Henry VIII’s Love Letters to Anne Boleyn
Henry VIII wrote Anne Boleyn a collection of love letters which still survive today because they are in the Vatican Library. How they ended up there, we just don’t know, but the most likely explanation is that they were stolen from Anne Boleyn to provide evidence of her relationship with the King. Unfortunately, we do not have Anne’s replies but the letters are evidence of Henry VIII’s romantic side and his strong feelings for Anne.
You can click on the following links to read these letters in their entirety. I have put them in the order that they can be found in the 1906 book published by John W Luce and Company, rather than the order of the Harleian Miscellany, because, as J. O. Halliwell Philipps points out in his notes on the letters, they only make sense in this order.
- Love Letter 1 – Written sometime after Anne Boleyn had retired to Hever after May 1527.
- Love Letter 2
- Love Letter 3
- Love Letter 4
- Love Letter 5 – July 1527
- Love Letter 6 – July 1527
- Love Letter 7 – February 1528
- Love Letter 8 – June 16th 1528
- Love Letter 9 – June 20th 1528
- Love Letter 10 – June 22nd 1528
- Love Letter 11 – July 1528
- Love Letter 12 – July 20th 1528
- Love Letter 13 – July 21st 1528
- Love Letter 14 – August 1528
- Love Letter 15 – August 20th 1528
- Love Letter 16 – September 16th 1528
- Love Letter 17 – End October 1528