Claire | May 19, 2020
It’s the 19th May and we’ve come to the day Queen Anne Boleyn’s life ended at the hands of the Swordsman of Calais, but really at the hands of her husband, King Henry VIII. ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ was executed by beheading on a newly built scaffold within the confines of the Tower of […]
Claire | May 19, 2018
On this day in history, Friday 19th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded by a swordsman within the confines of the Tower of London. Anne had been queen for just over three years when she was arrested on 2nd May 1536 at […]
Claire | May 19, 2017
On this day in history, 19th May 1536, the feast day of St Dunstan, Queen Anne Boleyn was executed at the Tower of London. Here at the Anne Boleyn Files and on our Facebook page, we are commemorating the 481st anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution with a special Anne Boleyn Day of events in association […]
Claire | May 19, 2016
On this day in history, 19th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was executed within the confines of the Tower of London. Afterwards, her remains were laid to rest in the chancel of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. I thought I’d share with you some contemporary accounts of Anne’s […]
Claire | May 16, 2016
My publisher, MadeGlobal Publishing, is holding a special “Anne Boleyn Day” on 19 May to commemorate the 480th anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution. It is an online event, so can be enjoyed from wherever you are in the world, and comprises video talks by authors and historians, a charity auction for an Anne Boleyn painting, […]
Claire | May 19, 2015
I’m not sure whether Anne Boleyn got any sleep on the night of the 18th/19th May. She was certainly up at dawn, celebrating the Mass and receiving the sacrament from her almoner John Skip. She then ate breakfast and waited for Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, to come and collect her. […]
Claire | May 19, 2014
“Queen Anne Boleyn, 19th of May 1536” is the wording on the card that accompanies the basket of red roses delivered to the Tower of London each year on 19th May and placed on Anne Boleyn’s memorial tile in the chancel of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Whenever I go to the Tower […]
Claire | May 19, 2013
To commemorate Anne Boleyn’s execution, which took place on this day in 1536, I’m going to share the preface of my book on Anne’s fall… Dressed in an ermine-trimmed, grey damask robe, with an English style gable hood and a crimson kirtle underneath, the slight, dark-haired woman took her final walk. She went out of […]
