Craziest Moments From Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII Relationship

Many English monarchs have famously had dramatic and tumultuous relationships, from Edward VIII abdicating his throne to marry Wallis Simpson, to Charles dating Camilla while he was still married to Princess Diana. And that's just from the crown. But perhaps no English king is more famous for his wildly unpredictable and constantly evolving love life than Henry VIII. And none of his marriages are more infamous than his second one, to Anne Boleyn. Today, we're relating some of the craziest moments from Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's relationship. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. And leave a comment letting us know what other tumultuous pairings from history you'd like to hear about next. OK, time to sign that prenup. But make sure it has a no beheading clause before you do. Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, who at the time was a low-level aristocrat known as the Viscount of Rochford. After spending her childhood in the Netherlands and France, Anne returned to England in 1522, probably in her late teens or early 20s. Originally, she was set to marry an Irish cousin. Ah, every young woman's dream. But these plans were put off. Instead, Anne secured a position as a maid to the first wife of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon. Queen Catherine was already a widow, having originally been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur, as part of an attempt to secure an alliance between England and Spain. When Arthur died just five months into their marriage, Catherine entered a peculiar state of courtly limbo. She was temporarily named as an ambassador to the English court, which allowed her to remain in the country and technically also makes her the first female ambassador in European history. Not bad for an arranged marriage that blew up before takeoff. In 1509, as part of an effort to tidy up the situation, Catherine was married to Arthur's younger brother, Henry, to serve as his queen. By 1525, Henry had started to grow dissatisfied with the marriage, which had produced a daughter, Mary, but no male heirs. And he had started seeking comfort elsewhere. This initially included a brief affair with Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister, before lucky Hank set his sights on Anne instead. Anne had actually already entered into a clandestine engagement with a nobleman named Henry Percy, an heir to the earldom of Northumberland. The king, upon hearing about Anne's relationship with Percy, ordered one of his chief ministers, Cardinal Wolsey, to put an end to the engagement. Wolsey obliged. You don't say no to the king, especially not this king. Some of Henry's love letters to Anne from this period have survived in the Vatican library, of all places. And they speak to the genuine feelings the lovestruck monarch had for his new crush. He referred to Anne as mine own sweetheart and even circled her initials with heart symbols, which is entirely too damn cute for Henry VIII. It's like the 16th century version of replying to a text with three winking emojis. The letters also give us some insight into how the king viewed romance and love more generally. In particular, the use of elaborate wordplay and Henry's frequent references to himself as Anne's servant speak to his affection for what was known as courtly love stories, which focused on the delicate, chivalrous, and detail-oriented dance aristocrats would perform when they grew smitten with one another. He would also sometimes close his letters with a puzzle or a cipher, another common trend in contemporary tales of affairs between nobles. You know, toss a little riddle or word game in there to keep them interested. It's not a bad strategy. At some point in the mid-1520s, Henry decided to try and exit his marriage with Catherine and marry Anne instead. Big whoop, right? Famous people do this all the time. Except ditching the old wife wasn't so simple back then. King Henry was a staunch Catholic, and the Vatican is super uptight about getting divorced. It's part of their brand. Henry had been such a profound defender of the Catholic faith in the face of Martin Luther's growing Protestant movement, Pope Leo X had granted him the title of Fidei Defensor, or Defender of the Faith, in 1521. A complete break with the church seemed unthinkable. So Henry's plan in 1527 was to ask the new pope, Clement VII, to annul his marriage to Catherine. His argument was that she had originally been his brother's wife, unless the pairing was, to quote the king himself, blighted in the eyes of God. It's the old, see, the marriage didn't count in the first place, argument. The king sent a secretary, William Knight, to make his case directly to the pope. But Clement was unmoved by his interpretation of the events. Over the next few years, Henry directed Thomas Wolsey, who is now Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York, to continue negotiating an annulment with the Vatican on his behalf. But by 1529, it was clear that no agreement would ever be reached. Ultimately, Henry charged Wolsey with treason for his failure and ordered him to return to London. But the cardinal died of natural causes before he could complete the trip. History says natural causes. We say he was terrified of what Henry was going to do to him when he made it to London. So he checked out early. By 1531, Henry banished Catherine from court and decided to move forward with his plans to marry Anne, whether or not the pope himself was personally on board. Though they weren't yet married or even officially public about their love affair, the duo enacted plans to solidify Anne's role at court. Henry brought her along to meetings with the French King Francis I in 1532, hoping to enlist his support for their union. He also granted Anne the man's title of Marquess of Pembroke, which not only made her a wealthy and important woman overnight, but did so independently of her father, whose land and titles would ultimately pass to his brother, George. Henry and Anne wed in secret in two clandestine services. The first in November of 1532 and the second in January of 1533. You know, one for the family and one for us. Both took place before Henry would formally dissolve his first marriage to Catherine at a hearing with newly named Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, who was also the Boleyn's family former chaplain. There was no time to wait, as Anne was already pregnant with the couple's first and only child, the future Queen Elizabeth I. Still, they felt a need to remain out of the public eye, as public support still remained solidly with Catherine. Shortly after news of the marriage became public, Pope Clement excommunicated both Henry and Thomas Cranmer. This created a permanent rift