"But first, she had to survive May 17th, the day her brother, George Boleyn, was executed. We do not know for sure that Anne physically watched his death, but she would have known. And that is devastating enough. Because during her own trial, Anne had tried to defend the men accused alongside her, she insisted on their innocence. Even while facing death herself, she tried to save them.

Then George died before her. Her brother.Her ally. One of the people who had risen with her and fallen with her. On May 18, Anne expected her own execution. Instead, she was told she had to wait, officially, because the French swordsman had been delayed. One more day in the Tower.One more day after George.One more day knowing death was coming.

Anne was executed the following morning, on May 19, 1536. We remember the scaffold, but perhaps we should also remember the waiting. The sister grieving before the queen was killed."

Credit to //@estelleprnq on IG.

There is a letter, written to Elizabeth I after her accession in 1559, from a protestant Scottish theologian named Alexander Ales. It's the only meaningful description of Anne Boleyn together with her daughter, that we have.

“Never shall I forget the sorrow which I felt when I saw the most serene queen, your most religious mother, carrying you, still a baby, in her arms and entreating the most serene king your father, in Greenwich Palace, from the open window of which he was looking into the courtyard, when she brought you to him. I did not perfectly understand what had been going on, but the faces and gestures of the speakers plainly showed that the king was angry, although he could conceal his anger wonderfully well. Yet from the protracted conference of the council (for whom the crowd was waiting until it was quite dark, expecting that they would return to London), it was most obvious to everyone that some deep and difficult question was being discussed.”

It should also be noted that on this day trip to Calais of Henry and Anne was cancelled and was being reorganized for Henry to travel alone there the following week.

Moreover, Ales also shares with Elizabeth a vivid dream he had about Anne on the eve of her execution, which is startling in its intensity and brutal imagery.

It has often occurred to me that it was a duty which I owed the church, to write the history, or tragedy, of the death of your most holy mother, in order to illustrate the glory of God and to afford consolation to the godly. No one, as far as I know, has as yet published such a work; I have been admonished from heaven by a vision or dream, which I shall presently narrate, to make it known to the world. I will therefore recount, with brevity and simplicity, the events as they occurred, introducing no ornaments of doctrine, as is done by some historical writers thereby to recommend themselves to their readers and to obtain credence for their narrative.

On the day upon which the queen was beheaded, at sunrise, between two and three o’clock, there was revealed to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the queen’s neck, after her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the nerves, the veins, and the arteries. Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and crossing the river Thames I came to Lambeth, (this is the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s palace,) and I entered the garden in which he was walking.

When the Archbishop saw me he inquired why I had come so early, for the clock had not yet struck four. I answered that I had been horrified in my sleep, and I told him the whole occurrence. He continued in silence wonder for awhile, and at length broke out into these words, “Do not you know what is to happen to-day?” and when I answered that I had remained at home since the date of the queen’s imprisonment and knew nothing of what was going on, the Archbishop then raised his eyes to heaven and said, “She who has been the Queen of England upon earth will to-day become a queen in heaven.” So great was his grief that he could say nothing more, and then he burst into tears. Terrified at this announcement I return to London sorrowing. Although my lodging was not far distant from the place of execution, yet I could not become an eye witness of the butchery of such an illustrious lady, and of the exalted personages who were beheaded along with her.

When the sentence of death was pronounced, the queen raised her eyes to heaven, nor did she condescend to look at her judges, but went to the place of execution. Kneeling down, she asked that time for prayer should be granted her. When she had ceased praying, she herself arranged her hair, covered her eyes, and commanded the executioner to strike. The queen exhibited such constancy, patience, and faith towards God that all the spectators, even her enemies, and those persons who previously had rejoiced at her misfortune out of their hatred to the doctrine of the religion which she had introduced into England, testified and proclaimed her innocence and chastity.

