Anne Boleyn 'shifts shape' in historical depictions says expert

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

The former Queen famously fell out of favour with Henry VIII after she could not give him the male heir to the throne he desired. She did give birth to a daughter, Elizabeth – who went on to become Sovereign – but this was not enough for the Tudor King. Henry eventually had Anne put to death at the Tower of London just three years into their marriage after she was found guilty of treason.

Her downfall was spearheaded, historians believe, by Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister, who spread rumours about her infidelities with the King’s courtiers.

Despite the tragic end to Henry and Anne’s relationship, while they were together the couple enjoyed a “racy” romance, according to historian Sandra Vasoli.

The Tudor expert wrote the 2015 book ‘Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower: A New Assessment’.

The US-based researcher has pored over a cache of 17 love letters Henry wrote to Anne, which are housed in the Biblioteca Apostolica in the Vatican Library in Rome.

Quoting from the letters, Ms Vasoli told Express.co.uk: “‘My own darling, my own sweetheart. Our love is hotter than the sun’.”

JUST IN: Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice ‘stuck to their seats’ to prevent Harry photo-op

She explained that the letters contain “many expressions of love and shared love”, adding that “ultimately there are letters in which he was kind of racy.”

She said: “One of the famous quotations from the letters is where he says, ‘I wish you were here instead of your brother’.

“Because her brother George was one of his courtiers and was around him all the time.

“So obviously if she was away at Hever Castle or one of the other palaces…”

Henry and Anne met at court, where she was a lady-in-waiting to his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

After they fell in love, Anne Boleyn caught the Tudor ‘sweating sickness’ in 1528 and returned to her childhood home, Hever Castle for a period to recover.

Ms Vasoli claimed that while Anne was at Hever Castle, his messages to her became more explicit.

She said: “He’s saying ‘Gosh, I’d rather you were sitting here instead of your brother, and I wish of an evening that I could be kissing your pretty dukkys’, which are her breasts.

“So, at that point in time, there had been physicality between them.

“Not necessarily intercourse. But, you know, stuff was going on.

DON’T MISS:
Mike Tindall branded Prince Harry a ‘b*****d’ at Buckingham Palace Jubilee party [LAETST]
Royal POLL: Should Prince Andrew have a new role created for his ‘comeback’? [INSIGHT]
Prince William expected to be merciless with Prince Andrew when time comes [ANALYSIS]

“Because he wasn’t just saying that if it had never, ever happened.”

Over time, her historian explained, Henry’s messages to his lover transformed from being “polite” to more informal.

She said: “He is very polite in there. He does use terms of endearment, but they were the ones that were politely used then – ‘my mistress and friend’.

“Only later did he start to address her as ‘sweetheart, darling’.

“So, you knew in the early ones it was almost like a young man coming for a date and kind of meeting the parents and being all dressed and being very neat and very proper.

“Because that’s how they were. And over the course of several letters, you can see his writing becoming more casual, more relaxed.

“And in there he is putting terms of endearment that I believe he would have never used if she was not returning affection to him.”

‘Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower: A New Assessment’ was written by Sandra Vasoli and published by MadeGlobal Publishing in 2015. It is available here.

Source: Read Full Article