The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes
All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!
One of the coolest things I’ve learned about Six is that not only is the entire CAST of each show all female, the backing band is all female too! Each musician is named for a real lady in waiting to one of the queens of Henry VIII. The only queen who doesn’t have a historical lady in waiting represented in the band is Catherine Parr.
First off, what’s a lady in waiting anyway? Each royal lady of the Tudor court were served by numerous attendants and servants. Although most members of a Queen’s household would be male, those who served her personally or kept her company were always women.
Painting from History Extra
The Ladies in Waiting of Six, West End cast.
In Tudor times, the Queen would basically never be alone; she must always be accompanied by noble ladies, day and night. Even at night, if the Queen wasn’t actually spending the night with the King (royal couples kept separate bedrooms in those days), she would likely have someone sleeping in the bed next to her.
Ladies-in-waiting (also known as “ladies-of-honor”) were married noble women who held the highest rank in the Queen’s household. These women often were married to the King’s own personal attendants. These ladies accompanied the Queen both privately and in public, at various ceremonial or casual occasions. They were all expected to be excellent dancers, singers, musicians, and needed to be proficient at whatever other games or past times the Queen was interested in. Although the Queen might choose her own ladies, often times, the King actually chose them, as a favor to a friend or because of his own interest in the woman. They spent long periods at court and were expected to put their positions before their own families.
Next in rank were the maids-of-honor, who were unmarried well-born women, generally young girls age 16 or older. It was a great honor to be asked to serve the Queen or Princess in such a fashion. It was very common practice for nobles to send their children off to work at another family’s home for a few years as an attendant of some sort to teach them the skills they’d need to run their own households and move up in the world. Positions at the royal court were greatly coveted; there, nobles’ daughters could meet many powerful people and make good marriages.
Maids-of-honor were expected to be beautiful, accomplished, and highly virtuous, as while they were at court away from their families, the queen acted in loco parentis; any scandal attached to a maid-of-honor would reflect poorly on their mistress.
Photo by Melissa Jo York Tilley, from when I myself played a maid of honor at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2011!
Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, and some of her court.
Jean-Leon Huens—National Geographic/Heritage-Images
Henry VIII ended up marrying three of his former queens’ maids-of-honor – Anne Boleyn, who served Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, who served Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Howard, who served Anna of Cleves. This was actually very unusual for the time; kings were expected to marry for advantage, to cement powerful alliances or to achieve other goals that would serve the good of the country. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York to help bring about the end of the Wars of the Roses; Henry VI and his father Henry V both married French princesses as part of peace treaties with various entities in efforts to try to end the 100 Years’ War. Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was a rich Spanish princess and the daughter of two powerful monarchs – Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon; she brought legitimacy to the Tudor dynasty as Henry VII (whose claim to the English crown was pretty weak, actually) worked to fight off pretenders to his throne.
The Banquet of Henry VIII in York Place (Whitehall Palace), 1832,
by James Stephanoff
The ladies-in-waiting and maids-of-honor assisted the Queen in her daily tasks, helping dress her in the layered clothing of the period and lacing her into her dresses. They washed and bathed her and even assisted her with using the privy (yup. That was a thing. And it was actually a very sought after position). The Queen and her ladies often sewed, read, or danced together.
Each Queen had different preferences for their ladies. Catherine of Aragon was known for reading devotionals to hers. Anne Boleyn gave her ladies little books of prayers and psalms to carry with them always, and had them sew garments for the poor. Jane Seymour had strict rules as to her ladies’ garments; trains had to be so long and different parts of clothes had to have a specific number of pearls embroidered on them.
I’ve noticed before that historical dramas always seem to have fewer attendants around the Kings and Queens then would have been there in reality; if the real numbers were represented, it would probably be a bit overwhelming to modern eyes, as we just have very different standards of privacy and necessity. During Henry VIII’s time, there were usually 6-8 “great ladies of the household” serving the Queen at any time, and Catherine of Aragon had 30 maids-of-honor, while Anne Boleyn had 60! After Henry started living separately from Catherine of Aragon, she actually had around 250 maids-of-honor, as he didn’t want to be accused of treating her poorly (at that time, anyway)! Although I’m sure they likely served the queen in different shifts, that’s still a huge amount of women who served the queen throughout the week. Can you even imagine?
Maria de Salinas, by an unknown artist (lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon)
Catherine Willoughby, Maria de Salinas’s daughter, by Hans Holbein the younger.
