![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/3408484274f286cf9220-05a13fc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Elizabeth\u2019s love of expensive and elaborate jewellery was well known, yet her most cherished possession was this comparatively simple piece, which she kept with her until the day she died. It is a poignant symbol of the private reverence with which she held her late mother throughout her long life.<\/p>\n
Mother and daughter<\/h3>\n
Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I were two of the most famous women in British history, their stories as familiar as they are compelling. We all know of Henry VIII<\/a>\u2019s obsessive love for Anne, turning to bitter disappointment when she failed to give him a son, and her bloody death<\/a> on the scaffold three years after being crowned queen.<\/p>\n And we recall Elizabeth\u2019s turbulent path to the throne, followed by her long and glorious reign \u2013 a \u2018Golden Age\u2019 of overseas adventurers, Shakespeare<\/a> and Spenser, royal favourites and the vanquishing of the Spanish Armada<\/a>, all presided over by the self-styled Virgin Queen.<\/p>\n Elizabeth barely spoke of her mother, and it\u2019s commonly assumed that she thought about her even less. This is quite understandable: Elizabeth was less than three years old when the Calais swordsman severed her mother\u2019s head at the Tower of London on 19 May 1536. Even while Anne lived, Elizabeth had seen little of her, instead experiencing the traditional upbringing for a royal infant, established in a separate household far removed from her parents at court.<\/p>\n By contrast, Elizabeth couldn\u2019t say enough about Henry VIII. \u201cShe prides herself on her father and glories in him,\u201d observed Giovanni Michiel, the Venetian ambassador to England during the reign of Elizabeth\u2019s sister, Mary I<\/a>. The many references that she made to her \u201cdearest father\u201d, and the way in which she tried to emulate his style of monarchy when she became queen, support this view.<\/p>\n The truth, though, is both more complex and more fascinating. Exploring Elizabeth\u2019s actions both before and after she became queen reveals so much more than her words. From these, it becomes clear that she not only revered her mother but spent the rest of her long life \u2013 and reign \u2013 trying to rehabilitate Anne\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in secret in January 1533, even though his marriage to his first queen, Catherine of Aragon<\/a>, had not yet been dissolved. There was good reason for his haste: Anne was already pregnant. She was crowned amid spectacular pomp and pageantry in June, and in August she and the court travelled to Greenwich Palace for the birth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe seventh day of September, being Sunday, between three and four of the clock after noon, the queen was delivered of a fair lady,\u201d reported the chronicler Edward Hall. After all the turmoil through which the king had put his country in order to marry Anne, this was a humiliating disappointment.<\/p>\n On visiting his newborn daughter for the first time, Henry remarked that: \u201cYou and I are both young and, by God\u2019s grace, boys will follow.\u201d It was less an observation than a command. Anne was not an obviously maternal woman. Her forthright, ambitious and occasionally vicious nature was more suited to the political arena than the royal nursery. But Elizabeth\u2019s birth seemed to change all of that.<\/p>\n From the beginning, Anne lavished affection upon her newborn infant and could hardly bear to be apart from her. \u201cDay and night she would not let this daughter of hers out of her sight,\u201d observed a contemporary chronicler. \u201cWhenever the queen came out in the royal palace where the canopy was, she had a cushion placed underneath for her child to sit upon.\u201d<\/p>\n As royal tradition dictated, though, at the age of just three months Elizabeth was established in her own household at Hatfield, 20 miles from the court in London. Thereafter, she seldom saw her mother. Although Anne visited when she could, court business demanded her presence \u2013 not to mention the pressing need to produce a male heir.<\/p>\n But the queen made sure that her daughter was surrounded by Boleyn relatives<\/a>. She also sent regular gifts to Hatfield, such as made-to-measure satin caps and dresses. These gifts came to an abrupt end in May 1536.