Fellow Anne Boleyn fan, Kimberly has just posted a great video on her blog and I just had to share it here. In it, Natalie Dormer retraces Anne’s steps in the Tower of London with historian Tom Stammers.
Natalie visits the apartments where Anne was imprisoned, sees Tudor grafitti, learns more about Anne’s behaviour and visits St Peter ad Vincula to see the tile that marks Anne Boleyn’s burial spot. It is a moving video and it’s obvious that Natalie felt a real connection to Anne.
I really hope you enjoyed it. I thought it was appropriate to post it now as we have been discussing Anne Boleyn’s execution and her final resting place.
By the way, Kimberly, who pointed out the video, is a novelist who is currently writing a novel about Anne Boleyn. If you’re interested in historical fiction (with a twist!), you should check out the first chapter on her blog – it’s excellent! She tells me that she’ll be posting the second chapter soon and I’m dying to read it – click here to read it now.
Thank you everyone for all your recent comments, emails and the questions that you’ve posted on the Q&A page. As you know, I love hearing from you all, debating and chatting about our heroine, Anne Boleyn. I’m always eager to find out more about her (that’s my quest!) so feel free to add your knowledge as comments on pages and posts. Thanks!
Hello Anne Boleyn Files,
I’m so glad you enjoyed this video as much as I did.
Thank you so much for all your hard work on this
labor of love and for mentioning my work-in-progress.
Yes, chapter 2 ,’The Hidden Passageway’ will be
updated on my blog very soon!
Be back soon to check in and read your next post.
Thanks, Kimberly! I’m so excited about your book. What an inspiration Anne’s story is. x
Still sad to ‘relive’ her execution. The execution episode was oddly the only single episode of The Tudors that I had seen before. And it is still raining in London when they visit where the scaffold would have been. I wonder where England’s reformation would have gone if Anne had lived, if there had been no more wives for Henry etc. Anne was smart and young and she still would have had more years to bear children if Henry had given her a chance and wasn’t such a fool to listen to Wosley!!
I don’t know why Henry just didn’t banish her instead of putting her through such a terrible death! Elizabeth I was intelligent. Surely, she got her smarts of Anne and not HenryVII.
I want to read Kimberly’s book.
I understand Catherine Middleton Wales is a descendant of an illegitamate daughter of Anne’s sister, Mary, and Henry VIII. He certainly didn’t know how to keep it in his pants!
I was wondering that too…why not just send her to a nunnery?
II t could be cuz of Henry’s selfish reasons..if he indeed did not create the accusations but rather believed them….then the reason he didnt send her away would be humiliation…..of the fact that his queen committed treason and he had to live with that if she was alive…also his rage towards that ..in a way those allegations broke his heart..IF Henry did not cause them himself…..which I do not think he did….He did not have to create such mess to be rid of her as queen he had no reason…..he was the King and the head of the Church..he could have easily dismissed her on charges of …bla bla bla…something lame….but if he indeed could not find the reason to be rid of her.. then he could have created the whole treason accusation himself which is FU-KED up lol
How interesting to see your website,
I thought I was the only one with a Queen Anne Boleyn obsession.
I visited the tower of London on the 19th of May this year, the date of Queen Anne Boleyn’s Execution, as I wanted to see the mystery floral tribute that comes every year.
I understand well what Natalie Dormer felt in that short video.
From first reading the text of queen Anne’s final speech as a boy in school, I looked in disbelief at the page, how could some one express such Love for the one who cut short her life;
“Masters,
I here humbly submit me to the law,
as the law hath judged me,
and as for mine offences,
God knoweth them,
I remit them to God,
beseeching him to have mercy on my soul, and I beseech Jesus,
save my Sovereign and master the King,
the most goodliest,
and gentlest Prince that is,
and long to reign over you,
To Jesus Christ I commend my soul…”
It was also so sobering to read the text of the Tower Green Monument;
“ Gentle visitor pause awhile
Where you stand,
death cut away the light of many days
Here, jeweled names were broken
from the vivid thread of life
May they rest in peace while we walk
the generations around their strife and courage
Under these restless skies”
I visited Saint Peter ad Vincula and saw the floral tribute, found the church to be spriitually at ease even with the tragic lives scarcely remembered and buried underneath. I felt saint Peter’s to be a peaceful place and offered some prayers for Queen Anne and the others who rest there.
I have some pictures of the floral tribute, if you wish, I can send them on.
Paudie K
Hi Paudie,
I’d love to see photos of the floral tribute – please send to claire@theanneboleynfiles.com. How fantastic to have visited on May 19th and I’m glad that you felt that the chapel was peaceful.
Claire x
i was thrilled to find all the info about anne.
i am so glad to know i am not alone in my obsession and love for her
i wish i could see her in person and have a chat!!
i have been to england 3 times and i am praying and hoping to go again.
this time with my teen grandson and grandaughter.
from one loving anne boleyn and the tudors!!
mary cleland
columbus ohio
I understand why Natalie Dormer becomes so emotional when at Annes grave, I mean when you play a historical person you cannot avoid to feel close to them…
By the way how close can you come to Annes grave? Can you walk up to it or is it some kind of a block, preventing you from going up to the altar? 🙂
Catherine– I just came from London, and visited the chapel where Anne is buried. Unfortunately, there is a rope preventing you from walking up to the actual marker, and no photos are allowed. I’d say you can stand about 12 feet from the exact spot– and during our visit, the table at the front of the chapel was covering the marker, so I couldn’t even SEE it clearly– very frustrating 🙁
I think she’s damn right when they say in the movie
– ” It’s so modest for a woman of her importance, that leading eye for the reformation, she changed so much and there she is.”
Anne deserves a proper ROYAL funeral AND a more dignified grave!
Hi Claire,
It moves me so much to see how much effort you put in to give Anne her shot at modern life. To see her history reconstituted and reconstructed has given so many people another perspective on Anne. Queen Anne portrayed to us in our time, stepping out of her narrow slot, actually an identity and character many of us could approach… Bravo, bravo, bravo!
Forgive me if this has been mentioned before, but, in the video Tom Stammers shows Natelie Dormer the marked site of Anne’s execution. As I understand it this is incorrect?
I am so glad I found The Ann Boleyn Files.
I have been fascinated by her since My early teens,”Ann of the thousand days” being My most favourite films of all time.
I visited Tower Green in the mid seventies and the memory has stayed with me all these years. One of My greatest wishes is to go back .
Just apologizing to all other Queen Anne fans
As Im such a fan of hers maybe I should spell her name correctly and not leave the e off the end 🙁
I have just watched the video of Natalie Dormer at The Tower and like Catherine I can understand why she becme emotional.
I have just ordered the complete box set of The Tudors and cant wait to watch her performance in that again. I also think Genevive Bujold played a magnificent Anne Boleyn.
There was a period in English history when the bible was translated into English and read aloud, the people that did this were called ‘Lollards’, and then it was banned. If it were not for people like Anne Boleyn and the other refomers the bible would still be in Latin and the mass heard in latin. The English translation by William Tynedale was a way of allowing the common people to make up their own minds about their religion and what it could teach them.
Anne is heroic in every sense, she never gave in to the whims of Henry; as her sister did. Anne was unjustly accused and judicially murdered all on the grounds of rumour and hearsay. What did Anne leave for us? She left England a great legacy. Elizabeth, the greatest monarch England ever had.
Putney Arts will be putting on ‘Anne Boleyn’ by Howard Brenton on 24th May 2014. This play gives a really sympathetic view of Anne and acknowledges her place in the reformation of the church. It’s a must for anyone interested in Anne Boleyn and the reason’s why she has such a special place in history.