check up on the facts! Which Alfred knew to be non existant. Magically they were wearing the right clothes, and that was all anyone cared, or needed, to know!

    All the time they were there Alfred and his wife had the strong feeling that their days must be numbered, and that sooner or later someone would decide to be their enemies and would start investigating the facts, and whispering in people’s ears to get them out of the way. An attack could come at any time from any direction! It might be a rival for the King’s ear, someone who just wanted to get closer to the King? It could be from one of the King’s Chief Ministers, who might take a dislike to them, or just want them out of the way, so they could stick some of their own proteges there.

    Likewise in the Queen’s bedchamber there were jealous women, and always someone wanting to take Mrs Muggins’ place. Luckily as time went on they were able to relax and found they were able to lead perfectly charmed lives. Perhaps they had been watching the dramas and documentaries about Henry’s Court too closely. But there were dangers, as they knew only too well from the history!

    They felt quite young and energetic as soon as they arrived. Alfred and his wife concluded that they had indeed become younger since arriving at the Court of King Henry. Maybe this was because they were actually in a dream rather than reality, and could subliminally make themselves younger if they chose? Perhaps this was done to make them fit in closer to Henry’s own age, in their thirties rather than their fifties. This would account for the King’s charming but cheeky interested looks at Mrs Muggins! (Indeed Alfred increasingly found himself doing the same sort of looks at his wife, so she must be getting younger looking, and maybe as he was getting younger too, maybe his libido was being restored somewhat. Unfortunately that also meant he couldn’t help looking at the other women of the Court as well, which Mrs Muggins seemed to notice, and made her a little annoyed when it occurred or she imagined it occurred.)

    He found Catherine of Aragon to be a very charming Queen, like most people in the Kingdom, and, being a twentieth/twenty first century man, he could not really understand why Henry was already beginning to look at Anne Boleyn as the prime candidate to be his next Queen, ostensibly (or merely?) because she had not managed to produce any male heirs. Alfred reckoned there was a touch of the libido about Henry’s decision to go after the younger courtesan, as Anne Boleyn was most charming, witty and entertaining, and must have seemed very much the perfect Queen to such a lustful and romantic King as Henry.

    Alfred found himself ensnared by Anne’s charm, as well as Henry, although there was no way that he would seek to win her friendship, given the King’s well known (from a future perspective) jealousy, and occasional willingness to punish. But Alfred believed that Henry still held a candle for Catherine. He could see that Henry must have been very conflicted to have to choose between these two wives, but from 1525 onwards he had decided for sure that the Spanish Queen must be removed and Anne Boleyn must replace her, at virtually any cost!