Anne Boleyn was crowned queen on 1st June 1533 at Westminster Abbey, but the coronation celebrations actually kicked off on 29 May 1533 with a river procession from Billingsgate to Greenwich Palace, where Anne joined the procession, and on to the Tower of London.
It must have been quite a spectacle, with around 120 large boats and 200 smaller ones making up the procession and mechanical dragons and monsters casting fire!
You can read all about the procession in my article 29 May 1533 – Anne Boleyn’s Coronation Pageantry Begins and you can find out more about the events of 1533 at The Events of 1533 – From Queen-in-waiting to Queen Consort.
Pity Anne’s Chamberlain saw fit to appropriate Katherine of Aragon’s barge and tear off and mutilate the former queen’s coat of arms. As Chapuys wrote to Charles V, there were others that would have done just as well, and I’ve always thought this was an unnecessarily vindictive act against an already vanquished woman.
Yes, as Eric Ives says of Thomas, Lord Burgh of Gainsborough, Anne’s Lord Chamberlain, “His first achievement for Anne was to vandalize Katherine of Aragon’s barge and his last to assist in her trial.” I know that he got into trouble for doing it so I wonder whether he just took it upon himself to do it.
Yes, his Gainsborough Old Hall survives today and is one of my happy hunting grounds, I am privileged to say. Burgh was Katherine Parr’s first father-in-law and was not known locally for his pleasant disposition. Norfolk told Chapuys that Henry was displeased with Burgh, but one has to wonder. Lord Burgh played host to Henry and Katherine Howard in 1541 when they stayed with him during the northern progress.
I must visit Gainsborough Old Hall one day, it’s on my list of places to visit but I just need to get the time!
You’d definitely not regret it Claire, it’s beautiful…I was born 10miles from there. 🙂
Poor Anne! A re-cycled royal barge? I am certain Henry could have afforded a brand new one; but once it was painted and decorated and spruced up it must have still looked quite grand. Do you remember the lovely golden one that was made by modern apprentices for the Queen’s 60th procession? It was fabulous and looked so real. Hope it will be used again one day.