Who specifically were the ladies-in waiting who would have prepared Anne’s corpse? What happened to each of these ladies after Anne’s execution? Do we know who suggested / found the arrow chest? Was the use of the arrow chest as a coffin decided before or after Anne’s death? Would Anne have known prior to her death that there would be no coffin? Who would have been responsible for actually removing Anne’s head and body from the scaffold? Where would her body have been disrobed and prepared for interment? Also how would Anne have gone about choosing a dress for her execution which would equal correct worth as partial payment for the swordsman? Where were Elizabeth and Kat Ashley at the time of Anne’s execution?
Wow, lots of questions!
Anne would have been escorted to the scaffold by the ladies who had waited on her while she was imprisoned, so Mrs Coffin, Lady Kingston, Mrs Orchard, her aunt Elizabeth Boleyn (nee Wood), Mrs Stonor and her other aunt Lady Shelton - see https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/5260/cruelly-handled-anne-boleyn-in-the-tower/
After Anne's execution, the ladies undressed Anne and then gathered her head and body into a white sheet and placed it into an elm chest which had contained bow staves because a coffin had not been provided. We have to remember that Anne was executed as a traitor and therefore was not important so a coffin probably was not seen as important. I don't know where they disrobed Anne, it is not mentioned anywhere, but perhaps it was in the chapel. I also don't know how Anne would have gone about choosing her clothes.
Elizabeth was at her household in Hatfield with her nurse Lady Bryan, Kat Ashley did not become a member of her household until July 1536.