<\/p>\n In January that year, Anne had miscarried for the third time. Henry had long since tired of her, and had already lined up Jane Seymour<\/a> as his third wife. It was down to his ruthlessly efficient chief minister, Thomas Cromwell<\/a>, to rid him of his second.<\/p>\n As the vultures at court circled, Anne busied herself with ordering pretty clothes for her infant daughter. These appear in a list of expenses that still survives in the National Archives, providing a poignant glimpse into the care Anne took over her daughter\u2019s attire. Her last thoughts were of Elizabeth.<\/p>\n Having been condemned on trumped-up charges of treason, adultery and incest, Anne gave a speech on the Tower scaffold. This feisty, outspoken queen might have been expected to rail against the injustice of her fate. Instead, she had nothing but praise for her estranged husband, and meekly accepted that she must die. This was all for her daughter, whom she hoped Henry would now look upon kindly.<\/p>\n She may also have had Elizabeth in mind when she added a plaintive plea: \u201cIf any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best.\u201d (In other words, if anyone subsequently looked into her actions, she hoped they would judge them fairly).<\/p>\n \u201cWhy governor, how hap it yesterday Lady Princess and today but Lady Elizabeth?\u201d Anne\u2019s daughter demanded of her governor, Sir John Shelton, shortly afterwards. Even at only two years and eight months old, this precocious young girl quickly realised that something was badly amiss.<\/p>\n Her parents\u2019 marriage had been annulled before Anne\u2019s execution, so Elizabeth was now illegitimate as well as motherless.\u00a0No longer a princess and heir to the throne, her household was drastically reduced, her father the king wanted nothing to do with her, and soon her Lady Mistress was begging Cromwell to order new clothes for the child, because she had outgrown all of those that her late mother had sent.<\/p>\n For the rest of her childhood, Elizabeth was neglected by her father, especially after the birth of his \u201cprecious jewel\u201d, Edward<\/a>, in 1537. Although she could have had few, if any, memories of her late mother, it was during those years that Elizabeth developed a fascination with Anne. While the rest of the kingdom remembered the king\u2019s second wife as the \u201cconcubine\u201d and \u201cgreat whore\u201d, Elizabeth grew to revere her mother\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n When, around 1545, Henry VIII commissioned a portrait of his family, the 11 or 12-year-old Elizabeth took the daring step of wearing her mother\u2019s famous \u2018A\u2019 pendant when she sat for the artist. She knew that her father wanted no reminders of the woman whom he had condemned for adultery and treason, but her feelings for Anne were too strong to be ignored.<\/p>\n This small act of rebellion was one of the earliest illustrations that, when it came to her mother, Elizabeth\u2019s actions spoke louder than her words.<\/p>\n During the brief reign of her half-brother, Edward, Elizabeth was able to give full expression to the Protestant beliefs that her mother had instilled in her. Anne had been a passionate advocate of religious reform and, just before her death, had appointed her chaplain, Matthew Parker, as her daughter\u2019s spiritual guardian. (Elizabeth later made him her first archbishop of Canterbury.)<\/p>\n When her half-sister, Mary, came to the throne in 1553, though, Elizabeth\u2019s faith plunged her into danger. She was suspected of involvement in a rebellion led by Thomas Wyatt the following year, and imprisoned in the Tower of London<\/a>.<\/p>\n The psychological torment of being a prisoner in the same apartments as her mother\u00a0was profound. Years later, she recalled that she had been so convinced that she would meet the same fate as Anne that she had asked if she, too, might be beheaded with a sword.<\/p>\n Thanks, in part, to a lack of evidence against her, she was released (albeit being placed under effective house arrest) on 19 May 1554, the anniversary of her mother\u2019s execution.<\/p>\n Elizabeth came to the throne upon Mary\u2019s death four years later, in 1558. At last she could begin in earnest the work of rehabilitating her mother. But, given that her Catholic subjects viewed her as an illegitimate heretic, she still had to be discreet about it.