On this day in Tudor history, 25th October 1532, King Henry VIII returned to the English territory of Calais following his visit to the French court at Boulogne. It was time for him to play host now to King Francis I of France and the French party who had travelled to Calais with him.
But before they set off from Boulogne, King Francis I wanted to show France’s friendship by honouring two English noblemen by making them Knights of the Order of St Michel.
After that ceremony, Henry VIII and Francis I made their way to Calais, where they were greeted in a spectacular fashion. However, they were not greeted by the English king’s sweetheart, his consort for this trip, Anne Boleyn. Francis I sent her a gift though.
Find out more about this day in 1532 and the gift Francis I sent Anne Boleyn in today’s “on this day in Tudor history” video.
The 1532 trip so far:
- Friday 11 October 1532 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn set sail from Dover on The Swallow at Dawn and arrive at Calais at 10 o’clock in the morning.
- Wednesday 16 October 1532 – While Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII are lodged in Calais, the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Derby and a group of gentleman meet with Anne, duc de Montmorency, “the great mayster of Fraunce”, and his men at the English Pale, six miles outside of Calais.
- Monday 21 October 1532 – Henry VIIIleaves Anne Boleyn in Calais to spend four days with Francis I, “his beloved brother”, at the French court in Boulogne. See https://youtu.be/ZB8WUZlqYFY
If you prefer reading to videos, then you can find out all the details in an article I wrote back in 2013 – click here – and if you prefer audio, you can listen to my podcast here.
If you like to get a daily Tudor fix, then please do subscribe to the Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society YouTube Channel or my podcast as I do daily “on this day” talks.
I think it would be quite interesting to witness both the English and French knighting ceremonies and compare and contrast the differences at that point in history.
I love pageantry and there is nothing better than the Chapters of various knights, in this case the Order of the Knights of Saint Michael and the Order of the Knights of the Garter. The display of the cavalcade which approached Calais of the two Kings with more than 1200 people in each company must have been a wonderful sight. I wonder if there are any illustrations of the visit and the spectacular pageantry. If nobody wants the diamond, I would love it, thanks King Francis lol. I too would have loved to see the ceremony of making Norfolk and Suffolk members of the highest Company in France.
Anne must have been well pleased with her diamond. She, of course was preparing for her entrance the next evening, an exotic dance to her own design, masked and beautiful.
IT must have looked spectacular and it’s like the river pageants they put on, like the one Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour had as part of the coronation celebrations and in Janes honour as queen, I have often said it is a pity there are no contemporary paintings of these wonderful events we can only imagine how they must have looked, Francois honoured some of Henrys knights and then Henry entertained them at Calais where Anne was waiting to entertain them with a wonderful masque, she was presented with a wonderful diamond I would love to see it, does Claire know if it is housed in England in a museum somewhere ?