Boleyn, Anne, 1501-1536 (Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England)

Dates

• Existence: 1501 - 19 May 1536

Biography

Anne Boleyn was the Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, earl of Ormond and Wiltshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Howard, second duke of Norfolk. The second of three surviving children, Anne Boleyn was born in Norfolk, around 1500. She was educated in the Netherlands and France as maid of honour to Queen Claude of France. She returned to England in 1522 to marry her Irish cousin James Butler but this was broken off and she instead became maid of honour to Henry VIII's wife Catherine of Aragon.

Henry VIII began pursuing Anne, whose sister Mary had previously been his mistress, in 1526 and a year later he began planning the annulment of his marriage to Catherine. When it became clear that Pope Clement VII would not annul the marriage, the breaking of the Catholic Church's power in England began. Henry and Anne were formally married in January 1533 and in September she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. This was followed by three miscarriages and by March 1536 Henry was courting Jane Seymour.

In order to end his marriage to Anne, who had failed to provide him with a son, Henry had her investigated for high treason. In May 1836 she was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London where she was tried and found guilty. She was beheaded four days later.

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