<\/p>\n She chose not to have Anne\u2019s remains moved from the Tower chapel to a more fitting place of royal burial, knowing that this would court controversy \u2013 literally, digging up a past that was best forgotten. Neither did she have the dissolution of her parents\u2019 marriage overturned, or challenge her mother\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n When it came to her coronation, though, Elizabeth pulled out all the stops. This lavish spectacle was closely modelled on her mother\u2019s, and Anne was very much in evidence throughout. One of the pageants lining the processional route was entitled \u2018The uniting of the two houses of Lancaster and York\u2019. On each level were large statues of Elizabeth\u2019s ancestors: Henry VII and Elizabeth of York<\/a> on the lowest tier, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn on the middle, and Elizabeth seated in majesty at the top.<\/p>\n This was the first time in more than 20 years that Anne had been publicly \u2013 and positively \u2013 represented. Her falcon badge was proudly displayed throughout the procession, too, and Elizabeth decorated her palaces and possessions with the same emblem.<\/p>\n Five objects that embody the bonds between Elizabeth I and her ill-fated mother\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Among the largest items that Elizabeth inherited from Anne Boleyn was \u201cthe rich bed of estate\u201d in which Anne gave birth to her, described as \u201cone of the richest and most triumphant beds\u201d. It was said to have formed part of the ransom of the Duke of Alen\u00e7on following his capture by the English at the battle of Verneuil in 1424, and was possibly a nod to Anne\u2019s time at the French court during her youth. Elizabeth later showed off the bed to one of her suitors, the Duke of Anjou and Alen\u00e7on, and quipped that he might recognise it.<\/p>\n The falcon was Anne\u2019s most famous emblem,\u00a0and Elizabeth used it to decorate many of her palaces and possessions. Although Henry VIII destroyed most of the falcons made during Anne\u2019s lifetime, one of them recently turned up at auction. Carved from oak and beautifully gilded, the crowned falcon rests on a bed of Tudor roses. It was one of 150 commissioned by Henry to decorate Hampton Court, and is a rare survivor of Anne\u2019s queenship.<\/p>\n Elizabeth inherited a large number of books from her mother. The oldest is an exquisitely illuminated Book of Hours from the mid-15th century. Anne inscribed it: \u201cLe temps viendra\/je Anne Boleyn\u201d (\u201cThe time will come\/I Anne Boleyn\u201d). Between the words \u201cje\u201d and \u201cAnne\u201d she inserted a small drawing of an armillary sphere \u2013\u00a0a model of objects in the sky used\u00a0as an emblem by both Anne and her daughter.<\/p>\n A beautiful silver-gilt cup with the Boleyn falcon sitting proudly on top was made for Anne in 1535. After her death it passed to her daughter, who later gifted it to her physician, Richard Master, who had served her from the beginning of her reign. In 1563, Master gave it to St John the Baptist Parish Church in Cirencester, where it is still on display.<\/p>\n The most famous of Elizabeth\u2019s keepsakes of her mother is embossed with rubies and diamonds, and opens to reveal two portraits. One is of Elizabeth I; the other depicts a woman widely thought to be Anne Boleyn. The ring is one of the few surviving pieces of jewellery known to have been worn by Elizabeth.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> The new queen also found more practical ways to honour her late mother. In appointing the men and women who would serve her, she prioritised her Boleyn relatives.<\/p>\n This was particularly apparent in her private household, where almost all of the most prized positions went to her maternal relatives and supporters. The Careys, descendants of Anne Boleyn\u2019s sister Mary, were especially prominent. Foremost among them was Lady Katherine Knollys. Katherine was the daughter of Mary Boleyn<\/a> \u2013 and was, therefore, Elizabeth\u2019s first cousin.<\/p>\n But it was rumoured that Katherine was the result of a relationship between Mary and Elizabeth\u2019s father, Henry \u2013 which would have made the two women half-sisters. One contemporary claimed that the new queen \u201cloved Lady Knollys above all other women in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n Katherine and her family certainly reaped the rewards of their royal connection. Her husband, Sir Francis, was admitted to the privy council and appointed vice-chamberlain of the household, as well as captain of the halberdiers. Her daughter, Lettice \u2013 who may have been among Elizabeth\u2019s household at Hatfield for a time \u2013 also secured a place in the privy chamber.