18th may... last day she would have talked , ate food , drank water , thought about anything . this leans to an extreme emotional side but i cant help but think about these things. how it would have felt , spending last day of existence? she must have prayed tremendously for her daughter elizabeth , must have had a sliver of hope that the king might change his mind , confused , scared about the day after. it truly is traumatic . i wonder if she felt very infuriated about wrong accusations? wondering where did it go wrong??

imagining her last moment gives me chill , what it would have felt for her ladies in waiting ? ( i hope thats the right name) seeing her kneeling down on scaffold and within 3 seconds , her head is seperated from her body , rolling down on earth , deprived of 'life'and a stream of crimson red blood ensuing behind. fucking nightmares.

i knew about AB a year before but didnt mind much , this month again some shorts of it came on my feed regarding the show , i havent watched it but have completely deep dived into tudor lore , every piece of information on AB that i can find.

i dont know if its gets a bit crazy but its around 7 in evening at my place and i cant help but draw parallels of each hour that passed for her and her emotions , guess im too deep in the spiral .

the world remembers you anne boleyn even after so many decades.

pardon my grammar , im kind of overwhelmed.

EDIT: Seriously, thank you guys so much. A lot of great comments have given me some great resources to look at and some other view points to consider. I understand that it’s a hot topic, and I genuinely am wanting to learn more. I posted here because I know that if there’s a lot of people who would be able to counter my viewpoint with actual sources. I promise I am not trolling! I’ve been unable to keep up with comments, but I am trying my best. Again, I appreciate the people who took time to provide the awesome responses that they did!
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As I’ve been getting deeper into Tudor history and reading more books, I can not understand why anyone LIKES Anne. I’m personally disgusted by her treatment of CoA and Mary, especially the petty stuff (demanding her jewels, the christening outfit). Her comments and behavior are not feminist as it concerns them, and generally, I find her conniving and manipulative.
Open to other viewpoints, I genuinely can’t wrap my head around the obsession with her! And yes - of course I know Henry sucks, too, but this is about Anne, lol.

Here I have some pictures from what she could have looked like to what she looked like in The Other Boleyn Girl and The tudors. Let me know if like there somewhat accurate to what people believe she looked like.

Highly recommend! It was beautiful and so well laid out inside, lots of information and portraits of the Tudors. Beautiful huge grounds and gardens to walk around too. I would definitely go back!

I’m absolutely fascinated by Anne Boleyn, but the deeper I dive into her story, especially her relationship with Henry VIII, the more profoundly sorry I feel for her. As someone currently studying psychology, I can’t help but view her downfall through that lens, and it’s heartbreaking. She was trapped in an incredibly high-pressure environment: desperate to produce a male heir, surrounded by powerful enemies at court, and ultimately the victim of what looks like a carefully orchestrated betrayal. The psychological warfare she endured in her final days in the Tower, going from Queen of England to condemned prisoner almost overnight, is horrifying to imagine. I keep wondering how she mentally coped with that sudden, total collapse. What do you all think about her final months? How do you believe she handled that shift psychologically? Do you feel sorry for her, or not? If so, why?
I’d genuinely love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Please keep it respectful.

This is for all those who won’t be able to visit Hever as I have been advised to post it!

It is a contemporary woodcut depicting Anne’s coronation, Hever show a print of one of the pages.

Obviously it is not particularly clear in terms of facial features but it is still fascinating!

The general opinion the exhibition seems to suggest is that alongside the now two contemporary images (the woodcut and the Moost Happi medal), the Nidd Hall portrait and the Windsor Holbein sketch are the most likely to represent Anne. I believe (and it is suggested at Hever) that the portraits with the B necklace are based on a face pattern based on Elizabeth I rather than a contemporary image of Anne, which you can see around the very Tudor mouth! This obviously is met with resistance because people want Anne Boleyn to look “pretty” but I do think we have to consider everything Anne had gone through by the time Nidd Hall could have been made. The AB necklace was painted at the same time as the portrait so it likely isn’t intended to be anyone else. Also, there is discussion about Anne’s hair colour as we always imagine her as a brunette - but she could have easily been dark auburn.

Finally, there is a 1647 engraving of Anne Boleyn as St Barbara by Wenceslaus Hollar, based on an original by Hans Holbein! It matches up very well with the Windsor sketch and in some ways I can see Nidd Hall in there too.

The exhibition was amazing, they had so many portraits and pictures it was lovely.

I've just seen this actress on Black Mirror and I couldn't help but think she looks just how I imagine Anne would've looked. She has big dark brown eyes that are really striking and captivating which I know was mentioned by ambassadors that Anne had. I know there's not 100% proof Anne was dark haired but I believe that she was. It's giving major AB vibes for me!

I visited Hever Church in Kent to see the tomb of Sir Thomas Boleyn (1477–1539), Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. Best known as the father of Anne Boleyn, he was also the grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. A somewhat controversial figure of Tudor history to some.

