Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History

For those of you who know me you will know that my greatest love is Anne Boleyn. (Well after my daughter and my husband of course… oh you know what I mean!) My greatest PASSION is Anne Boleyn. She is… she is everything to me. She is my idol, my hero, the woman whom I model after and strive to be like. I have a huge passion for Anne and everything Anne related. Through my admiration and love of Anne I have become quite an avid reader and researcher of Anne Boleyn and also Henry VIII and the period of time around Anne’s life. I LOVE, ADORE Tudor history, especially anything during Henry VIII’s rein. I love to read and have had the opportunity to collect a few little nick knacks from England related to Tudor history. When I was taking a photo of all the Tudor books I wanted to read over the next year I realised that I have quite a few Tudor related items!

My Tudor related books and nick knacks looks like this:

Books
* Tudor England by Peter Brimacombe
* The Tudor Chronicles 1485 – 1603 by Susan Doran
* Mistress Anne by Carolly Erickson
* The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
* Kings and Queens by Neil Grant
* The Mistresses of Henry VIII by Kelly Hart
* The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives
* How Fat was Henry VIII? And 101 Other Questions on Royal History by Raymond Lamont-Brown
* Queens of Britian by Nora Lofts
* Six Wives The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
* The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
* The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
* Henry VIII King & Court by Alison Weir
* The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir (My personal favourite book!)
* The Six Wives of Henry VIII by The Pitkin Guide
* Henry VIII 500 Facts by Historical Royal Palaces
* Henry VIII Celebrating 500 years since Henry’s coronation (Limited edition)

Guidebooks
* Hever Castle and Gardens guidebook
* Windsor Castle Official Souvenir Guide
* St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle guidebook
* Explore Hampton Court Palace by Historical Royal Palaces
* Experience the Tower of London by Historical Royal Palaces
* Westminster Abbey A Short Tour

Nick Knacks
* Royal England Pictorial Wall chart from St George’s Chapel (showing Kings and Queens of England)
* Henry VIII The Early Tudors – 12 postcards and booklet from the National Portrait Gallery London
* Tudor style Quill and Ink set
* Tudor style feather quill
* Tudor style wax stamp (S)
* Tudor Spoon
* The 6 Wives of Henry VIII Coaster Set from the National Portrait Gallery
* Henry VIII and Elizabeth I coins
• The National Portrait Gallery Book of The Tudors
• Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII Letters from Hever Castle
• The Six Wives leather bookmark from the Tower of London
• Anne Boleyn Christmas Tree Doll
• Tudor Rose Christmas Tree decoration
• Anne Boleyn Deri Doll
• Tudors, Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr postcards
• Hever Castle magnet
• Tower of London Magnet
• Hampton Court magnet
• Windsor Castle Magnet
• Anne Boleyn magnet
• Anne Boleyn custom made charm bracelet
• Six Wives of Henry VIII crests charm bracelet
• Tudor Rose earrings
• Tudor Rose necklace
• Fleur de Lis earrings black
• FleUr de Lis earrings silver




I have an entire shelf on my bookshelf just dedicated to my Anne Boleyn and Tudor books as well as my guide books. I also have a few of my Tudor related nick knacks displayed on the shelf as well as littered throughout the bedroom. My Anne Boleyn Deri Doll sits next to my computer on my desk so I can see her all the time!

OH I forgot to mention I have the... paper that I wrote on Anne Boleyn’s final days (44 typed pages and over 21 000 words!) which I have printed off and put together in a display folder. I had to add that in as it’s Anne Boleyn/Tudor related and I am so very proud of it!

What can I say? My passion is Anne Boleyn and the Henry VIII Tudor period!

Another question posed by Live Journal: Do you wish you had grown up in another time and/or place? if so, when, where, and why?

I suppose I would like to see first hand what it would be like to grow up in the Tudor period under Henry VIII. It was a really interesting time in history, especially with the English Reformation, Henry’s slow decay into obesity, obsession with status, wealth and power, the constant upheaval of laws and rights and the having six wives!

I think I would like to be one of Anne Boleyn’s ladies in waiting. I would love to know who she was on a personal level and besides her husband, only her closest ladies in waiting would have known such personal details about her. In that time being close to the Queen meant you could learn so much about her and that often she would confide in you as she spent nearly all of waking and sleeping hours with you! I would love to have learnt from her, listened to her views on the church and religion, learn what made her tick, her joy in music and literature.

I would also have liked to continue being a lady in waiting to Jane Seymour (although I’d probably sleep through those years as she was as boring and as dull as bat shit!) Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard (although avoiding anything to do with her affair!) and finally Catherine Parr. I would have loved to be part of court throughout the years, learning from and getting to know each Queen. Also it would be amazing to meet Elizabeth Tudor and learn just WHY she never wanted to marry and what her thoughts and feels were on her mother.

