Anne Boleyn

These days there are endless books and films and novels about Anne.  Many of the novels are wildly inaccurate…but it shows how Anne is still thought about and discussed and debated.  She was always in her own day a controversial figure.

She never had much public support in her years of glory; both the ordinary people and the nobility disliked her, on average.  She was seen as the young and sexy temptress who lured a man away from his middle aged worthy virtuous wife and as such, seen as a frightening and controversial figure. She was also seen as sympathetic to the cause of Protestantism -which was not very popular.

She was born probably in Norfolk around 1501 or so.  The date of her birth is not clear, and some historians gave it as 1507.  However she went into court service in 1514 and generally girls did not do this until they were about 12.   Her family were considered upstarts, since her great grandfather had been a merchant and lord Mayor of London but over time they had retired from business, bought land and married into the nobility and her father was a diplomat in Henry VIII’s service.

As a writer, I’ve often thought of writing a novel about Anne, but as a romantic novelist, it is hard to fit her story into the traditional narrative.  She didn’t achieve a happy marriage.   She may have loved the King to some extent, but the other men in her life, Henry Percy and Thomas Wyatt, were kept from marrying her... The first because his father disapproved and Wyatt because he was a married man. She was executed for adultery in 1536…

But to a romantic novelist, she is a fascinating figure... in that she was possibly the first “other woman” to succeed in marrying the man that she “took from his wife”.  There is speculation as to what her relationship with Henry was, during the six years before they were able to marry.  It is probable that it involved some sexual contact but not full intercourse, as she did not become pregnant until 1532.  So she is in a way the prototype for the mistress who lures a man with her beauty and charm, has an affair with him and then persuades him to leave his wife and marry her... And sadly Anne got the “traditional” comeuppance of such a mistress, because Henry deserted her for yet another woman.
So she’s interesting to someone who thinks a lot about the history of “romantic love.”  In the years of their marriage, Henry and Anne were often quarrelling and making up.  They were one of the few royal couples at that time, who had married because of being in love and who promoted the idea that marriage should be for love.  The drama of courtship, and a love match!  so she’s a boon to us romantic writers.