Person    | Female  Born 1505  Died 19/5/1536

Anne Boleyn

Second wife of Henry VIII and so Queen of England, 1533 to 1536. Though married to Catherine of Aragon, Henry developed a passion for one of her maids of honour, Anne, and so began the whole horrid mess which was the Reformation. the happy couple were married on 25 January 1533 and Anne gave birth to Elizabeth (later Queen) on 9 September that year. It's always said that Anne refused Henry's advances until they were married so the baby must have been almost a month premature. Anyway, Anne failed to produce any more living children, let alone the longed-for boy and Henry's eyes alighted on Jane Seymour. Anne was accused of high treason, adultery and incest, found guilty and beheaded on Tower Green.

A legend says that, at her request, her heart was buried separately from the rest of her body (in Erwarton Church, Suffolk). If true this means she has a connection with Thomas Hardy and a few other notables.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Anne Boleyn

Commemorated ati

Anne Boleyn beheaded - 1946

This image comes from the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower...

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Drapers' Hall

Drapers' Hall On this site, once part of the Augustine Priory, Thomas Cromwel...

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Queen Elizabeth's Oak

The old tree is presumably gradually being decomposed by beetles and the like...

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Tower of London execution site

Catling wrote the poem as well as creating the sculpture. Doesn't that cushio...

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Tower of London execution site - c.1910

This image came from Twitter via Londonist, and from the children's clothes m...

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Show all 6

Other Subjects

Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard

As lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves Catherine attracted Henry's ever-roving eye.  Anne was dumped (via the annulment method) and the obese, 49-year old Henry married the 20-year old Catherine.  Sh...

Person, Execution, Royalty, Seriously Famous

3 memorials
Tyburn tree

Tyburn tree

The first recorded execution here was the hanging of the champion of London's poor, William Fitz Osbern in 1196. Back then there may have been a real tree but in 1571 the 'Tyburn Tree' was erected....

Place, Execution, Law, Tragedy

5 memorials
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester

Born Yorkshire.  Opposed Henry VIII's self-appointment as head of the Church of England.  Result: decapitation on Tower Hill.

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration, Religion

2 memorials
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Born Bath, of royal blood, she survived the Wars of the Roses and was trusted by Henry VIII enough to be a governess to Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon.  However when the king wanted a di...

Person, Execution

2 memorials