Royal Central’s Halloween season begins with a story of adultery, beheadings, and ghostly apparitions. Here is Anne Boleyn’s Tale of the Tower.
She was the second wife of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, but ultimately Anne Boleyn met her fate in the Tower of London on May 19th, 1536.
After several years of marriage to King Henry, in 1536 Anne Boleyn was arrested on charges of adultery with five men including her brother, Lord George Rochford. Anne Boleyn was put to a trial, which was presided over by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, where she was accused of adultery and surprisingly, witchcraft.
Anne Boleyn is arrested.
Queen Anne was subsequently charged and sent to the Tower of London.
The fall of Anne Boleyn was swift, from being arrested on 2nd May 1536, it took a mere 17 days before she was beheaded. On 19th May, Anne was led from her quarters to Tower Green where she was spared the axe and granted the ‘mercy’ of the beheading by a French swordsman. Rather than using her final moments to deny her guilt, Anne Boleyn praised King Henry VIII stating that “a more merciful prince was there never.”
Queen Anne was the first English Queen to be publicly executed.
Centuries after her execution, it is said that the ghost of Anne Boleyn still roams the grounds of the Tower of London. Perhaps the most chilling story relating to the ghost of Anne comes from a Captain of the Guard, who one night saw a light flickering in the locked Chapel Royal. When entering the Chapel to investigate the light, it was reported that the Captain was met with a procession of Knights and Ladies. They were dressed in ancient costume just pacing the room led by a female leader, whose figure resembled that of Anne Boleyn. Moments later the procession and Anne Boleyn disappeared.
It is claimed that Anne Boleyn walks from Queen’s House to the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, where she walks down the aisle to her grave under the altar.
Anne Boleyn is said to haunt Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace and Hever Castle, her childhood home.
The ghost of Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London also spawned a song in 1934. Written by R.P Weston and Bert Lee, the song is entitled ‘With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm’ and tells the story of how Anne Boleyn haunts the Tower seeking revenge on Henry VIII for having her beheaded.
So this Halloween, why not make your way to the Tower of London for two reasons. One it is a spectacular fortress with over a thousand years of history but more importantly, you may be in for a bloodcurdlingly Boleyn-themed surprise!
Photo Credits: David Wilkie Wynfield [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons & “Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn” by Henry VIII is by Hans Holbein the Younger; Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
