So often, when we look at Anne Boleyn’s life, we look at her education on the Continent, her dramatic rise and courtship with Henry VIII, and then her even more dramatic fall in May 1536.
But what about Anne Boleyn’s queenship.
She may not have been a queen regnant, but she was Henry VIII’s queen consort for three years, holding a position of real influence.
Anne Boleyn fulfilled many of the traditional roles of a medieval and Tudor queen consort:
- She was an intercessor and mediator
- She was a patron
- She was charitable and practised poor relief
- She was in charge of her household and used her role to network, and employ and advance people of the reformed faith
- She listened to petitioners and gave her favour
- She carefully created and cultivated her image as queen
- She gave the king an heir, who, although she wasn’t a son, became a queen who many regard as one of the greatest monarchs in English history.
Of course, there was one important expectation of a queen consort that Anne failed to fulfil: she did not give Henry VIII the living son he so desperately wanted. But does that mean that she failed as queen?
Find out more in my video, which is part of my Anne Boleyn: Her Life and Her Legacy series…
and here is the playlist: