We all know what it’s like to psych ourselves up for something awful, whether it’s surgery, a dentist appointment, a driving test, or an exam, but can you imagine preparing yourself for execution and then waiting and waiting, only to be told later in the day that it was being postponed until the next day?
What cruelty! What torment!
That’s what happened to Queen Anne Boleyn. She had spent the night of 17th/18th May praying with her almoner, she had made her last confession and celebrated the mass with Archbishop Cranmer, she had sworn her innocence on the sacrament, she had made arrangements for the traditional payment of alms, and then she had waited to be collected for her execution. She waited and waited…
Picture: Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in “The Tudors” series.