Claire | January 28, 2015
The King is dead! Long live the King! On this day in history, in the early hours of 28 January 1547, fifty-five year-old Henry VIII died at Whitehall Palace. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was at the King’s side when he died, although Henry had lost the power of speech by the time her arrived. Cranmer asked […]
Claire | April 11, 2013
On 11th April 1533, Good Friday, King Henry VIII informed his Royal Council that Anne Boleyn was now his wife and that they must accord her with royal honours. Two days earlier, Henry had sent a delegation of his councillors, led by the Duke of Norfolk, to Catherine of Aragon to inform her that her […]
Claire | April 11, 2012
Good Friday 1533 (11th April) was an important day for Anne Boleyn. It was the day on which Henry VIII informed his Council that Anne was his rightful wife and Queen and she should be accorded with Royal honours. Catherine of Aragon had already been demoted to Dowager Princess of Wales after convocation had ruled […]
Claire | May 31, 2011
This day in history, 31st May 1533, saw the lavish and triumphant coronation procession of Anne Boleyn from the Royal Palace of the Tower of London to Westminster Hall in readiness for her coronation on the 1st June 1533. Anne and Henry had waited years for this moment so it is little wonder that the […]
Claire | December 22, 2010
Giving gifts at Christmas is a relatively modern phenomenon, even here in Spain the gifts come from the Three Kings on the eve of Epiphany rather than from Santa on Christmas Eve. In Tudor times, gifts were given at New Year and I thought you might be interested in the following:- January 1533 (the same […]
Claire | September 9, 2010
As a result of my previous two articles on Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Ambassadors”, my good friend Robert Parry, author of the wonderful “Virgin and the Crab” and a bit of expert on astrology, has kindly looked at the astrological line-up for Good Friday 1533, the 11th April (Old Style), the date which is […]
Claire | September 8, 2010
As I said in my previous article, “Holbein’s The Ambassadors: A Renaissance Puzzle? – Part One: Context”, The Ambassadors is a Renaissance puzzle, a code in a painting, a message to be fathomed. It may look like a portrait of two men, two ambassadors, but in “The Ambassador’s Secret”1, John North writes of how the […]
Claire | September 8, 2010
Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Ambassadors” is a painting I’ve written about before in my article on “Anne Boleyn’s Faith” and it’s a painting I want to look at again because there seem to be so many theories out there regarding this painting and what message it is sending. It is widely known and understood […]
