A short tragic life of Anne Boleyn

So, what do we know about Anna Bolena (Anne Boleyn's) life?

Anne was born in about 1501 (we don’t know exactly when). Her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was a respected courtier. Her mother, Elizabeth Howard, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, one of the most powerful men in the country. She spent her childhood at Hever Castle in Kent.

In 1513, Thomas Boleyn sent Anne to the court of Margaret of Austria, and then to the French court, originally as a companion to Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, who was married to Louis XII. After Louis’ death in 1515, Anne stayed in France for seven years in the household of Queen Claude, wife of the new king, Francis I.

For an ambitious family like the Boleyns, this was a wonderful opportunity for their daughter to learn all the skills and manners expected of a lady at court, and to form a close connection with the French and English royal families. Her French education made Anne stand out on her return to England: she could sing, play musical instruments and dance, and introduced new French fashions at court.

By 1522, Anne had returned to England. Anne’s married sister Mary had become Henry’s mistress, and possibly remained so until 1525.

Both Mary and Anne became ladies-in-waiting to Henry’s first wife, Katherine of Aragon.

Henry VIII may have first encountered Anne Boleyn in March 1522. Anne was playing one of the lead roles, 'Perseverance', in a court masque at Thomas Wolsey’s Whitehall Palace. 

In 1526, the King’s interest in Anne significantly upped the stakes. 

Henry VIII’s long marriage to Katherine of Aragon had produced only one surviving child, Princess Mary. Henry was becoming increasingly desperate for a legitimate son and heir to secure the future of the Tudor dynasty. 

Either driven by her own virtue or ambition, or by her scheming relatives, and aware of the King’s dynastic dilemma, Anne refused to become a royal mistress and held out for the possibility of marriage.

In the Tudor period, not even a king could simply decide to get a divorce.  And pious and proud Katherine of Aragon refused the divorce. She was in close relationship with Pope Clement VII  and had his full support.

However Henry VIII defied the Pope and dismissed Katherine from court in 1531.

Anne Boleyn married Henry VIII in January 1533, seven years after their courtship had begun.

The following year, Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church, setting himself up instead as the Supreme Head of what would become the Church of England. This created shockwaves, which caused religious and political unrest in Britain for the next 200 years. 

After the birth of Princess Elizabeth, Anne and Henry had no more children. Miscarriages in 1534 and 1536 may have led Henry, always spiritually superstitious, to question whether he had made the right choice in marrying Anne.

Henry and Anne’s relationship, built on passion and expectation, seems to have become more tempestuous and Henry, again, began to look outside his marriage for solutions.

In 1536, Cromwell made a decisive move against Anne. Accusations of adultery and even of plotting against the King’s life were levelled against the Queen, her brother and a small group of courtiers. 

Henry VIII, notoriously prone to suspicion, and now besotted with one of Anne’s own ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, ignored the Queen’s protestations of innocence.

A sham trial filled with Anne’s enemies found her guilty, and she found herself a prisoner at the Tower of London, in the same royal apartment where, just three years before, she had awaited her coronation.

On 19 May 1536, Anne was beheaded on Tower Green. 

Henry married Jane Seymour a mere 11 days after Anne's execution.