between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, over which Henry personally assumed control. Hey, if they won't give you a divorce, just make your own church. Anne was crowned Queen of England in a coronation ceremony on May 31st and June 1st, 1533, which included a procession through the streets of London and a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Oh, boy, two days. Hope they had an open bar and a nacho cart. Clearly, they were finished keeping quiet about their new arrangement. Anne more specifically made robes for the occasion, sewn with golden threads. And for the first time in British history, a queen consort was presented with St. Edward's crown, which had previously sat exclusively atop the heads of actual monarchs. The public response to their new queen was considered lukewarm at best. Following the coronation, Anne moved to Greenwich Palace and prepared to give birth. Elizabeth was born on September 7th, 1533. Her arrival was a great disappointment to Henry, who fully believed that having taken such elaborate steps to get out of his relationship with Catherine and replace her as his queen meant that he'd be rewarded with a son and heir. It's unclear why he assumed this. Maybe he'd spend every evening shouting, boy, at Anne's stomach? Sensing the overall mood at court, most of the royal physicians and astrologers had also been predicting that the child would be a boy. As Henry's first daughter with Catherine, Mary, was now considered a threat to young Elizabeth, she was stripped of the title of princess. Ouch. Despite the disappointment surrounding Elizabeth's gender, the couple were still on largely good terms at this point and would often exchange lavish gifts. Though these, of course, included the expected jewelry and even large sums of cash, Henry was also an attentive husband who would delight Anne with her favorite activities, like archery or horseback riding. For her part, Anne was generous as well. Anne gifted Henry with fancy bedding and, on one occasion, a miniature ship that she had encrusted with jewels. It's got to be tough to shop for the king. He literally has everything, so you have to get creative. Still, by 1534, the relationship had started to sour. While Anne's intelligence and strong political and social opinions had delighted Henry when she was his mistress, he sometimes chafed against them coming from his queen. A lost pregnancy by stillbirth or miscarriage further convinced him that his relationship with Anne was unlikely to produce the son and heir for whom he longed. The king started taking new mistresses, including Anne's own cousin, Madge Shelton. Double ouch. Public opinion, as well, had failed to turn in Anne's favor. Following the death of Catherine of Aragon in 1536, rumors started circulating that she'd been poisoned by either Henry or even Anne herself, which certainly didn't help her to improve her Q rating. Remember, the people loved Catherine and never warmed up to Anne. So Catherine's sudden and suspicious death didn't do the queen any favors. Around this time, Henry seems to have started shopping for new wives, including Anne's own maid of honor, Jane Seymour, the former queen of England, not the star of Dr. Quinn, medicine woman. Anne had another miscarriage on the day of Catherine's burial at Peterborough Abbey. And this is widely considered to be the incident that doomed the relationship. While Anne was still recovering, Henry apparently told his closest advisors that he'd been seduced into marrying her by what was then known by the French term sortilège, which would basically be like a modern person blaming witchcraft, like she'd put a spell on him. Regardless, she was never charged with any supernatural crimes or formally accused of partaking in black magic. Henry's ultimate plot to get rid of Anne was entirely more practical in nature. Many historians believe Henry then turned over the job of getting rid of Anne to another key advisor, Thomas Cromwell. Following months of surveillance and intelligence gathering, Cromwell reported back to Henry that Anne was guilty of a number of adulterous acts, including an incestuous relationship with her own brother, George. Even though they were almost certainly lies, several men were arrested based on Cromwell's reports. The king wanted Anne gone. So the reports were just a formality. Anne herself was arrested on May 2nd, 1536 and taken to the Tower of London. In her final letter to Henry, dated May 6th, she claims total innocence of all charges saying, never prince had wife more loyal in all duty and in all true affection than you have ever found in Anne Boleyn. Several of her alleged lovers were put on trial over the course of the following days. All maintained their innocence except one, a Flemish musician named Mark Smeaton, who confessed to a dalliance with the queen, possibly after being coerced. The confession, not the dalliance. Based on the treason act first instated by Edward III, adultery by the queen was considered an act of treason and punishable by death. So when Anne was ultimately found guilty by a jury that included her former fiance, Henry Percy, the penalty would typically have been being burned at the stake. This was just for women. A man who was found guilty of treason was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, like William Wallace in Braveheart. In a surprising flare up of humanity, Henry felt like this punishment was perhaps too far and insisted that his wife just get beheaded instead. But he wanted Anne to have a beheading fit for a queen. So Henry arranged for an expert executioner to travel to London from Calais and deliver the death blow with a sword rather than an ax, which was considered faster and cleaner. Historian Tracy Borman later suggested that Henry's exacting instructions regarding the fine details of his wife's demise reveals a premeditated and calculating manner. Anne's sentence was carried out based on Henry's specific designs on May 19, 1536. Only 11 days later, on May 30, Henry got married once again to Anne's former lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. As with his previous nuptials, the new ceremony was held in secret at the royal palace. Hank knows what he likes, and Hank likes secret weddings. Seymour finally gave birth to Henry's long-awaited male heir, Prince Edward, on October 12, 1537. The boy would, in fact, be crowned king just nine years later following Henry's passing. But in a final twist, he would serve as England's monarch for just six years. In January 1553, 15-year-old Edward developed a fever and cough that gradually worsened. By July, he had passed away, leaving his sister Elizabeth I as England's new queen. Huh, maybe he should have thought about adopting. So what do you think? Which aspect of Henry and Anne's relationship surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from our Weird History.