Sorry, am on the road a lot, hence the belated reply - chatter away. Re: what the show does with the ladies in waiting, the show was actually pretty good in making it clear that marriage was an economic and status necessity, and also that Mary felt entitled to ask, say, Kenna to risk her life going into crazy Henry's chamber, but then constantly back-pedellad because of the teen soap thing. Ditto for the status of a royal mistress and her publically acknowledged offspring. Francis was written as a good guy, so he takes care of Lola and the kid, Henry even when sane is shady, so Bash is Diane de Poitiers' son but somehow she hasn't managed to squeeze titles and lands out of Henry for decades. (Diane, of all the economically minded people.)