As you probably know, British TV channel BBC2 has been rather Tudor themed recently, airing some wonderful documentaries about Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell and Henry VII, but what you may not know is that Saturday night (1st June) was a major Tudor ‘fest’. It started with A Tudor Feast at Christmas, then we had Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer, then The Other Boleyn Girl (the movie version starring Natalie Portman) and then two episodes of The Tudors from Season 2 – phew!
So, why am I writing about programmes that have already been aired? Well, because that night, and in particular The Other Boleyn Girl movie, had a major effect on The Anne Boleyn Files’ traffic and I found that interesting. Traffic to the site has increased recently anyway, due to it being that Anne Boleyn time of year and also due to the BBC2 Tudor Court Season of programmes, but Saturday night saw a major spike and we had the most visitors on the site at the same time. At midnight, about half an hour after the film had finished and half an hour into “The Tudors”, we had 940 people on the site at the same time! Usually, we have a maximum of 100 on at the same time, so it was quite a spike. I was curious to know what topics they were looking for and it turns out that they were interested in knowing about:
- Mary Boleyn
- Who fathered Mary Boleyn’s children?
- Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy
- Sex in Tudor times
- Sweating sickness
- Anne, George and incest
I think it’s safe to say that The Other Boleyn Girl was responsible for the spike in traffic, don’t you?!
What I find encouraging is that the film obviously piqued some people’s interest enough for them to go in search of the history behind the story and to not just take the story at face value. I know from emails I receive and comments I read online, that many people do believe that The Other Boleyn Girl is an accurate retelling of Anne Boleyn’s story and some people even quote it as a source (face palm, head bang), but this gave me a glimmer of hope. I do hope that those people found the answers they were looking for and enjoyed browsing the website. Everyone is welcome here!
If you want to know more about what’s fact and what’s fiction in The Other Boleyn Girl book and movie, then have a read of Anne Boleyn and The Other Boleyn Girl.
