Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, was born into a rich noble family on the 3rd of October 1554 at Beauchamp Court, Warwickshire, England. He was the only son of Sir Fulke Greville and Anne Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Fulke was de jure 13th Baron Latimer...
Anne von Cleves: a victim of Henry VIII’s health issues on the wedding night
Anne von Cleves (Anna von Kleve) was born in Schloss Burg, near Düsseldorf, on the 22nd of September 1515. Her parents were John III, Duke of Cleves and Count of Mark, known as the Peaceful (der Friedfertige), and his wife, Maria of Jülich-Berg. Anne had 3 siblings: Sibylle, William, and...
Birth of the English Gloriana and Her Mother’s Miscarriages
On the 7th of September 1533, Anne Boleyn birthed a daughter – the future Queen Elizabeth I of England. It happened at Greenwich Palace, where Queen Elizabeth of York had given birth to King Henry VIII. At first, Anne’s pregnancy had been without any complications, and the proud mother coped...
The death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his last letter to Queen Elizabeth I
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, passed away on the 4th of September 1588 at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire while on his way to Buxton. Mere weeks ago, Leicester had ridden with Queen Elizabeth I of England, the legendary Gloriana, through the streets of London in the rays of glory after...
Mary Boleyn: a possible mistress of two kings, but not a whore
Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s elder sister, died on the 19th of July 1543 in her early forties. In her first marriage to William Carey, she had two children – Catherine and Henry Carey, who are considered by some historians King Henry VIII’s bastards, although it cannot be proved. After Mary’s...
Entrancing brown eyes
In accordance with my contract with my new publisher, I have the right to submit the final version of my novel ‘Between Two Kings’ about Anne Boleyn by the 30th of June 2020. Therefore, I am now polishing the manuscript, adding something and making some descriptions more compact. I’ve added two...
A New Tudor Royal Wedding less than two weeks after Anne Boleyn’s execution
On the 30th of May 1536, King Henry VIII of England and Lady Jane Seymour were married at Whitehall palace at the Queen’s Closet. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had married Jane’s predecessor, now dead Anne Boleyn, and the Tudor monarch in the winter of 1533, conducted the quiet...
Thomas Cranmer’s letter to Henry VIII in Anne Boleyn’s defense
Ah, Anne Boleyn… Our Anne… Back then in May, she was deserted by everyone, even by her own father. However, she still had one friend – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer adored and admired Anne, and he proclaimed King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void. ...
Bewitching Dark Eyes
My poem: an ode of someone in love with Anne Boleyn and bewitched by her dark eyes. I have more poems about Anne for my new version of the novel “Between Two Kings”. I drown my entire soul in your two eyes, As black as night that gives me paradise,...
Princess Mary Tudor: biding her time after marrying Louis XII
On the 13th of August 1514, Princess Mary Tudor was married to King Louis XII of France by proxy at Greenwich Palace. A young and beautiful maid became the wife of an ailing and old monarch! Mary was eighteen, while Louis was fifty-two! However, the age difference did not matter...
What of King Edward VI had not died so young?
On the 6th of July 1553, King Edward VI died at Greenwich Palace. The only surviving son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, he breathed his last at the age of fifteen, dying from consumption. John Foxe’s account of his death states that Edward’s last words were:...
Coronation of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn emerged from the Tower of London at 5pm on Saturday the 31st of May 1533. She had spent the previous several days in the queen’s chambers in the Tower. According to contemporary sources, the last day of spring was sunny, bright, and warm, and the sky was an unbroken...
A hymn of Anne Boleyn’s heart
Hello to everyone! Today is another anniversary of Anne Boleyn's tragic death. As a tribute to the extraordinary Anne Boleyn, here is my poem written in Renaissance style, lyrical and a bit whimsical, about her thoughts in different moments of her life. My poem is a mixture of real and...
A Tudor Tragedy: death of Little Prince Hal
On the 22nd of February, 1511, Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, experienced a devastating loss. Their infant son – Henry, Duke of Cornwall – died, suddenly and expectedly, at the age of only fifty-two days at Richmond Palace. The cause of his death was not recorded....
Henry VIII’s Two Wives: Death Comes Uninvited
Death comes into people’s lives without any rules, inconsiderately and irrationally as a thief. It brings pain and suffering when one we love departs. The end of January 1536 was a tragic time, marked by catastrophic loss and sadness, for both Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon. There is an old...