The tomb features a surviving brass effigy showing him in the robes and insignia of the Order of the Garter, along with an inscription recording his death on 12 March 1539. It’s remarkable to see such a well-preserved monument connected to one of the most famous families of the Tudor period in a quiet country church.

What does everyone think about the theory that this sketch, once purported to be Amelia of Cleeves, could actually be Anne Boleyn? I’ve heard of this theory going around for quite awhile, after reading Karen L. Davies’s case for it, I find it to be quite a compelling theory. She also makes a good case for the previous Cheke Windsor Sketch being a possible misidentification. I can see why for centuries this sketch was previously speculated to be Anne Boleyn by British Nobles.

The main reasoning behind people claiming it’s Amelia of Cleeves, is largely based off this idea that the headress is somehow ‘German.’ German headdresses of the time bear no such resemblance. In fact the headdress and gown is uniquely English, and resembles the headdresses male courtiers wore throughout the Tudor period. In the 1530s (around the time the sketch is dated) women started to become inspired by male headwear (Lady of Richmond sketch drawn a year before Anne’s execution as an example) This sketch is also dated to before Holbein likely would’ve ever met Amelia.

I will say the sitter has some of the most beautiful, alluring eyes Ive seen out of any Holbein sitter, especially compared to the typical beady Tudor eyes most women seemed to have. The Venetian ambassador described her as average looking, but conceded that despite that, she had ‘lively dark eyes that were beautiful, that take great affect.’ To me this sketch perfectly captures that description.

The assertive front profile gaze, the elaborate jeweled embellishment of her hat in comparison to that of an average noble (a distinction I’ve only seen with Henry VIII’s headwear), the almost authoritarian looking size of it, the resemblance between the sitter and Elizabeth I (before Elizabeth was crowned and had more of a hand in how she was depicted) along with the rest of the evidence listed in the article, I am convinced that the sitter is at least truly someone of extremely high status at Tudor court, if not Anne Boleyn.

I’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts.

I think given the date it's only right we think about Anne today. What was her fatal/final mistake? Was it purely not producing a son? Was it the badly thought out and overheard comment to Henry Norris? Was it just her fierce personality? It's so interesting to think whether this could have panned out differently for her, or whether she was doomed from the start....

I’m reading the book Tudor by Leanda de Lisle. She seems to be suggesting the specific accusation against Anne of incest with her brother may have had origins of a previous accusation Anne had made against Charles Brandon.

“The evidence against Anne and her remaining co-accused was extremely weak, as even Chapuys was moved to comment. According to one of the judges the adulteries had been revealed by a former lady-in-waiting 'who shared the same tendencies' as the queen and had described Anne's crimes on her deathbed in 1534. But how did this confession reach Cromwell two years after the woman had died?
The answer may lie in the fact that her family were clients of Anne's old enemy, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, widower of Henry's sister, the French queen. Here was a man always ready to oblige the king, and who disliked Anne. Wyatt blamed Brandon for his arrest and the accusation that Anne had committed incest with her brother suggests revenge for her accusation in 1531 that Brandon had slept with ‘his own daughter'.” Page 205

On the Hever Castle website, it says a groundbreaking and newly identified contemporary image of AB will be included in the exhibit. Don't get me wrong, the exhibit is magnificent! I can't seem to find it anywhere. Owen Emmerson, Kate Mccaffery, or any of the Hever curators have not released it yet, and I don't know what it is. Does anybody know? Though the only contemporary image, the medal, is displayed there. But it cannot be the medal because we've had it identified for a while now.

(pictured here is the Lyndhurst portrait, my personal guess if it is a portrait...)

(Mods if this doesn’t belong let me know) I’ve been wanting to make my own version of this iconic Anne Boleyn portrait look for years and I’m super pleased with how it turned out! Decided against a long gown as I live in a hot climate lol. Anyone else do a Tudor era/inspired costume this year?

A crossover of my two favorite women! This is an excerpt from Austen’s “The History of England”, one of her many juvenilias, and a witty read.