I can only begin to imagine what wonderful insight it would give you into English history during the last 10 – 15 years of Henry VIII’s life. To be part of court life, to experience everything first hand.

Although you would have to be extremely careful as court during this period of time was a very sensitive and volatile place. Not to mention that as a woman you were not considered equal to a man, basically had very little rights and had to be the perfect, virtuous image of a woman! You probably couldn’t even sneeze out of place! And you couldn’t get sick because modern medicine just wasn’t around (and heaven forbid you suggest anything – you’d probably be thought of as a witch!) And there was no modern technology like we have now, so no internet or phones or electricity or hot running showers *Sob*And you would have been expected to pop out about a dozen children – preferably boys (don’t you dare have a daughter!) And you’d have to do it natural style, no hospitals or medical assistance. Hygiene would be pretty low and don’t even talk about getting a period…

*COUGH* Okay, so if you exclude all of those things then I would most certainly love to have been a lady in waiting to Henry’s last five Queens. Starting with Anne Boleyn then moving onto Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kitty Howard and finally Catherine Parr. It is such an incredible time in English history and to live through such a period would be amazing!

When writing my last post about my favourite author Alison Weir I was reminded of something I read a little while ago about Alison’s thoughts on the TV show ‘The Tudors’.

In an interview Alison was asked what she thought of the TV show ‘The Tudors’ and how historically accurate she thought it was. Her response was…

I have to confess that I enjoyed it, purely as a drama, and there were some aspects that were very creditably done, such as the recreations of the Tudor palaces (in particular the temporary palace built for the Field of Cloth of Gold), shifts in foreign alliances, and the tortuous negotiations in respect of the `Great Matter`. I think that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers gave a fine performance as Henry VIII, but why on earth couldn`t they have made more effort to have him looking like Henry, or ageing commensurately? Sam Neill was good as Wolsey (apart from the startling scene in which he commits suicide – it`s odd, but I`ve never read about that in any history book) and Jeremy Northam was a believable Thomas More. The actress playing Katherine of Aragon was excellent (although once again we have a Katherine with dark hair – don`t film-makers ever look at portraits?) and Natalie Dormer portrayed a very convincing Anne Boleyn. But there were many laughable – and unforgiveable – errors, far too numerous to mention here (although I must cite the confused portrayal of Henry VIII`s sister Mary), and there wasn`t a single female costume that was right for the period, while the men`s costume was generally thirty to forty years too late. Given the budget, surely they could have made a little more effort to get it all right?

Oh my gosh! This is just another reason why I absolutely love this woman! Everything she said are EXACTLY my thoughts on the show!

I agree that the producers and director of the show could have worked a little harder to make Jonathan Rhys Meyers more like Henry VIII. They could have fattened him up some more and have him age appropriately, rather than just all of a sudden in the last few episodes! I was also annoyed that they had Wolsey commit suicide. I think if you check history he died of a heart attack! There were so many inaccuracies, especially towards the end of the show. Changing the date of the Act of Succession, having Henry sleep with Anne of Cleves, the whole thing with Mary/Margaret Tudor (who knew what was going on there!) I think these are things that could have been put in accurately in the show but for some reason Hirst decided that drama was more important than accuracy!

I did like how she gave a nice little nod to Natalie Dormer’s portrayal of Anne! (I just ADORE Natalie’s Anne Boleyn, best I’ve ever seen!)

*Bows down to Alison Weir* This woman is a legend, seriously!

The Writer's Block on Live Journal posed this question: If you could become one person--alive,dead or fictional--for one month, who would it be, and why?

My response is as follows:

I bet that most people think I would answer Anne Boleyn! I mean, after all the woman is my idol, my hero – the person of whom I would greatly desire to aspire to being like. But… quite shockingly I am NOT going to answer Anne Boleyn to this question! *GASP* I know, seriously right?!

I don’t think ANYONE could ever be like Anne. There was only one Anne Boleyn, only one spirited, feisty, intelligent, witty and cunning woman who helped to change the course of English history. No matter how much I adore this woman I could never even dare to wish that I could be her!

No, if I could be anyone for a month it would be a lady in waiting to Anne Boleyn. I would desperately desire to be one of Anne’s closest ladies in waiting. One of the few select woman that Anne spent most of her time with, that talked with, that lectured and educated and shared her thoughts and views on the world. Oh gosh, I can barely imagine how wonderful it would be to sit down with Anne by the fire, stitching and listening to her talking. To learn about her views and thoughts, to be privileged and honoured to hear about some of her innermost thoughts and secrets – what you could learn that history does not tell us! You could find out so much that was never recorded or if it was, things that were lost over time. Not to mention that you would know what Anne Boleyn really looked like! 

Even just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine! To be in the very presence of Anne Boleyn! It’s just an incredible thought! Oh to be one of her close ladies in waiting!






Me as Lady in Waiting to Queen Anne Boleyn