It is a day of seismic importance, 21 June 1529. Many have gathered here alongside you in the Parliament Hall of the Dominican Friary of Blackfriars to witness the very public shaming of a great and dignified queen. It seems that all of London can speak of little else. An expectant murmur ripples through …
Tomorrow marks the day when an English queen was executed on charges that were almost certainly entirely fabricated. She joined her five co-accused in death at the hands of the swordsman from Calais. Her name was Anne Boleyn. In this article, we are honouring her memory in a slightly unusual blog. I invite you to …
Easter is upon us; it is a time of rebirth and celebration. But in Tudor terms, what springs to mind for you when you think of Easter? For me, well, I immediately think of Greenwich Palace. For it was at Greenwich Palace that Anne Boleyn was first publicly presented as queen, at Easter, on the …
When Henry VIII fought openly with his wife at the trial of Blackfriars, he sought to undermine her story that she came to his bed as a virgin. One famous testimony recounted how Arthur had emerged from the couple’s bedchamber in the Bishop of London’s Palace on the morning following their wedding, exclaiming that he …
In the run up to the release of the TV series, The Spanish Princess, we have an opportunity to delve into the real life story of Katherine of Aragon by following in her footsteps, as she prepares to fulfill her destiny and marry Arthur, Prince of Wales at the cathedral of Old St Paul’s in …