Becoming ANNE BOLEYN

Five hundred years ago, in 1522, Anne Boleyn made her first recorded appearance at the English court of Henry VIII. A mock castle called Château Vert had been created as a centrepiece for an evening pageant at which eight satin-clad gentlewomen cast as ‘virtues’ waited for eight gentlemen, including the king, to storm the towers and liberate them from ‘vice’. Anne was given the role of Perseverance, a rather appropriate choice, as history would prove.

The story is well known of how Anne boldly schemed to become Henry’s second wife, and in doing so precipitated religious turmoil that divided the country for generations to come. Yet, she has always been the most enigmatic of the king’s six wives. Now, a new exhibition at her childhood home,