On this day in Tudor history, 1st June 1533, Whitsun, six-momth pregnant Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey in London.
Here’s my #TudorHistoryShorts video on it:
Here is my detailed video on Anne Boleyn’s coronation:
And if you prefer reading articles, you can read about the coronation at https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/1st-june-1533-the-noble-triumphant-coronation-of-queen-anne-boleyn/
What a brilliant triumphant but exhausting day for Anne, but this was what she had longed for, and striven for her and the king, and it had all begun simply because this young woman had simply said no to the King of England, it is truly astounding that she had achieved that which no woman had ever achieved before, once long ago Henry V111 had sought her out and had implored her to be his mistress, he had showered her with gifts with ardent passionate letters, he had declared he would have only her for his mistress and forsake all others, if only she would yield to him, but this lady had a heart of stone it seemed and she refused all his offers, the king was beside himself and realised he could only possess her if he were to marry her, throughout the long years of waiting he behaved like a besotted schoolboy with his first love, whilst the world and his country looked on with disbelief, finally now Anne was his and the crown was hers, it is easy to say she loved the crown more than the man, her feelings towards her husband we can only guess at, but it just goes to show on her coronation day as she sat in the ancient chair of King Edward in Westminster Hall, and was duly crowned and anointed, the orb in one hand the sceptre in the other, those symbols of divine royalty, the Abbey filled with watching crowds all the cream of English society, she must have gleefully thought to herself this was her finest hour, she had not loved the king, she had wanted to wed Harry Percy, she had high moral standards and did not wish to be used and cast aside like Jane Popinjay, Bessie Blount her own sister and others, she had refused the king, the only woman in the country to do so, she hoped he would eventually give up the chase but he did not, something about Anne intrigued and enchanted him like no other woman ever had, the two of them, this autocratic king and this fiery mercurial woman were bound together, he by love and she by ambition, it was a love that moved mountains but tragically did not endure, this day the 1st of June 1533 must have begun with the sun rising early over the city of London, the turreted pinnacles of the Tower, those pinnacles which Henry V111 had built especially for his beloved, are there to this day, another symbol of a great love that fortunately was not destroyed after her bloody death, the great procession wound its way along to the Abbey where every monarch has been crowned to this day, England has some strange customs, the queen had to walk barefoot and then to prostrate herself on the ground whilst the archbishop prayed over her, she was heavily pregnant and I’m guessing maybe Elizabeth was a tiny baby, so maybe it was not that difficult for her to do but she must have been overwhelmingly tired, her feet must have ached, the baby could well have been kicking and she could have had a blinding headache, but she carried it all through marvellously and Henry V111 watching, must have been very proud of her, he was probably boasting about her to his guests the Venetian and French ambassador’s who were watching with him, he could rest assured that Anne had behaved throughout the arduous ceremony with dignity like a true queen, the crowds outside however did not much shout for her, whom had ousted who in their eyes was the true queen, there were some jeers and many had kept their hats on, and Anne’s fool Jane had called out they must all have scurvy heads else they would uncover them, but like the day before, free wine flowed in the fountains and inside Anne and her company feasted on the delectable banquet, Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk did his bit but secretly he must have cursed Anne, he was one of the kings oldest friends and brother in law, but both he and his wife now dead had hated Anne Boleyn, Anne feasting must have known there were many in the company who disliked her, but they had to swear allegiance to her for she was now their crowned and anointed queen, even more importantly she had been crowned with the ancient crown of King Edward which was unprecedented and symbolised her right to queenship, she was thus honoured like no other consort had been before, she had the world at her feet.
Crowned as a Queen regnant?
No, as queen consort, but with the crown usually reserved for the monarch.
Are we sure she was crowned as Queen consort? History got revised later constantly throughout those times, as you being a great expert will know. We’re not talking about what history subsequently records it as, but what it was at the time.
Then why use the monarch’s crown? One theory is that it crowned the child she carried, but that doesn’t make total sense, as how can a future monarch be crowned pre-birth, and if so, why not crown the consort with the consort’s crown, then the belly with the monarch’s crown? And if this was what happened, then Elizabeth would have been above Mary in the succession, if already crowned? (I may be grasping at straws here — but maybe you are, too). It’s an interesting question — was Elizabeth the first in line, before Anne’s disgrace? I believe Henry Fitzroy was, but that’s a whole other question.
Another theory would be that it places Anne above Catherine of Aragon– but above her as co-regnant, otherwise she is not above by this gesture. It is a curiosity, it could well be that with the tumult of the time, Henry promises her to be a coregnant or something similar, but of course didn’t really mean it. Perhaps early on he did.
