The Boleyn Women: The Tudor Femmes Fatales Who Changed English History (44 page)

19. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, from his tomb at Framlingham. Elizabeth Howard Boleyn’s brother sat in judgement on her son and daughter at their trials in May 1536. (© Elizabeth Norton)

20. Francis I of France. The French king is reputed to have been Mary Boleyn’s lover, referring to her as a great whore and infamous above all others. (© Elizabeth Norton)

21. Sir Thomas Wyatt, who wanted to be the lover of both Anne Boleyn and her cousin, Mary Shelton. (© Elizabeth Norton & the Amberley Archive)

22. Henry VIII in his youth. The king was renowned as the most handsome prince in Europe, although there is no truth in the rumours that Elizabeth Howard Boleyn served as one of his mistresses. (© Josephine Wilkinson)

23. Mary Boleyn was the mistress first of Francis I and then Henry VIII. (© Hever Castle)

24. Anne Boleyn’s dark eyes captivated the king when he had tired of her sister, Mary. (© Ripon Cathedral)

25. The Clouds that Gather Round the Setting Sun. Anne Boleyn was instrumental in bringing about the fall of Thomas Wolsey, with the cardinal referring to her as a ‘serpentine enemy’. (© Jonathan Reeve, JR1092b20fp896 15001550)

26. Henry VIII gave Anne a fine clock during the years of their courtship. (© Jonathan Reeve, JR1162b4p648 15001550)

27. Thomas Cranmer, from his memorial in Oxford. The Archbishop of Canterbury annulled the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and crowned Anne Boleyn. (© Elizabeth Norton)

28. Hans Holbein’s design for a Coronation pageant for Anne Boleyn, with her falcon badge prominently displayed. (© Elizabeth Norton & the Amberley Archive)

29. Anne Boleyn’s falcon badge without its crown, carved as graffiti at the Tower of London. (© Elizabeth Norton)

30. A rare survival of the entwined initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. (© Elizabeth Norton)

31. The entwined initials of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, from Hampton Court. Henry tried to erase all memory of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. (© Elizabeth Norton)

32. A romantic depiction of the execution of Anne Boleyn. The queen was beheaded with a sword – a kinder death than a clumsy axe. (© Jonathan Reeve, JR965b20p921 15001600)

33. Princess Mary. Anne Boleyn, Lady Shelton, found her young charge a troublesome burden when she was appointed as her governess. (© Elizabeth Norton)

34. Catherine Howard, the queen whose indiscretions led Jane Boleyn to the block. (© Elizabeth Norton & the Amberley Archive)

35. Traitor’s Gate. Anne Boleyn was taken to the Tower of London by water and reputedly passed through this gate. (© Elizabeth Norton)

36. The Tower of London. Anne Boleyn, her sister-in-law, Jane Boleyn, and daughter, Princess Elizabeth, were all imprisoned in the ancient fortress. (© Elizabeth Norton)

37. A memorial marking the supposed site of the scaffold on Tower Green where both Anne and Jane Boleyn died. (© Elizabeth Norton)

38. The Bishop’s Palace at Lincoln, where Jane Boleyn led Thomas Culpepper to a secret nocturnal meeting with the queen. (Elizabeth Norton)

39. Mary Shelton. The daughter of Lady Shelton was a poet with remarkably modern views about love, becoming a mistress of Henry VIII in her youth. (© Elizabeth Norton & the Amberley Archive)

40. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who was reputed to have been romantically involved with his friend, Mary Shelton. (© Elizabeth Norton)

41. Catherine Carey and her husband, Sir Francis Knollys, from their memorial at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire. (© Elizabeth Norton)

42. The six daughters of Catherine Carey (and one daughter-in-law). Lettice Knollys, the second daughter, is first in the line depicted at Rotherfield Greys. (© Elizabeth Norton)

43. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, from his tomb in Warwick. Dudley was Elizabeth I’s greatest favourite, with speculation that the pair would marry. (© Elizabeth Norton)

44. Lettice Knollys from her tomb in Warwick. Lettice’s royal cousin never forgave her for secretly marrying Robert Dudley. (© Elizabeth Norton)

45. Robert Dudley, the only child of Lettice Knollys’ second marriage, who died young. (© Elizabeth Norton)

46. Hatfield House. Elizabeth I was resident at the palace when she discovered that she had become queen. (© Elizabeth Norton)

47. Princess Elizabeth as a child. (© Jonathan Reeve, JR997b66fp40 15001600)

48. Elizabeth I as queen. Anne Boleyn’s daughter was the greatest, and the last, of the Boleyn women. (© Jonathan Reeve, JR1168b4fp747 15501600)