Nothing of the sort. Their relationship was that of a brother and sister. Anne and George were quite close to each other in ages and would have spent a great deal of time together as children. They were very alike in temperment.
Cromwell invented facts to fit what Henry had wanted. Adultery in a Queen was punishable by death, but Henry wanted to blacken the Boleyn Name as well and how better than to make up a story that Anne and her brother were lovers.
If you think about it if anyone was guilty of incest it was Henry, twice over. According to him in marrying his dead brother window, he had commited incest which was why COA and he had no son. Then when he decided to marry Anne he sent a letter to the Pope asking for a dispensation to marry Anne despite his previous relationship with Mary (Anne’s Sister) though which they may have been a child or children.
Who is the one guilty of incest here? Henry NOT Anne, and what about K.H? was she not Anne’s cousin? couldn’t that relationship also be called incestious? Same blood, same family, just a different name.

This is true Anyanka but what time they did spend together was enough to forge the strong bond that they had for each other. Nobody can really know for sure what age was when she went to served Margaret, but I’m inclined to think she must have been about 10. although it has been suggested that she sailed with Mary Tudor at the age of 7 when Mary Tudor married married the French King Louis. I would have though that 7 would have been a little too young for a child to be considered as a lady in waiting, but then anything is possible. After all Mary QOS had her 4 Mary’s with her when she went to France.
Equally true is the fact of Henry’s relationships with all his Queens.

Louise said

‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’, is one of the most ridiculous comments in the English language. In fact it’s right up there with, ‘it’s possible.’ Where there’s smoke, someone has probably lit a fire, and anything’s possible.
As an aside, there were no rumours about Anne and George Boleyn during there lives. The charges were complete fabrication, and I don’t believe for a second Henry believed they were guilty.

Quite right Louise. I too believe that Henry didn’t believe these monsterous allegations that Cromwell made up about Anne and George. It was all Cromwell’s doing. Henry wanted rid of Anne and it was up to Cromwell to provide the laughingly called evidence against Anne. I don’t suppose for one minute George was actually ever going to be a target for Henry’s venom until Cromwell pointed out that the incest excuse (ie COA and Arthur/Henry would stick a second time for divorce.) If that makes sence, so Cromwell needed something a little more meaty to shove in his sandwich. George was unfortuately Cromwell’s meat, to go with the relish he make out of Norris, Weston, Brereton and Smeaton.
When Henry asked Cromwell to get rid of Anne it was a perfect excuse for him (Cromwell) to shove through the loophole all those who stood in his way to gaining ultimate power over Henry. They say “Pride comes before a fall” Cromwell learnt the meaning of that word when it came to the fiasco of the Cleves marriage.
Ha Ha I bet Leveson would have a field day on Cromwell’s so called evidence against Anne.

Anyanka, you’re right. I think it’s possible for people to chose to believe anything if they really want to and if it’s in their best interests. Whether they actually do believe or not is another matter. Thomas Boleyn found his daughter guilty of multiple adultery. Did he believe it? Bernard seems to think that the jury found Anne guilty because they believed she was. Bless! Dear old Bernard has such a nice fluffy view of human nature.

Boleyn said
Did Thomas B actually lose any prestige at all? I believe he was either told to buzz off or buzzed off for a while to Hever, but was back by the time Jane Seymour had little Eddy if memory served he played a minor part in Eddy’s christening. His diplomatic days were over though and I’ve found no other mention of him being at court after Eddy’s christening. One actually has to ask why he was at Eddy’s christening anyway?
Was it at Henry’s request he was there or as daft as it seems as a guest of Duke Poppingjay.

Thomas lost his title of Privy Seal. He retained his Earldom. He helped to supress and punish the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels. He did lose his place in Henry’s inner court though. He stayed involved with the Order of the Garter, was active in royal cermonies, and by january of ’38 was back at court. After his wife’s death there was talk of him marrying Margaret Douglas which came to nothing. He told Henry that he would leave the Ormond lands to Elizabeth, but in the end he reconsidered and left them to Mary.

