On this day in Tudor history, 11th April 1533, Good Friday, King Henry VIII informed his council that Anne Boleyn, the woman he’d married in January 1533, was his rightful wife and queen, and should be accorded royal honours.
Finally, things were going right for the couple, who had been waiting for this moment since 1527, when Anne had accepted the king’s proposal of marriage.
Find out more about what had led Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to this point, and why they thought that the Great Matter would be sorted out much quicker, in this video:
You can see Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” at https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors
and here are my articles on the painting and its symbolism:
- Holbein’s The Ambassadors: A Renaissance Puzzle? – Part One: Context
- Holbein’s The Ambassadors: A Renaissance Puzzle? – Part Two: Symbols
- Holbein’s The Ambassadors: A Renaissance Puzzle – Part Three: Jupiter and Change
And here’s a link to my timeline of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s relationship – https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/a-timeline-of-anne-boleyns-relationship-with-henry-viii-from-1528-1533/
Also on this day in Tudor history, 11th April 1554, in the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, son of poet and diplomat Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, was beheaded on Tower Hill after being found guilty of high treason.
Wyatt had led a rebellion which sought to depose the queen and to replace her with her half-sister Elizabeth, but he refused to implicate Elizabeth in the plot. He went to his death asserting her innocence.
Find out more about what happened and hear his final speech…