Did you know that Queen Anne Boleyn loved buying fabrics for her infant daughter and her nursery?
Well, she did!
Find out exactly what kinds of things she ordered for the future Elizabeth I…
You can see the lists of Anne’s spending on Elizabeth, plus dates of when she saw Elizabeth, in my article “Anne Boleyn’s spending on Elizabeth”.
Little girls have always been dressed so lovely throughout the ages and for a royal princess the list is never ending, for the privileged they had the most beautiful finest quality fabrics, satin and damask and velvet, which was only worn by those of the blood royal, silks and taffeta and lace, Anne had strong maternal feelings and used to order hundreds of costly outfits for her baby daughter, there is evidence in the household accounts that one of Elizabeth’s caps had to be sent back several times as the fitting was not right, imagine the frustrated Anne, tut tutting as she had to order another fitting, she spent lavishly on her and prayed that soon she would have a baby brother to accompany her in the nursery, the material for her cradle sounds very rich, in old age Elizabeth had with her a member of her household who could recall rocking her in her cradle, Elizabeth must have felt blessed that she had this faithful retainer from her earliest days who knew her mother, Blanche Parry a Welshwoman who stayed in her service all her life, she would have mourned Elizabeth’s mother when she went to the scaffold and knew how greatly her young charge’s life would change, no more would sumptuous outfits arrive for the little toddler, and her title her very station had changed dramatically, she was now no long My lady Princess but my lady Elizabeth, something the precocious infant remarked on, as she grew up surrounded by her servants at Hatfield her father was celebrating his nuptials with his third queen, left behind and forgotten she was outgrowing her clothes, the beautiful outfits had ceased, Elizabeth was aware of this as she had been aware of her changed status, it is incredible that we have these household accounts to view hundreds of years after they were documented.