On or around 4th May 1536, Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, wrote to Thomas Cromwell to report back on things that the Queen had said during her imprisonment. The ladies who were attending on Anne in the Tower had been carefully chosen by Cromwell and had been instructed to replay everything Anne said back to Kingston who would, in turn, pass it on to Cromwell.
Anne Boleyn may have had a Queen’s household and sumptuous lodgings, but she was still a prisoner and was surrounded by women who had little sympathy for her. No wonder Anne complained to Sir William Kingston, saying, “I think [much unkindness in the] King to put such about me as I never loved.” Anne also complained of the treatment she had experienced at Greenwich, when she was arrested, claiming that she had been “cruelly handled”. She went on to wonder if her treatment was actually down to the King testing her: “[…] but I th[ink the King d]oes it to prove me […]”
Poor Anne.
You can read more about the ladies who served Anne and also Kingston’s report in my article Cruelly Handled – Anne Boleyn in the Tower.
Notes and Sources
- LP x. 797
It is still astounding that she was actually executed. Part of me says beware of giving kings the idea they have absolute power given by God, which is daft but she pushed the idea too, and part of me says Oh boy he really thought she did him wrong! Either way, she was anointed so it is just pretty shocking. How interesting that her daughter did it to another anointed queen. I wonder if these people like Henry and Elizabeth ever realized they were surely paving the way for a king of England to get executed? And then French and then Russian…
But yes, poor Anne. What an awful end. She was only 35.
Poor Anne, surrounded by spies and people who hated her, summoned to a council meeting, called rude names, roughly handled and not even allowed to change her clothes before being hustled off to the Tower. She did not even really know what she had been accused off and who had accused her; or if anyone else had been arrested. She must have been terrified and I think she had every right to complain. She was the Queen and they were very disrespectful.