Maria - María de Salinas, known as Baroness Willoughby after her marriage (maid-of-honor and lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon) – Drums
Maria de Salinas actually came with Catherine of Aragon from Spain and served her as a maid-of-honor until 1516, when she married an English nobleman named William Willoughby (and became a lady-in-waiting to Catherine). She was devoted to Catherine; although she was ordered to leave Catherine and stop communicating with her after Catherine’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, she begged permission to visit her later. In the final days of Catherine of Aragon’s life, Maria simply disobeyed all orders to avoid her and forced her way into the castle where her beloved mistress lived; Catherine died in Maria’s arms two days later.
Maria’s daughter, Katherine Willoughby, became a ward of Henry VIII’s buddy Charles Brandon after Baron Willoughby’s death; Brandon ended up marrying her after his third wife (Henry VIII’s sister, Princess Mary Tudor, the dowager Queen of France) died. They married when Katherine was 14 and Charles was likely 49 (eww), but by all reports had a pretty happy marriage. Katherine was actually friggin awesome and I’d love to see more portrayals of her in media; she apparently named her dog Gardiner after a bishop she detested, because it amused her to call “Gardiner” to heel. Her name was floated as a possible seventh wife for Henry VIII at a time when he was considering placing Catherine Parr aside, although of course, that never went anywhere. She was also named the guardian of Parr’s child with Thomas Seymour after the death of both of her parents (it’s not known what happened to this child, but she doesn’t appear in the records, so she likely died very young). As a fierce Protestant, Katherine fled to Europe with her second husband and their two children and lived in exile during the reign of Queen Mary.
Another interesting fact: Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last wife, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon’s lady-in-waiting Maude Parr. It was possible that she was actually named after Catherine of Aragon.
Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee (1540), by Hans Holbein the Younger
Maggie - Lady Margaret Wyatt, later known as Margaret Lee after her marriage (served Anne Boleyn) - Guitar
Margaret served Anne Boleyn and was likely her long-time friend, as the Boleyn’s estates lay near the Wyatt’s. The sister of Thomas Wyatt, the poet who fell in love with Anne Boleyn and wrote MANY passionate poems about her, Margaret was serving Anne as a lady-in-waiting at least by 1532, when she accompanied her to Calais, when it is presumed that Anne and Henry VII secretly decided to marry /very soon/. Margaret was Mistress of the Queen’s Wardrobe, a role that placed her in charge of Anne’s clothing and jewels.
It is believed that Margaret attended Anne at the Tower of London and at her execution; she served as chief mourner at her funeral. Anne gave her a prayer book in farewell, and wrote in it “Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day.”
I’m really glad Maggie is included in the Ladies-in-Waiting. Anne Boleyn is portrayed in basically every TV show, movie, and book I’ve ever watched/read about her as not really having any close friends; it’s wonderful to learn that that wasn’t really the truth. I feel like women’s friendships are often erased from the narrative, both historically and in fiction. Men get to have same-sex buddies, but women don’t. That neither seems fair nor realistic, so I’m happy to learn more about a woman I really didn’t know much about before.
Possibly a portrait of Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, by Lucas Horenbolte,
Bessie Blount’s son with Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, at age 15.
Bessie - Elizabeth "Bessie" Blount (maid-of-honor to Catherine of Aragon, lady-in-waiting to Anna of Cleves) - Bass
Bessie Blount is a really interesting choice for the backing band in Six, as historically, she was the only acknowledged mistress of Henry VIII who did not go on to become his wife. We have no known portraits of Bessie, but I’ve included a possible painting of her.
Bessie was around 7 years younger than Henry VIII, and 13 years younger than Catherine of Aragon. She was reputed as a beauty, and their relationship lasted around eight years (much much longer than most of his other affairs). She gave birth to an illegitimate son named Henry FitzRoy in 1519 (FitzRoy was a common surname of the illegitimate offspring of royalty, as it literally means “son of the king”); this is the only illegitimate child that the King ever acknowledged as his own. This birth was pretty important, as by this time, Catherine of Aragon had been pregnant numerous times (in 1509, 1510, 1513, 1514, 1515, 1517, and 1518), yet only one child, Mary, had lived beyond a few months of age (most of her children were miscarried, stillborn, or died within a few hours). Thus, the existence of Henry Fitzroy proved that Henry COULD have healthy male children. This helped fuel Henry’s desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon later in life.
For a while in the 1520s, when it became clear that Catherine of Aragon would not be able to have a legitimate son with Henry, the king seriously considered naming Henry Fitzroy as his heir; he did give him the royal title of the Duke of Richmond at a certain point. This plan fell to the wayside though, when Henry decided to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry Fitzroy later died at the age of 17.