It does raise the questions.
She couldn’t have been crowned as anything else as Henry VIII was the monarch. The use of St Edward’s crown was a statement of her status as Henry’s rightful queen. Everything about her coronation and the accompanying celebrations was propaganda.
Elizabeth was first in line, yes, before Parliament removed her in the summer of 1536. Fitzroy was not in the line of succession, no attempt had been made to legitimise him or add him to the line of succession, and he died in 1536 anyway.
There is no mention in any of the sources or Acts of Parliament of Anne being anything other than queen consort.
Anne must have been seriously wanting to put her feet in water and down a cool glass of wine at the end of this long but wonderful day. Here Anne was at her most triumphant, the beloved wife of King Henry Viii, the Queen finally, crowned and anointed, the mother to be of what everyone hoped was his long-awaited son and heir and she was being adored by his Court. We know that it was a hot day, but her gowns were at least loose as was her hair and her feet were uncovered. Yet, she would have gone through a long and arduous day, many changes of clothing, a very long coronation ceremony of several hours with a few breaks, her outer robes were heavy and she had to prostrate herself before the alter, baby lump and all. This long ceremony was followed by a time of relaxation and then eating and drinking. Now obviously we know the effects of alcohol on the unborn child, they didn’t and that might have been a problem. Wine, however, was actually not very strong, it was watered down and therein is another problem. However, the water for the palace came from conduits that delivered clean drinking water. Just the same it was much safer to drink wine or beer as water was purified by the process to make the alcohol and added spices and herbs made it even better and it might even be good for you. Spices, honey, herbs, sugar, all of these also made wine and beer taste better and helped with digestion. Anne and her ladies and her many special guests would have enjoyed several dishes and several courses, not eating mounds of food but selections from them. At the end of the day the human body can only take so much food and Anne was small, even if she was eating for two. Women were told to eat all kinds of weird stuff during their pregnancies to guarantee a son and so on, but they also took cravings into account and we know Anne craved apples so she probably had a number around and Jane Seymour craved quails eggs, birds, which Henry had brought by boats from France.
Anne was anointed as the true Queen, wearing both crowns, something very unique. Although she was a Queen Consort, Henry wanted everyone to understand that this lady alone was his true wife, that Katherine had never been his true Queen, despite her own coronation, that Anne had a double meaning, a double blessing and symbolically at least, in her son to be was the fulfilment of that blessing. Henry was a big one for making certain everyone was aware of this new wife in her role as the conduit for the true heir, the reason he had married her and this was incorporated in the words of her crowning. People like a grand party, a good show and Henry hoped that at least by holding this wonderful and elaborate ceremony not only would Anne’s status be elevated and transformed but that his people would accept her as everything he wanted her to become.
Yes we know Anne craved apples because she could not resist boasting about her condition to the court, she was in ear shot of several people and she said out loud she had a craving for apples and the king had said she must be expecting, somehow I cannot see Anne as being a big eater, she was probably a picky eater, she was very conscious of how she dressed very stylish and such women
do not care much for the dinner table, but she must have gained an appetite what with her fancy for apples, in her condition, and yes Anne Boleyn was small the study of her remains concluded that she was of slight build, about five foot three to four, with shapely well turned feet and hands, when alive she was known for her elegance and gracefulness, she possibly only put on about a stone as her pregnancy advanced, a slender build however did not mean frailty, she did have stamina, she had endured the very long tiring day of her coronation and she had survived the sweat, she appeared to be having an easy pregnancy and the birth was normal, unlike poor Jane Seymour whose labour lasted nearly three days, she was also roughly around thirty three, rather long in the tooth to have her first baby, but there were no complications, I agree with Bq, after a long day you want nothing more than to kick of your shoes collapse on the sofa or bed and have a lovely chilled glass of wine, or whatever your favourite tipple is, really Anne should have waited till a bit longer to sleep with Henry, then she would not have been so exhausted if she was not pregnant at her coronation, it was a lot for any woman to go through, yet she did and I believe the sheer thrill of the event got her through it, it is not every day one gets crowned, that’s a good point also, about Henry wanting to elevate Anne enough so the people would accept her, the doubling crowning with the consorts crown and the one with King Edward, put her on a par with King Henry, she was not just his consort, she was endowed with queenship in her own right and the mysticism of royalty.
