Claire | October 13, 2021
It was wonderful to see my dear friend and co-author, Dr Owen Emmerson (Hever’s historian and assistant curator) and some familiar faces such as Anna Whitelock, Tracy Borman, Elizabeth Goldring and Nicola Tallis, featured in last night’s “Who Do You Think You Are?”, along with my happy place (Hever Castle), and other wonderful places such […]
Claire | August 18, 2021
Episode 1 of BBC Two’s new three-part series on the Boleyn family – The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family – aired on Friday 13th August, and episodes 2 and 3 have already been released on BBC iPlayer. It is a wonderful series and well worth watching because it introduces a very different Boleyn family. Gone are […]
Claire | July 19, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 19th July 1543, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Mary Boleyn died. Mary Boleyn is known for being Henry VIII’s mistress at one point, and you can find out a bit more about her in this edition of #TudorHistoryShorts… Here is my Mary Boleyn playlist: There are also […]
Claire | April 29, 2021
I’m often asked about Mary Boleyn’s links to the present royal family, so I thought I’d explain a bit more about it. Queen Elizabeth II descends from Mary Boleyn, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, descend from her in two different ways. It’s lovely to think that there is […]
Claire | February 4, 2021
Today is the anniversary of Mary Boleyn’s marriage to William Carey in the Chapel Royal at Greenwich Palace on 4th February 1520. Their wedding was attended by King Henry VIII and his wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon. To celebrate Mary’s wedding anniversary, I though I’d share with you some articles and videos on her. Let’s […]
Claire | January 23, 2021
In the latest edition of my Questions about Anne Boleyn series of videos on the Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society YouTube channel, I consider the question that I’m often asked: “Were Anne and Mary Boleyn close?” What do we know about the Boleyn sisters’ relationship? Was it close? Do the historical sources give us […]
Claire | July 19, 2020
On this day in Tudor history, 19th July 1545, Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, sank right in front of his eyes in the Battle of the Solent between the English and French fleets. But why did the Mary Rose sink? In today’s “on this day” video, I share the various theories on the sinking […]
Claire | February 4, 2020
On this day in history, 4th February 1520, so 500 years ago today, Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn, got married to her first husband, William Carey. You can find out more in my “on this day” video below. By the way, I checked on the National Archives currency converter, which only goes up to […]