I wonder if that rumor came about because of Margaret’s bad behavior. She was in love with Thomas Howard (the Duke’s son) in ’36 and became secretly engaged to him. She was next in line to the throne after Mary and Elizabeth were named bastards. An act of attainder was placed against Thomas Howard sentencing him to death and both Houses signed it. It also forbade any member of the king’s family to marry without his permission. Both were imprisoned for their efforts. Both became ill. Margaret was eventually released, but Thomas died of fever in the Tower in ’37.
I don’t know how Thomas Boleyn figures into this. Maybe it was a threat made to her unless she straightened up her act?

Power and money, Boleyn..The Howards had both especially the duke.

Look at Hugh Heffner, he married a woman a few weeks ago who had been a playmate and is under half his age.

Boleyn said

Could well be Sharon? But am I right in thinking that shortly after that she fell in love/lust with Thomas’s brother Charles Howard and as a result she was firstly imprisoned again in the Tower and then moved to Syon House, if my memory serves, this was around the time of K.H downfall and M.D was realeased or sent somewhere else as K.H was sent to Syon whilst Culpepper/Derham were being investigated, after their deaths she was moved to the Tower. I get the impression that M.D was a very highly sexed woman and that when she displeased Henry a second time, he simply had had enough of her and married her off a bit sharpish to stop her from falling in love/lust with the Howards.
Makes you wonder about the Howard Clan what was it about them, that made them irresistable to woman? Henry Howard had his fair share of admirers, and even Duke Poppingjay managed to keep Bess Holland interested in him. Personally the thought of Duke Poppingjay playing hide the sausage, turns my stomach somewhat..

Boleyn,
When Margaret was in the Tower due to the incident with Thomas Howard, she became ill with a fever. The king had her moved to Syon Abbey at this time. She was still under arrest. (1536) She was released from there in October of ’37. In ’39 she was honored by being appointed to greet AOC at Greenwhich and travel with her to the king. However, the king met up with Anne at Rochester. In ’40 she was in disgrace again for her affair with Charles Howard, KH”s brother. She did not spend time in the Tower for this affair. In ’43 she witnessed the marriage of Henry and Katherine Parr. She married Matthew Stewart in ’44. She was in the Tower twice during Elizabeth’s reign. First, in ’66-67 when her son Henry married MQS and second, ’74-76 when her son Charles married Elizabeth Cavendish.

Today I witnessed another example of how mainstream entertainment can mislead the public. Do not ask me how a lesson revolving around Ecology managed to get onto the topic of The Tudor Era but it did. One of my students decided to say that Henry’s second wife was a terrible woman because she slept with her brother. I instantly pulled her up on this, and said where did you hear that? She replied she saw it and it came out she watched The Tudors and it wasn’t TOBG like I thought it was. I quickly informed her that the information she has was wrong and that Anne never slept with George despite what the soap opera said. She then asked why did they have it on the show (My brain thought did they? It’s discussed in depth in TOBG movie but I don’t recall a scene in the Tudors). I then gave her a qucik history of how Henry needed a way out cause of the way he changed the church to marry the ‘love of his life’ at the time. At no point did her brother ever sleep with her, it was all lies made up to get her killed. By the end of the discussion, I was able to change this girl’s opinion on George and Anne. And I admit that I felt proud and my first thought was that Louise would be happy that I had changed someone’s views on George.

I must confess that I may have gone a little but over board painting Mantel’s boyfriend as an evil mastermind in the downfall of Anne to get my point across.

Bill. I second Louise’s hug in fact hugs all round for Bill please. He deserves it.
It always makes you feel like you have acheived something, when you can change the opinions of someone who believes the soap Opera version of history. Hopefully this girl will want to find out more, and begin reading factual books rather than fictional books.

We know so little about George and it’s a shame. Personally I would be very proud to have a brother like him.