Thanks Claire. Perhaps too much is read into the use of the Monarch’s crown, although the fact she was carrying a child, thought/hoped to be a son, when crowned, is another anomaly of course, so perhaps the one led to the other happening. On HFR, as I’m sure we all know, just because we got taught something in school, the line of kings and queens, doesn’t mean that was always the way it could have been. HFR wasn’t in succession, but at that point neither was Mary. She was ruled illegitimate. So later was Elizabeth. So Henry VIII’s will put two illegitimate daughters into the line of succession. HFR is an elephant in any room, Henry VIII’s acknowledged son, highest noble in the land after the king, with two Dukedoms and many other things, and deputized for Henry VIII, including at Anne Boleyn’s trial. In a time when any distant relative with a claim to the throne might be imprisoned or executed on trumped up charges, HFR is the opposite. If he hadn’t died, everything could have been different. The entire royal line of England rests on illegitimacies of course. William ‘the Bastard’ the Conqueror, John of Gaunt. Edward IV perhaps.
Anne Boleyn was crowned with the crown of St. Edward, well not the actual Confessors crown but a later version dating from the 13th century, the original being lost, simply because Henry was making a point. The point being Anne’s legitimacy as Queen. To him, Katherine of Aragon wasn’t his true Queen even though she was crowned with him. She was crowned, as with most Queen Consorts, with the Queens crown of St Edith, the 13th century version. So was Anne, with her double coronation. Henry had to point out to the people, most of whom didn’t take Anne as Queen, that Anne was his legitimate wife and his legitimate Queen. She had to be transformed into more than a wife. She had to be recognised as more than a Queen, she had to be elevated, even higher than any other Queen Consort, any other royal woman. Henry was using the clever propaganda he always used, to ensure the message hit home, especially to those inside the Abbey, his own nobles.
Outside Anne would have been hailed with proclamations and pamphlets would have expressed the same things. Heralds would have made certain people knew what had taken place. Henry had his ideas put into plays and into public declarations and into pamphlets. He was a great propagandist through men like Thomas Cromwell. He also had a set of tapestries produced for the Court with himself as King David or King Solomon and Anne as the Queen of Sheba. Everyone knew what was going on and the symbolism of the jewel crown was meant to reinforce his message. Anne Boleyn is the only true Queen Consort around here and don’t you lot out there forget it.
It does raise some interesting points though and it did at the time. Elizabeth was now to be next in line, but Anne and Henry thought she was to be a boy, which was one of the reasons such an expensive coronation took place to begin with. Legislation would enforce the succession in the children of Anne and Henry for now and it would become treason to say nay. Henry is also about to be made Supreme Head of the Church in England by law and oath. It will be death to say nay. Henry still believed Anne would give him a son afterwards and Mary was removed from the succession and declared illegitimate.
Yes there were plans to make Henry Fitzroy the legitimate heir, after Anne’s death. At Anne’s demise Elizabeth was also declared illegitimate and both Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate in 1536. However, HFR died and so he was never in the succession. The new legislation made Jane the only true Queen and Anne was also consigned to never being his wife. The succession was only in Jane now as well, although Jane wasn’t crowned. Well Henry had crowned two women at great expense and he didn’t have his son, so he obviously wasn’t taking any chances just yet. I believe Jane would have been crowned if she had survived the birth of Prince Edward. There were designs for elaborate Venitian type celebrations.
Ironically both Elizabeth and Mary were put back in the succession in 1544, Mary correctlyover Elizabeth after Edward. They were not made legally legitimate, no, but the Act allowed them to succeed, giving Henry Viii unique powers to make anyone his heir. Mary always maintained that her mother and father were legally married, which they were of course, that anything she had signed to the contrary was to save her life and she reversed her own illegitimate status legally. She also undid her fathers legislation. Elizabeth, however, remained illegitimate. In fact she didn’t change it. That’s another strange mystery.
The idea that the baby of Anne was crowned symbolically is interesting. There is a lot going on here and its possible. The child was prayed for as the long awaited heir, the true heir, during the enthronement with the two crowns. Who knows maybe this was also a public declaration of the unborn child as the true heir, hoping for a son.
It really didn’t matter that Duke William of Normandy, the Bastard or Conqueror was illegitimate or not as he had won the Battle of Hastings and the present King, Harold Godwinson or Harold ii, was killed. William still had to take the country as the Witton were not exactly hurrying to recognise him. He waited for two weeks before they submitted. In fact Edward the Confessor had a great nephew who was a teenager whom a contingent wanted to crown. A bit of town burning and savagery soon won those hesitating around and the entire Court came with the youth and made their homage to William. Once he was crowned on Christmas Day in the new Abbey of St Peter near Westminster, he only had the rest of the country to put down. With most of the Saxon noble families dead that soon followed. He didn’t have it easy and the harrowing of the North was nothing less than genocide. However, he won by right of conquest not blood, although he had a distant claim, through a female relative.
