The New Murrey and Blue blog

The following is an extract from https://www.britainexpress.com/attraction-articles.htm?article=20 and concerns the fate of the nuns of Romsey Abbey after the reformation:-

“. . .What happened to the nuns after the abbey was dissolved? We don’t know, with one notable exception. One of the nuns was Jane Wadham, a cousin of Jane Seymour, Henry’s third queen. Wadham married John Foster, the last abbey chaplain and former steward. Henry VIII objected, but Jane countered, claiming that she had been forced to become a nun at a young age, against her will, and thus her vows were void. The daughter of John Foster and Jane Wadham married Sir William Fleming of Broadlands, a former abbey property and later home of the Mountbattens. . .”

Now, call me old-fashioned, but I’m sure I spy a thwarted love that had been in existence before Henry VIII happened along and changed everything! I hope so, and that they were very happily married. Celibacy is all very well if one is content with such a situation, but when contentment is replaced by human love and desire (as distinct from religious love) the resultant unhappiness must be a dreadful thing.

PS. Alas, there was not a happy ending for Jane Wadham and John Foster:-

The above is an extract from https://archive.org/details/recordsofromseya00live, where you will find more about Jane Wadham and John Foster in pp 255-257.