What did Elizabeth I really think about Anne Boleyn? These secret symbols might unlock the truth
Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII’s second wife, and the first to be executed. She was also the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. But how did the longest reigning Tudor monarch remember her ill-fated mother?
On 19 May 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed inside the Tower of London.
The charges against her – adultery, treason and incest with her own brother – were sensational by any standard. Within days of her arrest, she had been beheaded on the orders of her husband, Henry VIII.
Anne Boleyn had been one of the most powerful figures at the English court during the early 1530s, and her supporters, including reform-minded clergy and courtiers, lost influence rapidly after her death. Her demise also had immense consequences for her daughter, Elizabeth, who wasn’t yet three years old.
In the years that followed her execution, Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII was declared invalid, and her daughter was denounced as illegitimate.
But Elizabeth would, of course, eventually come to rule England for four and a half decades, becoming the longest reigning Tudor monarch. In this position of power, how did she look back on the death of her mother? Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, Tudor historian Dr Nicola Tallis explains the clues she left behind that help to answer that question – and why it’s essential to first understand the context around Elizabeth’s ascent to power.
Henry VIII’s great disappointment
Elizabeth Tudor was born in 1533, during a moment of extraordinary political upheaval. The Tudor monarchy itself was relatively new, having been established only in 1485 after decades of the Wars of the Roses. Ensuring a clear male succession was therefore considered essential to the continuation of the Tudor line, and the country’s stability.
So, Elizabeth’s birth had been eagerly anticipated. Henry VIII had spent years attempting to secure a male heir to guarantee the future of the Tudor dynasty – and it was expected that Anne Boleyn would deliver. As Dr Tallis explains, “all of the astrologers that Henry VIII had employed to predict the gender of his child, except one, had said that this child was going to be a boy”.
His first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, had produced only one surviving child – the princess Mary.
When Henry fell for Anne Boleyn, he began a dramatic effort to end his marriage to Catherine. The king sought an annulment from the pope, arguing that his union with Catherine had been invalid. When Rome refused, Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself supreme head of the newly independent Church of England. This break with Rome – the Protestant Reformation – permanently reshaped England’s religious and political landscape.
All this upheaval had been undertaken largely in the hope that Anne would produce a male heir.
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“He had pinned all of his hopes on Elizabeth being a boy,” Tallis says. “So, you can imagine his disappointment when Elizabeth is a girl.” The failure was especially frustrating given the enormous political effort that Henry had expended to marry Anne.
At the same time, England remained bitterly divided about the change. Catherine of Aragon still enjoyed deep sympathy among many.
“This is a very tumultuous and uncertain time in England’s history, rife with factions,” Tallis says. Anne herself was widely disliked. Many traditional Catholics viewed her as responsible for England’s break with Rome, while others resented her rapid rise to power at court.
“So there is a great deal of uncertainty and hostility at the time of Elizabeth’s birth.”
From Tudor princess to illegitimate child
Three years later, the situation deteriorated dramatically.
In May 1536 Anne Boleyn was arrested and spuriously accused of treason, with the allegations levelled against her being likely fabricated as part of a political process designed to replace her.
After a brief trial she was condemned and executed.
“Anne Boleyn’s execution effectively means that Elizabeth is no longer the most important royal child in the country,” Tallis explains. Henry’s marriage to Anne was declared invalid, and Elizabeth, who had been recognised as princess, was officially reclassified.
“She is declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the line of succession,” Tallis says. “She is still the king’s daughter, but she is no longer deemed worthy of succeeding to England’s crown.
“In political terms all of Elizabeth’s value has vanished at the stroke of the sword that severed her mother’s head.”
Two decades later, Elizabeth did eventually rise to the throne as the last surviving child of Henry VIII – under the laws of the Act of Succession. Now, she had the chance to either condemn her mother herself or rehabilitate her. She did neither.
Elizabeth didn’t speak publicly about her mother, choosing not to reignite old conflicts. But, says Dr Tallis, she did leave behind clues which hint at where her loyalties may have laid.
“I think we have to think less about what Elizabeth said and more about what Elizabeth did,” Tallis explains. “There are some subtle indications as to what she felt about her mother.”
A court full of Boleyns
“I think she did feel a resonance with her and a warmth for her mother,” Tallis says.
One indicator of this is that, in her court, “she promoted her mother’s relatives. When she became queen she was surrounded by Boleyns and by Careys,” Tallis explains. “She kept those who were linked with Anne very close to her.”
The Careys were descendants of Anne’s sister, Mary Boleyn. By maintaining close relationships with them, Elizabeth ensured that the maternal side of her family remained close to the heart of Tudor politics.
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Elizabeth also revived one of Anne Boleyn’s most distinctive personal emblems. During her time as queen, Anne had adopted the falcon badge as part of her heraldic identity. After her execution the symbol largely disappeared from royal imagery.
Under Elizabeth, however, it returned. The emblem appeared on some of Elizabeth’s personal possessions and decorative objects connected with her court.
A ring with two portraits
Arguably the most pointed piece of evidence of Elizabeth’s feelings toward her mother was the smallest. Among the queen’s personal possessions was a ring containing two miniature portraits concealed under a hinged cover.
“Perhaps most touchingly, we know that at the end of her life Elizabeth had a beautiful ring that contained two hidden portraits. One of them was the queen herself, Elizabeth, and the other was a woman who was almost certainly Anne,” Tallis explains.
The portraits weren’t meant for public display, but for the queen’s eyes alone.
“This was probably a very personal keepsake that reminded Elizabeth of her mother and ensured that she was always close at hand.”
Nicola Tallis was speaking to Rachel Dinning on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation.
Authors
James Osborne is a senior content producer at HistoryExtra