As for John of Gaunt, it wasn’t ever proved that he was illegitimate, although it would have most certainly have put the cat amongst the pigeons since everyone was descendent from him. Although the House of York also came from Lionel the Second son of Edward iii and the House of Windsor get around it because of the Act of Settlement, although they too are related to Edward iii. If the Tudors can sit on the throne, again via a victory at Bosworth, then their slightly dodgy cousins several times removed, the Hannover lot can as well.
Edward iv is also another good tale, one certainly questioned by his brother George, and some say his mother, but never really taken seriously. It’s possible he was the product of the chief archer, but highly unlikely. DNA also showed a fair Richard iii in childhood, so perhaps all of the kids of Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville were fair as kids. The odd child could still be dark. 1 in 6 from a fair /dark match will be dark. However, they didn’t have DNA to help them in the 1470s when this story arose, so anything could be alleged. Richard never denied his sons, nobody else believed it, only George and although it was often overly emphasised, that’s because he was saying it in public. Edward also briefly lost his crown and was using propaganda to ensure everyone knew he was legitimate. That he then wasn’t so careful with the legitimacy of his wives and kids shows the importance for such public displays as royal marriages and coronations with two crowns etc. Henry Viii wasn’t certainly going to take any chances with Anne’s acceptance as Queen as she was carrying a child, who, at the time, was believed to be male, his future heir. Anne was therefore symbolically the embodiment of their union, fruitful, the vessel through which the line continued and her coronation with both crowns made that sacred.
I think George of Clarence was maybe jealous of his handsome elder brother, he was the next in line and George probably suffered from an inferiority complex, he could have had a drink problem to, I cannot understand any sibling saying their brother is a bastard unless he hated him and maybe he was drunk when he said it, I feel sorry for poor Cicely Neville, by declaring Edward a bastard he was calling into question his mother’s reputation, really George was playing a dangerous game there and his strange death was really inevitable, his daughter was the ill fated Lady Salisbury who years later was to lose her life just as violently, DNA was in the far distant future and family resemblances would have assured people that Edward was Richard of York’s son, the common image of Richard 111 was of a dark haired man and dark eyes, but after lots of studies it is believed now he had brown or dark blonde hair, he could also have had blue or blue grey eyes, most English children are very fair when young, but it tends to darken as they age, unless they have Nordic genes, they could have all been fair when young, Edward 1V had brown hair as an adult and was described as very handsome, paintings of him do not show a facial likeness to Richard 111 however who had a rather wide jaw, Edwards was more narrow, we don’t know George’s colouring or how he looked but he could have resembled his brothers, do we know their parents colouring ? If one parent has brown eyes and their partner light coloured eyes, then they inherit the brown eyes from their brown eyed parent, because brown is the dominant gene, Edward married Elizabeth Woodville who was golden haired and beautiful, she passed on her looks to her daughter, and possibly her two sons the tragic little princes , her son Henry V111 was said to resemble his grandfather in looks and temperament, certainly Edward grew very fat like Henry so they must both have had an addictive personality, Edward also had a fiery temper which possibly he inherited from his Plantagenet forbears, because even if he was not Richard of York’s son, he had a descent through his mother Cicely Neville, again through a bastard line via Joan Beaufort, the red hair was neither in the Plantagenets or the Woodville’s as far as we know so maybe the recessive gene came from the Tudor line, regarding John of Gaunt I cannot really see him being anyone else’s son than great Edwards, he had a commanding presence like the king and was a brave soldier, he was not called great for nothing, but rumours once started have a habit of rearing their ugly head and a few centuries later the Duke of Clarences death said to be by drowning in a vat of malmsey is surely too convenient to be anything other than suspicious? Edward 1V could be ruthless another trait which he passed onto Henry V111, it is certainly fascinating discussing these dead kings and queens and their relations colouring and physical resemblances, the rumours of illegitimacy must have haunted both John of Gaunt and Edward 1V like their descendant Elizabeth 1st years later, their great ancestor William the Conqueror was the bastard son of Richard of Normandy and his mistress Arlette or Herleva, there are several variations of her name, but the stain of bastardy never bothered him, he signed his documents William the Bastard cold cruel and ruthless he was a perfect product of his age, he was also said to be as cold as a fish, he never had a mistress and was faithful to his queen throughout their marriage, he won the crown of England through right of conquest so no one could question his claim to the throne, Edward the Confessor had reneged on his promise to leave him his crown and so William believed he had a better claim to it than Harold, it seemed god was on his side because he did win a great victory, and his line continues to this day, so did the Tudors win the crown by right of conquest but Henry V11 kept out of the fighting, his men did that for him, I really think our queen is doing marvellous for her age, she could live as long as her mother but she cannot carry on for much longer in her capacity as queen, she has relinquished some duties to Charles and her other children, she has a lot of stamina and a strong sense of duty which was instilled in her from her grandmother Queen Mary, it’s a pity some members of her family have let her down so badly however.
