Queen concert Anne Boleyn has gone down in history as possibly one of the most famous of king Henry 8th wives.
In this post I will be looking at her famous 'B' pearl necklace, which at this time is enjoying something of an revival with high street stores eager to sell you monogrammed jewellery.
The 'B' on Anne Boleyn's necklace is thought to have referenced to her surname, Boleyn.
The necklace is seen in many of her official portraits. It is a gold 'B' with three identical tear drop pearls hanging below. This is all suspended from a strand of pearls, which where round and appeared to all be around the same size.
Anne also had two more similar necklaces, one had a 'A' for Anne and the other 'AB' for Anne Boleyn.
Not much is known, if anything, about what happened to these items of well known jewellery after the queen was beheaded in May 1536. Although of course many have speculated to their where abouts. My favourite theory is that her daughter, who would go on to be Queen of england, Elizabeth 1st inherited them. Other theories included that it was broken up and that some of the pearls where used in England's current queens crown.
A brief history of Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn was born the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard. It was through her father that Anne Boleyn thrived in her early years, he got her a place in the household of archduchess Margaret of Austria, he then later got her place as a maid of honour to Queen Mary, wife of King Louis XII of France. It was while in France that she learnt french and acquired a knowledge of french culture and fashion. It was the skills she learnt in France that helped her when she later moved back to engalnd went to work for Catherine of Aragon, king Henry's first wife. She soon caught the eye of sir Henry Percy who she became ended to. Unfortunately Percy's father objected to Anne and made his son break off the engagement and sent him to marry Lady Mary Talbot.
In 1526 king Henry had her in his sights and began his pursuit of her to be his mistress. Anne had no intentions of being a mistress even if it was to the King of England. She told him she would only be with him as his wife not as a mistress. It was this that was to change the course of history, as King Henry was so desperate for Anne that he ended his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and broke with the church all so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
It was difficult and to cut a long story short they eventually managed it. Anne was given the title Marquess of Pembroke while she was engaged to Henry in 1532. When she eventually became queen she was pregnant by six months as she had her coronation.
On the 7th September 1533 Anne gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth. Although unhappy Anne Boleyn had had a girl the couple where happy in the early years of their marriage.
She became pregnant again in 1534 but she miscarried the baby. Again in 1536 she was pregnant but after Henry fell from his horse and was unconscious for two hours Anne ended up losing this baby to, which unfortunately is rumoured to have been the longed for male heir that they both wanted it.
It was this event that started the downfall of Anne Boleyn and led to Henry becoming disenchanted with her and seeking another woman. This woman was Jane Seymour a maid of Anne's.
Henry declared that Anne Boleyn must have used an enchantment to make him fall in love with him and had her banished from court and gave her rooms to his new mistress.
On 2 May 1536 Anne was arrested and charged with adultery, incest and high treason. No one thought she or any of the men accused where guilty, however the judges had been brought off by King Henry and told to pass a guilty verdict.
So it was the men where beheaded, including Anne's own brother George Boleyn on 17 May 1536 and Anne Boleyn was beheaded two days later.
It said that Anne Boleyn woke with the sun on the morning of her beheading and said her morning prayers and remained calm and composed.
When she walked out she wore a black damask gown lined with fur, mantle trimmed with ermine and an English gable hood. She made these choices to show she was every inch a queen and she was meant to be queen.
Later when her daughter became Queen, Anne Boleyn was elevated to the status of a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation.
I've always been interested in the story of Anne Boleyn and I hope you have enjoyed this post, to share it click the social media links below.
