Henry VIII: Expert discusses Anne Boleyn’s ‘influence’ on king

Both Diana and Anne married a King or future King, but were actually the younger sister of someone they were originally seeing. What’s more, both their marriages went wrong and they both met an untimely death. Prince Charles originally met Diana through her sister Lady Sarah Spencer, later McCorquodale.

The pair were courting for a while, but Charles called it off after a blistering row over Sarah’s comments to the press.

Sarah had told reporters she would not marry Charles “if he were the dustman or the King of England”.

She also told them about her history of alcohol issues, how she had “thousands of boyfriends” and how she had started keeping a scrapbook of all the press clippings about her and the heir to the throne.

When she showed Charles the article, he was furious.

It was Sarah’s younger sister Diana, whom Charles first met when she was 16, who would go on to become his wife.

Netflix’s The Crown season four depicted their first meeting in Sarah’s house, where a shy Diana makes an impression on the nervous Charles.

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Similarly, Henry VIII, who broke from the Roman Catholic church to marry Anne Boleyn, was originally in a relationship with her older sister Mary.

Mary, who was a maid of honour to Henry’s first wife Catherine of Aragon and married a wealthy courtier in 1520, became Henry’s mistress for a time.

The start and end date of their affair is unknown.

It was rumoured that one or both of Mary’s children were fathered by the King, although no evidence exists to support the argument that either of them were the King’s biological child.

Anne returned to England from France in 1522 and soon joined the royal court as one of Catherine’s maids of honour.

She was very popular at court, although the sisters reportedly moved in different circles.

When the King took an interest in Anne, she refused to become his mistress and by the middle of 1526 he was determined to marry her.

His lust for Anne and desire for a legitimate son to protect his legacy cemented the idea that he must annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Anne eventually married him in 1533.

This unusual love triangle between the King and the two sisters was portrayed in the 2008 film The Other Boleyn Girl.

Sadly, both Diana’s and Anne’s marriages ended up turning sour, with their royal husbands seeking pleasures elsewhere.

Charles and Diana struggled with the age gap and infidelity, especially Charles’ feelings for Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall.

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Diana suffered from bulimia and depression and claimed she had no help from anyone inside the Palace.

By 1986, Charles had started seeing Camilla again, while Diana also sought comfort in the arms of others, such as her riding instructor James Hewitt.

Their relationship was so frayed by 1992 that they separated and later divorced in 1996.

Meanwhile, back in Henry VIII’s reign, the King became anxious that Anne Boleyn was not providing him with the son he desired.

After having their daughter Elizabeth, she had at least one miscarriage and possibly more.

Catherine of Aragon died in 1536 and around the same time Henry started courting Jane Seymour.

Princess Diana: ‘Queen of Hearts’ came from novel says expert

He also started saying that Anne had tricked him into marriage by deception or spells.

In the end, Henry, with the help of his trusted adviser Thomas Cromwell, accused Anne of adultery and she was sent to the Tower of London.

The final similarity between the two women is their tragic and premature demise.

Just a year after her divorce was finalised, Diana was killed in a car crash in a Paris underpass after her chauffeur, who was three times over the legal limit for drink-driving, sped to avoid the paparazzi.

Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul all died, while their bodyguard survived the crash.

Diana, who was 36 when she died, left behind 15-year-old Prince William and 12-year-old Prince Harry.

Charles married Camilla seven and a half years later, in 2005, in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.

Back in Tudor times, Anne was arrested on May 2, 1536 and taken to the Tower of London by barge.

She was found guilty of adultery, incest and treason and famously beheaded on May 19.

They also arrested several men accused of committing adultery with her including a Flemish musician in her service called Mark Smeaton, three courtiers named Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton and her own brother George Boleyn.

All five of them were executed.

Two other courtiers were arrested but later acquitted.

Anne, who was between the ages of 28 and 35 when she died, left behind her two-year-old daughter who went on to become Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 44 years.

Henry married Jane Seymour just 10 days after her execution day.

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