Chapter summaries Boleyn Traitor Philippa Gregory

Chapter 31 Analysis: Political Plots and a Purveyor’s Fortune

[!SPOILER ALERT!] This analysis assumes you have read the chapter. Proceed only if you have finished Chapter 31 to avoid revealing key plot developments.

Summary

In February 1540 at Whitehall Palace, Lady Rochford finds her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, preparing to depart for France. His mission is to persuade King Francis that England remains a better friend than Spain, regardless of King Henry’s Lutheran bride. Norfolk sees this as a chance to break the Cleves alliance and destroy Thomas Cromwell, suggesting the king could be rid of both the heretic queen and his chief minister. He is bluffing about the king’s virility, unaware that the marriage remains unconsummated. Rochford silently notes that Kitty Howard has kept this queen’s secret. Later, while preparing the queen’s gown, Rochford commends Kitty for her loyalty. The conversation turns when Kitty asks for help safeguarding a hundred pounds in coin. She confesses the money was given to her by a former lover, a purveyor for her grandmother’s household, for safekeeping. Rochford deduces the fortune was stolen from the dowager duchess. Kitty dismisses the young man as beneath her now that she has seen noblemen at court, nearly naming a Master Culpepper before stopping. Rochford agrees to lock the money away, warning Kitty to guard the Howard name and her virtue, as she will be ordered into a marriage. When asked if her family rehearsed her for the king’s arrival at Rochester, Kitty giggles, admitting they practiced it over and over until she knew exactly what to do.

Key Events

  • The Duke of Norfolk prepares to travel to France on a diplomatic mission to undermine the Cleves alliance by securing friendship with the French king.
  • Norfolk reveals his ambition to use this diplomacy to discard both the Lutheran queen and Thomas Cromwell, though he remains clueless about the king’s impotence.
  • Lady Rochford confirms that Kitty Howard has not betrayed the queen’s secret to their uncle, a surprising act of loyalty.
  • Kitty Howard asks Lady Rochford for help storing a large sum of money—one hundred pounds—given to her by a former lover.
  • The former lover is identified as a purveyor for the dowager duchess’s household, and Rochford immediately concludes the fortune was stolen.
  • Kitty nearly lets slip the name of Master Culpepper as a new romantic interest at court before catching herself.
  • Rochford takes custody of the tainted money and counsels Kitty on the importance of guarding her reputation for a dynastic marriage.
  • Kitty casually reveals that her family rigorously rehearsed her role in greeting the disguised king at Rochester, framing it as a theatrical performance.

Character Development

Lady Rochford

Rochford continues to operate as a sharp-eyed observer and gatekeeper of dangerous information. She tests her uncle’s knowledge, confirming the queen’s secret is safe. Her practical intelligence is on display when she immediately deduces the origin of Kitty’s money as theft. She assumes a mentor-like, authoritarian role, warning Kitty about rogues and focusing on the family’s reputation, but her decision to hide the fortune implicates her in a new secret. Her self-deprecating humor about being an all-knowing “she-pope” highlights her constant surveillance.

Kitty Howard

Kitty is portrayed as childish, impulsive, and entirely unprincipled. She giggles about the rehearsed deception of the king, dismisses her former lover as beneath her, and is already smitten with new noblemen, nearly naming Thomas Culpepper. Her complete comfort with stolen money—as long as she doesn’t have to answer for it—and her inability to read Latin underscore her lack of moral and intellectual depth, making her a pawn utterly dependent on her family’s scripting.

The Duke of Norfolk

Norfolk is depicted as an arrogant strategist who overestimates his own knowledge. His crude dismissal of the queen conceiving is a bluff, exposing his ignorance of the king’s real failure. His physical grip on Rochford’s elbow and his blunt ambition reveal a ruthless man who views the queen’s marriage solely as a political lever to be pulled against Cromwell.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Performance and Rehearsal The motif of performance is central. Kitty describes her family’s preparation for the king’s arrival as a masque, rehearsed “over and over again.” Her entire presentation at court is a fabrication, a continuation of the role she played at Rochester. This reflects the larger political theatre where Norfolk plays the diplomat and Rochford plays the loyal niece, all while hiding deadly truths.

Stolen Fortune and Corruption The hundred pounds of stolen coin symbolizes the moral rot underpinning the glamour of the court. The money, profit from a servant’s theft, is hidden by a lady-in-waiting, linking the high and low of a great house in a shared secret. It physically represents the unearned and illicit privilege that Kitty carries with her into the royal household.

Ignorance as a Weapon Norfolk operates in ignorance of the king’s potency, crafting a plot doomed from the start. Rochford’s power, conversely, comes from knowing exactly what others don’t. The chapter contrasts his strategic blindness with her careful cultivation of information, suggesting that true power at court lies in knowing secrets, not titles.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter serves as a critical pivot connecting multiple threads of intrigue. It reveals the Duke of Norfolk’s active scheme to leverage international diplomacy to unmake the Cleves marriage and annihilate Thomas Cromwell, setting a political trap. Simultaneously, it deepens the character of Kitty Howard, showing her not just as a flighty girl but as a product of deliberate family training designed to enchant the king, while already cultivating a wandering eye for Thomas Culpepper. Most importantly, it physically introduces a damning piece of evidence—the stolen money—into Lady Rochford’s possession, entangling her directly in Kitty’s past and future sins. The chapter underscores that the king is surrounded by actors performing roles while hiding theft, desire, and impotence.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does Lady Rochford agree to keep Kitty Howard’s money, despite knowing it was likely stolen? Rochford’s primary objective is to control and contain scandal for the Howard family. She believes Kitty’s former lover is far beneath her and sees the money as a potential liability that ties Kitty to a disreputable past. By locking it away, she neutralizes the threat of the purveyor’s return and severs an emotional obligation, safeguarding Kitty’s—and the family’s—reputation for a more advantageous marriage.

  2. How does the revelation about the rehearsed welcome at Rochester change the understanding of the king’s first meeting with Anne of Cleves? It confirms that the king’s disastrous first impression of Anne was manipulated by the Howard faction from the start. While Anne was genuine, Kitty was trained to perform a scripted seduction. This casts the entire Cleves marriage not as a failure of personal chemistry but as a sabotage operation, where the king was deliberately shown a contrast designed to make him desire the girl who was acting a part.

  3. In what way is Norfolk’s diplomatic mission to France an act of domestic political warfare? Norfolk’s mission is not primarily about English foreign policy but about destroying the rationale for the king’s marriage and, by extension, its architect. By securing French friendship, he aims to eliminate the need for the German alliance. This would make Queen Anne politically expendable and strip Thomas Cromwell of his greatest achievement, paving the way for Norfolk to bring down his rival without directly attacking him in England.

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