Tudor Matchmaking (Part 3)

Just a quick post to let you know that The Daily Star also featured the story on my Tudor matchmaking with eHarmony. You can read their piece on Henry VIII's 'Epic Fail' here.

Tudor Matchmaking (again)

History Revealed magazine have now covered my Tudor matchmaking with eHarmony. You can read their piece here. It's great that it's getting so much interest. The profiling was intended to be fun, but I was really pleased to see how accurate the results appeared to be. It's pretty much the order I would put the wives in I think, although I possibly would have put Catherine Parr (the wife who survived marriage to Henry) a bit higher! What does everyone else think?

Best Picture Oscar Winners Challenge: Cimarron (1931)

The Oscar Best Picture winners challenge continues with Cimarron, which won in 1931. It is a very tricky film to comment on. Firstly, there are some unpleasant stereotypes in the film (something that it has in common with some other films of the time), which make it a difficult watch. It's also very dated and the picture quality of the version we had did not help matters. That said, the opening sequence of pioneers rushing to settle Oklahoma was amazing. In 1931 they obviously wouldn't have had any CGI and must have filmed the huge number of wagons and horses racing across the screen - it looks dangerous and felt very real! Personally, I thought the main character was a bit of an idiot, but I liked his wife who grows as a person. The film is really about her development, which I thought was great. So, all in all, it's not the best of the Oscar winners for me by a long chalk, but it was interesting!

Tudor Matchmaking

I was recently invited by eHarmony to try out a bit of Tudor matchmaking by profiling Henry VIII and his six wives. It was great fun and the results were brilliant. I think they really do reflect Henry and his wives.

The results suggested that Henry would have been hard to match with anyone if he happened to join eHarmony's books looking for love. However, of the six, Anne Boleyn was the best match. Perhaps he should have given their relationship a bit longer? Anne of Cleves was second and represents another wasted opportunity of Henry's to find lasting love. The couple got on well after the end of their marriage, perhaps the king should have tried harder to make it work.

Next came Catherine of Aragon. She and Henry had the longest relationship, but they were not always well matched in relation to their pastimes. Jane Seymour was in the bottom three, but that is perhaps not surprising. She doesn't appear to have had much in common with Henry.

Fifth was Catherine Howard, while Catherine Parr - who was too intellectual for Henry - came last.

You can read more about the results in today's Daily Mail or on eHarmony's website. What do you think?

Find Your Family For Free

Issue 144 of the excellent Your Family Tree magazine is now available in the shops. Look out for my article 'Find Your Family For Free'. which is the ultimate guide to essential resources and money-saving tips. Think finding your family tree is expensive? Think again!

BBC History Magazine: Jane Seymour

BBC History Magazine were kind enough to ask me to contribute a second piece for their excellent Kings and Queens in Profile series. You can find my article on Jane Seymour on their website now.

I find Jane fascinating. I think we didn't see the best of her, thanks to the fact that she died so young. If Jane had lived, her position as queen was guaranteed - Henry VIII would never have risked discarding the mother of his only legitimate son. In January 1547 she would have become regent for Edward VI. Who knows what she would have done or achieved?

There are very few sources for Jane but those that exist hint that she was very far from the meek and mild woman she is usually portrayed as.