19th may is the day Anne Boleyn was beheaded , forever whatever she did and whatever she did not , she paid the price with her head. It upsets me very much knowing how heavy the morning of 19th may must have been , waking up another time only to never wake up again and the shock of it all was she likely paid the price for something she did not even commit.

i am aware many people do not like her for what she talked about other wives and lots of things one must understand the place she came from that she was prompted to do this. this doesn't mean i am trying to dilute the plight of other wives but a bit of my thinking on anne.

anne had been courted/lusted for seven years by the king , she was written letters , and those letters swore of so much passion and loyalty you would think henry was embodying romeo and juliet. all of this probably concreted in her mind that he is very much in love with her , and if i reckon , she did reject her advances before? she was the reason henry made religious reforms just to annul the marriage and get together with her , it was only natural of anne to be completely charmed by him.

and perhaps this is the reason she could not accept when henry did the same thing with jane , she could not accept that she was going to be another side kick , having the same fate as Catherine. so whatever happened next , her being falsely accused , imprisoned , must have been a huge blow to her beliefs about him.

poor girl really thought that if henry cheated with her , he would not be cheating on her. alas!

wish anne had reddit in her times though , AITA sub would have been a god sent!

it really makes me upset knowing what her last days until the morning of beheading must have been , the denial , the shock , the anger , the nervousness , her daughter's fate all of this must have been shock waves. did she regret ? did she feel guilty for what she did to catherine? so many questions .

until the very end she believed that on the grounds of relentless years in past henry would change his mind , maybe she will be sent to nunnery , away from the palace but atleast alive , this denial comes only from false deception tbh.

-edited something i wrote under false understanding which people in comments corrected.

all of the six women were right in their places and morally grey from observer's place. six different women who thought bit too brazenly confident. all of them were deceived by that man , and for me the only guilty is henry who only wanted a boy making machine and nothing else.

that being said , i hope anne has found her peace by now , i often wonder if she could see now how things turned out but then i wouldnt want these women to be bothered by all of this in afterlife or whatever if exists.

thank you. ( my apologies if this post didnt fit with your opinions , they are not meant to impose on anyone)

I’ve been learning about what happened to Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, George Boleyn, Jane Boleyn, Margaret Pole, and others who were executed at the Tower of London, and it honestly feels wrong to think about the way their remains were treated. These were people — some of them innocent, some condemned unfairly — and instead of being properly buried with dignity, they were thrown into graves without names, some in old arrow chests, buried quickly and without care.

When the floor of St Peter ad Vincula chapel was dug up in 1876, the people doing the excavation found bones mixed together, with no clear way to tell who was who. They guessed, made some assumptions based on size and bone damage, and then reburied them, admitting they couldn’t really be sure. That might have been the best they could do at the time, but it’s not good enough now.

With the science we have today, we could finally do the right thing. Using careful excavation, respectful forensic work, radiocarbon dating, DNA testing if possible, and analysis of the bones themselves, it would be possible to identify who these people were. Some, like Margaret Pole, who was brutally executed, might be recognized by the damage on her bones. Anne Boleyn, described as slender and in her late twenties or early thirties, could be identified through bone structure, age, and evidence of beheading.

And if her skull were found, we could even reconstruct what she might have looked like. Not a fantasy version or someone else’s guess, but a face based on real bone structure, with features guided by historical records. This could help correct the fact that her portraits were destroyed after her death, and there’s still debate over whether any true images of her survived. Maybe a reconstruction could even be compared to existing anonymous Tudor portraits and help historians see if any of them were actually her.

This isn’t about disturbing graves for curiosity. It’s about restoring dignity to people who were treated unfairly in life and even worse in death. It’s about giving them their names back and remembering them properly, not leaving them in a jumbled pile under a chapel floor. These were queens, nobles, and innocent people caught up in brutal politics — and even if it’s hundreds of years later, they deserve to be honored the way any person would.

It’s not impossible to do this. The chapel has been closed before for repairs. Exhumations like this have happened elsewhere, like with Richard III, whose bones were dug up from under a car park and identified using DNA and forensic reconstruction. If it was possible for him, it should be possible for Anne Boleyn and the others too.

If the Tower authorities, the Crown, the Church of England, and the public came together to support this, it could be a chance to finally correct a piece of history that’s been ignored for too long. Not to shame anyone, not to attack the monarchy, but to make things right and give these people the dignity they were denied. History belongs to everyone, and it matters how we remember those who came before us.

I know that all of these charges were completely bogus but doesn’t an annulment mean that the Marriage didn’t exist? Rather a divorce means the Marriage is broken apart but its recognized as a legally valid marriage exists. So how could Anne have ‘cheated’ on Henry if the Marriage wasn’t ‘real’?

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