On 2nd May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was arrested at Greenwich Palace and her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, was arrested at Whitehall. They were both escorted to the Tower of London for imprisonment.
Sir Henry Norris, the king’s groom of the stool, was also taken to the Tower, and Henry VIII had a meeting with his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset…
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Maybe when he was arrested and taken to the Tower later on in the dying year of the kings reign, Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk gave a thought to his tragic niece that day in May, he offered her no comfort as she tried to defend herself, mockery and contempt was how he treated her and the memory of her anguished face could well have come back to haunt him as he sat in his cell, his flamboyant foolish son the poet also called Thomas the young Earl of Surrey was also in the Tower and he lost his life, another Howard family member, at her trial as he read out the awful sentence it was noted his eyes had tears in them, they were blood kin after all and he knew how devastated her parents were, especially her mother who was his sister, that fatal day in May Anne was watching a tennis match when she was told to present herself to the kings council who were residing in Greenwich palace, the day before the kings abrupt departure from the May Day celebrations was out of the ordinary and many must have sensed something drastic had happened, when she was face with the men they all looked serious, she was then told she was accused of adultery with Norris and Smeaton they were both in the tower and had confessed! When she heard this piece of nonsense she must have been astounded, shocked and then anger comes later, followed by fear, her pleas fell on deaf ears and she was told she was to be escorted to the Tower that very minute, she was given time to collect her clothing and items and books she wanted with her and her hands must have shook when she held her belongings, after waiting for the tide to turn she was taken to a barge and we do not know who was with her, but when she arrived she sank on her knees on the grey stone and declared her innocence, years hence in a sad echo her daughter the young Elizabeth did the same when she too arrived at the Tower, with the stain of treason hanging over her, Alison Weir notes that one of the guns went of announcing the arrival of an important state prisoner, and people must have seen the queens barge gliding up the Thames that day, little knowing their queen was a prisoner, Sir William Kingston the contable of the Tower, a post held since early times greeted her and he was later to say afterwards he had never known a prisoner like Anne, in the days that followed she gave way to hysteria laughing and crying alternately, she babbled thus condemning the young courtier Francis Weston who was one of the kings special group of friends, desperately trying to make sense of it all she tried to recall things she had spoke and done, why had her husband sent her here was he trying her? Worse she had several women to wait on her those she was not very fond of and they taunted her making sarcastic comments, these women were sent to spy on her and report back to Kingston who in turn was to report back to Cromwell everything she said, her brother the witty dashing George lord Rochford was also arrested and he must have been as amazed as Anne was, he too was sent to the Tower and it was only after they were both told they were accused of the dreadful charge of incest, their stomachs must have turned over in disgust and both must have realised that they were doomed, Anne had expected something dreadful to happen to her but nothing like this, her pitiful remark to Kingston about having justice must have moved him to pity and as for her lord and husband, king Henry V111 he had taken himself of to see his bastard son who was married to Anne’s cousin, shedding crocodile tears he embraced him and told him how lucky he and his sister was they had escaped the venomous wh*re who had tried to poison them both, one wonders how Anne would have managed this and after all, Fitzroy was her cousins husband, she was the one who had helped to bring their wedding about, one wonders what was going through his mind at this time, relief must have been present and all consuming that now he had his shrew of a wife out of the way, as for Thomas Cromwell he had managed to pull of a remarkable but despicable plot, his enemy was in the Tower, Anne in the Tower surrounded by a group of sullen women, boy knowing what was going to happen to her, bravely tried to get through that night which must have been the worst she had ever suffered.