Page 78 ( years 1514-1515 approx.)"Everything points to her (Mary's) affair with Francois I (of France) having been "extremely brief" - a moment, episode or one night stand even - and there is no evidence at all that, when Francois "soon tired" of Mary, he "passed her on to his courtiers," not that this "shocked" or "frightened" Anne Boleyn. And it may be unsafe to assert that it was probably at this point that Anne discovered "how women really could be exploited and mistreated, that she decided to protect her greatest asset, her purity, at all costs, for Anne herself, as we presently discover, had been "corrupted" at the French Court..."
Page 79
"It makes sense of the later events and course of Mary's life to assume that her family did find out what had passed between her and Francois I. It is unlikely that Mary herself told them - what girl of gentle birth would confess to compromising her honor, unless there were to be consequences that had to be dealt with discreetly? We don't of course, know that there were not, and it would be fruitless to speculate; but for the rest of her life, as will become clear, there is intermittent evidence to suggest that Mary was held in little account or affection by her family; and one gets a sense that she was a continuing disappointment to her "outstandingly learned" father, and probably to the rest of the family too."
ALISON WEIR BOOK EXCERPTS!
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