Claire | February 14, 2012
Romance may not be something you associate with King Henry VIII – tyranny: yes, romance: no – but Henry could be very romantic at times. How do I know? Well, I’ve read the love letters that he sent to Anne Boleyn and they are beautiful. Here are some lovey dovey extracts from the King of […]
Claire | February 7, 2012
The shrovetide joust of 1526 was the first indication of Henry VIII’s courtly pursuit of Anne Boleyn. According to the chronicler Edward Hall, it was on this day that Henry VIII rode out in cloth of gold and silver “richely embraudered, with a mannes harte in a presse, with flames about it, and in letters […]
Claire | December 14, 2010
As I said in my article “A Timeline of Anne Boleyn’s Relationship with Henry VIII – From 1528-1533”, Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII got married in a secret ceremony on the 25th January 1533, nearly 7 years after Henry declared his love for Anne at the 1526 Shrovetide joust. But what happened after they married? […]
Claire | December 7, 2010
As I said in my post “Henry VIII Falls in Love with Anne Boleyn”, Eric Ives gives a very useful chronology of Anne and Henry’s relationship, from Shrovetide 1526 to August 1527 when it was decided that Henry should ask the Pope for a dispensation to allow him to marry Anne when he had already […]
Claire | December 1, 2010
We do not know exactly how Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s relationship began but Henry’s letters to Anne, written in 1527 and 1528, offer us a unique insight into their relationship and although we do not have Anne’s replies we can guess the content from Henry’s letters. There is some debate regarding the exact order […]
Claire | November 23, 2010
As I stated in my article “The Early Life of Anne Boleyn Part Six – The Château Vert Pageant“, contrary to the scene in “The Tudors”, it is unlikely that Anne and Henry’s eyes met across a crowded room at the 1522 Shrovetide Pageant. It is possible that he did not even notice Anne, who […]
