Anne Boleyn 1507–36

A captivating sensation at court, Anne turned Henry VIII’s head. His divorce from his first wife to allow his marriage with Anne led to a permanent rupture with the Roman Church and the beginning of the English Reformation. Unable to provide a son and caught up in the power politics of the Tudor court, Anne fell foul of her doting husband, was tried for treason, and beheaded at the age of 29.

Anne was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a wealthy and ambitious merchant who had married into the influential Howard family – his wife was the Duke of Norfolk’s sister.

Anne grew up in Norfolk and was sent to the court of Louis XII in France, when she was just twelve years old, as a kind of finishing school. She spent two years there acquiring a range of courtly graces, and Henry VIII set eyes on her shortly after her return to England, aged 14. She soon joined the Queen’s household and was considered a great success at court. Although she was not conventionally beautiful, she was known for her sparkling dark eyes, her vivacity, wit and intelligence, and was soon being pursued by a number of smitten courtiers.

By 1525, Henry was already infatuated with Anne, and intervened to quash her two putative affairs with Henry Percy, heir to the earldom of Northumberland and Sir Thomas Wyatt. Henry implored Anne to become his mistress, but she resisted his advances, even though the prospects of marriage must have seemed remote.

Henry, desperate for an heir and obsessed with Anne, realised she meant what she said. He began to set in motion the processes that would dissolve his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and clear the way for a union with Anne. She managed to keep the king at arm’s length until the point where it seemed inevitable that the king was ready to break with the Roman pope and divorce Catherine. She finally yielded to the king’s advances and almost immediately became pregnant.

On 25 January 1533 they were secretly married, securing the legitimacy of the child she was carrying, and a magnificent coronation followed on 1 June. The king and Anne were happy, the focus of a young, lively and pleasure-loving court. On 10 September 1533 the child was born, the future Elizabeth I, another daughter and not the male heir Henry wanted. Anne’s frantic attempts to bear Henry a son ended in miscarriages, and a disappointed Henry sought comfort in a new mistress.

Anne panicked and, increasingly insecure, entered into a number of court intrigues. A temporary reconciliation with Henry led to another pregnancy, but Anne had a still-born son in January 1536. Her time was running out, and Henry was already turning his attentions to her successor, Lady Jane Seymour.

Anne, brilliant and ambitious, was also arrogant, and had made some very powerful enemies at court. Thomas Cromwell began to compile evidence to charge her with high treason, and the politically astute Howards – with the exception of her brother George – turned against her. Cromwell amassed, with judicious use of torture, a number of witnesses who swore to her adultery, and Anne was committed to the Tower on 2 May 1536.

Her brother George was also arrested, and both Anne and George were tried in the Tower on 15 May. Two days later, George and four other supposed lovers were executed. On 19 May, Anne was executed in the Tower; in recognition of her rank, she was assigned a sword-wielding French executioner rather than the customary English axe.

Known as ‘Anne of a Thousand Days’ her brief reign as Queen Consort had ended in tragedy. But her daughter Elizabeth went on to become one of England’s best known and most successful monarchs.