Great post, Christine, very well analysed. Proud Cis as she has been known was supposed to have joked one day about the story being true, but of course she was only joking. Like all mothers I am sure she looked at her sons at times and wondered if they had a pea for a brain. Edward married a woman from the other side whom nobody approved of and that caused a family and international fights. Edward had several such relationships before Elizabeth Wydeville, but most had not led to anything, although two might have been proposed to in order to get them into bed. One we don’t know much about her, partly because sources mixed her up with someone else and the other was Eleanor Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was later named as his wife before he married Elizabeth. Having married both women in secret, a marriage which wasn’t announced until several months later, just as Edward became betrothed to a French Princess, Edward had certainly caused a stir by the time he was twenty.
George was the middle brother and you are probably right he was jealous and he was precarious. His pea brained schemes involved Warwick the Kingmaker, who promised him the crown. He wasn’t entrusted with as many official offices as he should have been and was left out. As heir to the crown, until Edward had sons, so before 1470, George of Clarence knew his responsibility and his duty but he was also impulsive and ambitious beyond belief. He talked Edward into letting him marry Isabel Neville, the daughter of the Kingmaker. He also joined his new father in law in an elaborate plot to kidnap the King and have Parliament declare him as King in his brother’s place. That was most likely based on questions over Edwards illegitimacy. When Warwick escaped abroad, George changed sides again but when King Henry vi was released from the Tower and put back as King, Warwick joined Queen Margaret in France and formed an alliance. George changed sides. Now Edward was in exile and it was a race to regain the crown.
Its believed that Cecily sent a lady to broker a reconciliation between Edward and George and he changed sides again. Together with the 18 year old Richard the three brothers destroyed Warwick at Barnet and Margaret ‘s army at Tewkesbury in 1471. Now you would think that would be tge end of George of Clarence being a pea brain. Oh no. In 1476 he began talking again about his mother and Edward’s birth and even about Edward’s marriage. He does appear to have had a liking for wine and it’s probably no coincidence that this was the method of his execution. He also went too far, because he lost his wife and then his second son during this time in 1477. He accused two people of poison and witchcraft and they were arrested. He then asked Edward to try them but he refused and George hung them instead. George was arrested for usurping royal power and Edward declared he had gone too far. He was attained and tried and condemned. His private execution took place somewhere within the Tower on 18th February 1478. The method of death is unknown but sources tell us drowning in wine, strangled and poison. He was buried by his wife and infant son in Tewkesbury Abbey in the Clarence Vault.
Edward did turn into a bit of a slob in his second reign, yes, he was also none too careful with money and introduced forced loans to the crown which were never repaid. He went to war with France but never did any fighting but had a party and came to an agreement with the Universal Spider, King Louis xi, who paid him to go home. He was promised vast amounts of money, pensions and land. Richard sulked because he wanted to fight. He refused the pension. It isn’t true that they fell out but he saw his brother’s lifestyle as disastrous. Edward had been a tall, blonde, fit, athletic 6.4 18 year old when he took the crown back in 1461. He looked like a King. He was both ruthless and charismatic at the same time and Elizabeth probably found him very attractive. Elizabeth Wydeville was a beautiful widow, a few years older than Edward, with two sons. Whether or not he did love her or was just trying to get her into bed, a secret wedding took place and they revealed the truth later that year, 1464. They had several children, three of whom were boys, Edward, George and Richard. Little George unfortunately died in infancy. Edward and Richard became the two Princes who vanished in late 1483. Elizabeth, their eldest child would marry Henry Tudor as Henry Vii. However, Edward became far too indulgent in his latter years and grew fat, that is very true. Its this which certainly led to his decline in health during 1482 and his premiture death, not yet 41 in April 1483. He was fearsome on the Battlefield, his brother Richard followed suit, having followed his brother all of his life. The most important official posts were granted to Richard by the time he was 18. He was Constable and High Steward of England for Life from 1469. That meant he could try and punish treason trials under Court Martial conditions without Appeal and he was responsible for the security of the Realm. He oversaw Edwards trials of nobles who had taken Santuary in Tewkesbury Abbey after the battle, for example. Henry Viii was certainly believed to both resemble and be like Edward iv in temperament. He was certainly almost as tall as him. Henry was about 6
1 or 6.2, allowing for shrinkage when they measured his bones. Of course Edward I was called Longshanks because he was very tall, over 6 foot. Edward iii and Edward the Black Prince were very tall as well.