Joan/Jane Meutas, by Hans Holbein the younger
In 1522, a few years after her son with Henry was born, Bessie married her first husband. She apparently was absent from court for many years while raising her children with her first and second husband, although she later served Anne of Cleves briefly. However, Bessie’s poor health caused her to leave court before even her mistress’s 6 months as queen were done. She died shortly thereafter.
Joan - Jane/Joan Astley, known as Jane/Joan Meutas after her marriage (maid-of-honor, then lady-in-waiting to Jane Seymour) - Keyboard
I haven’t found a ton of information about Jane Astley, also known as Joan. We know she served Jane Seymour and got married in 1537, probably shortly before Jane Seymour’s death after birthing her son, the future Edward VI. Jane and her husband were granted several estates and positions after Jane Seymour’s death, so they likely remained in favor at the royal court.
The most notable part of Jane’s life appears to be the drawing of her portrait by the famed Hans Holbein the younger.
Her maiden name, Astley, is the married name of Elizabeth I’s famed companion, Kat Astley, so it’s possible that she’s related to her husband somehow, but there’s no actual proof for that. I’m just guessing, tbh. I wonder why her name was chosen for the Ladies in Waiting? There are several other more famous ladies-in-waiting to the Queens of Henry VIII that could have been a good choice: Jane Parker/Boleyn perhaps.
The Costumes of the Ladies-in-Waiting: The ladies-in-waiting of Six all wear very similar costumes, with only very slight variations. Each band member wears the same long sleeved black shirt with silver and pearl trimmings. They specifically have parallel silver lines all down their sleeves and diagonal silver lines on the main shirt meeting in downward points like chevrons. Beads resembling pearls are scattered throughout. Some of the band members have shirts that are longer than others’, which is probably just a comfort thing.
The ladies also sport what look like leather/pleather ruffs. These are an interesting historical detail, as ruffs weren’t actually worn at all until at least 13 years (1560s) after Henry VIII’s death (1547) ; so they’re anachronistic in a way that most historical details in Six costumes aren’t (keeping in mind that like, the costumes are obviously not intended to be exact historical replicas). I plan to talk a lot more about ruffs in a later post about the Haus of Holbein’s ruffs, so I’ll leave it at that for now. :D
You know, in looking at the pictures side by side, I’m wondering if the Ladies-in-Waiting shirts were specifically based off of this one portrait of Maria de Salinas. It’s not great quality, and it’s hard to tell what’s going on in it (I’m 90% sure that collar is supposed to be fur or ruffles, but not A Ruff, as that wouldn’t exist for many decades yet). Despite that, the similarities are very evident!
The pearls all over the costumes may actually be a reference to the pearl requirements of Jane Seymour’s ladies in waiting/maids of honor, which I mentioned briefly earlier. We actually have historical records showing that her ladies were required to wear girdles/belts with a specified number of pearls; if there weren’t enough pearls (at LEAST 120), they weren’t allowed to appear before the Queen.
Pearls also edge the band members’ neck ruffs and headbands, which seem pretty obviously based off of a French hood. Look how similar the headbands are to Anne Boleyn’s French hood from her portrait.
The layout of the pearls on the shirt actually reminds me a LOT of some historical armor, specifically the brigandine. Brigandines are made of heavy cloth or leather with steel plates riveted to it, and are pretty distinctive, as you can tell from these renaissance painting examples.
The chevrons on the shirt may be a reference to popular skirt or doublet styles in Elizabethan times. Alternatively, chevrons were commonly used in renaissance heraldry, so these may be referencing that.
The band members wear black pants with lacing up the front that resemble one of the Catherine-Parr-in-Six variations, although their pants are significantly more shiny and leather looking than Parr’s, which are matte cloth. The pants also seem to be a deliberate reference to renaissance cloth or leather armor, which was generally worn with close fitting pants
The temporary costumes that have been pulled out a few times for main Queen cast members when their costumes need emergency repairs and for emergency alternate step-ins (like the awesome time that co-writer of the show Toby Marlow and original soundtrack Anne of Cleves Genesis Lynea stepped in to perform at two sold-out shows after the cast and alternates were badly affected by illness) also appear to be based on the Ladies in Waiting costumes. As you can see, the main portion of the shirt is the same, although it may be worn with or without sleeves and with or without an additional neck piece. Lauren Drew of the UK tour cast is shown wearing shorts that look an AWFUL lot like the Anne of Cleves shorts, although I don’t think I’ve seen those cool chain closures on the side before. Toby and Genesis are shown just wearing plain leather/pleather shorts.