No, I have no idea where the red hair came from because most of the Plantagenet line had blonde or brown hair. It could come from the Tudor line, via the Welsh side of the family. Red hair was very unusual in some parts of the world, like in Egypt. Ramses the Great still has red hair on his mummy. Seti was from the north, his father, a soldier, not related to the dying out 18th Dynasty. That lot were the weird ones. They included Amenhotep iii, Atenknatan and Tutankhamen. As no heirs were left, Aye took the throne, followed by Horomheb and so died out. Seti was a general and was considered worthy to rule. The family had brilliant red hair and this was a sign of magic and greatness and they were considered blessed, as indeed Ramses was. He had well over 100 sons. It would be interesting to find more about the red hair of the Tudors but they certainly boosted up their links to the Ancient Princes like Llewellyn the Great and Glendower so maybe that’s were the red hair comes from.
Thank you Bq, yes red hair is rare and I never knew some of the pharaohs had red hair, I assumed they were black haired very odd, I must add I love Plaidy’s ‘The Goldsmiths Wife’ I know iv said this before, but I believe it’s one of her best, in her novel she showed the fraught relationship between Edward 1V and his brother Clarence, he came across as an obnoxious drunk most of the time and once even accused the queen and Jane of witchcraft, the queen and her mother Jacquetta were rumoured to have used spells and charms to bewitch the king, and he must have merely repeated what he had heard and what many thought, Elizabeth Woodville was not popular at court as many of her relations held important offices, and quite naturally that annoyed the older families, George really was a thorn in Edwards side and I believe they were a family not really bound by human loyalty, but more of what was in it for them, they only seemed to look out for themselves, all three brothers were said to have connived at the murder of Henry V1, he probably died by strangulation but it just goes to show how ruthless they were, lives were trampled on to achieve the ultimate in power and glory – the throne.
Yes, the Woodville women were accused of witchcraft, but nothing was proved. It was all very melodramatic and Jaquetta used her personal connection to Queen Margaret to get tge charges dropped. Jane Shore was written by Thomas More and later Shakespeare to have caused Richard to have a withered arm but we know he didn’t have anything wrong with his arms. Elizabeth Wydeville was meant to have allured Edward into marriage by binding spells, tying two figures together and casting a spell on them to fall in love with them. More likely she battered her eyelashes at him. She was a very beautiful woman so its not too hard to see an attraction. Edward wasn’t bad either.
George of Clarence could well have had a drinking problem. Malmesbury wine was sent as a present either to him or someone else, I forget and this was marked as his method of death. Richard was much closer to Edward than the others because of shared experience and an adoration of him as an older brother and warrior. I don’t see Henry vi demise as anything more than what the Arrival says, ending the rival blood. No deposed King had come back before but Edward did. With their son dead at Tewkesbury he simply gave the order and sent one or the other to carry those orders, most likely Richard because he was Constable of England and he didn’t trust Clarence. Henry could have died of shere displeasure and melancholic whatever but strangulation is more likely.
I had to go before as I had 30 seconds on my phone battery. Boy these things go down quickly.
Edward iv crushed the seed as the chronicle puts it. He also now had his own male heir and he would soon have another son. He must have thought his Dynasty would last forever. It wasn’t to be.
I can imagine that Henry felt something similar with Anne’s first pregnancy, anticipation of a promised male heir. The doctors, soothsayers and astrological people all said it was a boy Anne carried. Henry had been through so much to marry Anne, it had taken him years to get free of Katharine of Aragon. He had no reason to believe that this time he had gotten it right. Anne had conceived very quickly and her pregnancy was advancing well. She was now in her seventh month at least. The couple were in high spirits and looking forward to welcoming their new son. What could possibly go wrong?