<\/p>\n Whenever one of Elizabeth\u2019s Boleyn relatives died in service, she replaced them with their sons or daughters, so she was surrounded by Boleyns throughout her 44-year reign. She also favoured those families who had supported her late mother.<\/p>\n Sir Henry Norris, son of the courtier of the same name who had been condemned for adultery with Anne and who had defended her on the scaffold, enjoyed a host of prestigious honours and promotions. He was created Baron Norris of Rycote and made English ambassador to France.<\/p>\n His wife, Margery, became one of the queen\u2019s closest companions; Elizabeth gave her the affectionate nickname \u2018Crow\u2019, because of her dark complexion. Elizabeth made it clear that the Norrises enjoyed her favour as a direct result of their connection to her mother. She told Sir Henry Norris that his father had \u201cdied in a noble cause and in justification of her mother\u2019s innocence\u201d.<\/p>\n By contrast, Elizabeth showed no mercy towards her paternal relatives. She twice confined to the Tower her cousin Lady Margaret Douglas (daughter of Henry VIII\u2019s elder sister Margaret<\/a>) for scheming to align her family more closely with the throne. This included secretly arranging for her elder son, Henry, Lord Darnley, to marry Elizabeth\u2019s most deadly rival, Mary, Queen of Scots<\/a>.<\/p>\n Elizabeth\u2019s treatment of Katherine and Mary Grey, granddaughters of Henry\u2019s younger sister Mary, was even more harsh: imprisoned for marrying without the queen\u2019s permission, they died miserable and alone. And, of course, she had Mary, Queen of Scots, granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, beheaded in 1587.<\/p>\n As Elizabeth\u2019s reign progressed, she became ever more her mother\u2019s daughter. Even during her sister Mary\u2019s reign, the Spanish ambassador had remarked that Elizabeth had \u201cmany characteristics in which she resembled her mother\u201d.<\/p>\n Sir Robert Naunton, who wrote an account of notables at Elizabeth\u2019s court, believed that the queen had inherited all her best traits from Anne. \u201cHer mother was\u2026 as the French word hath it, more debonaire, and affable, virtues which might well suit with majesty and which descending as hereditary to the daughter did render her of a more sweet temper\u2026 the atrocity of her father\u2019s nature being allayed in hers by her mother\u2019s sweet inclination.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Anne, Elizabeth did not conform to the social conventions that made women subordinate to men in almost every aspect of their lives. Instead, she was determined to command her own destiny, famously declaring: \u201cI will have but one mistress here, and no master!\u201d<\/p>\n It might be stretching the point to claim that Elizabeth chose to be a Virgin Queen because she had been psychologically damaged by her mother\u2019s execution on the orders of her father, but Anne\u2019s tragic fate had certainly made her alive to the dangers inherent in royal marriage.<\/p>\n Elizabeth\u2019s devotion to her late mother endured to the end of her own life. In January 1603, she moved to Richmond Palace, her \u201cwarm box\u201d, to which she could \u201cbest trust her sickly old age\u201d. As she had throughout her life, Elizabeth kept her maternal kin close. Among them was Philadelphia Scrope, daughter of Mary Boleyn\u2019s son, Henry Carey.<\/p>\n On 24 March 1603, between two and three o\u2019clock in the morning, Elizabeth \u201cdeparted this life, mildly, like a lamb, easily like a ripe apple from the tree\u201d.<\/p>\n According to tradition, Lady Scrope opened the window of the bedchamber and dropped a sapphire ring to her brother, Robert Carey, who was waiting below. The ring had been given to her by King James VI of Scotland<\/a>, who had instructed her to send it to him as a sign that the Tudor queen was dead and that he was the first Stuart king of England (as James I).<\/p>\n Elizabeth\u2019s story had started with the Boleyns, and it ended with them, too. The Boleyn coat of arms was proudly displayed throughout Elizabeth\u2019s funeral procession on 28 April. Later, Anne\u2019s falcon badge was added to her daughter\u2019s magnificent tomb in Westminster Abbey<\/a>.<\/p>\n To the very end, Elizabeth had honoured her mother\u2019s scaffold plea to \u201cmeddle\u201d in her cause \u2013 and, as always, had \u201cjudged the best\u201d.<\/p>\n You can listen to Tracy Borman discuss the relationship between Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn on the HistoryExtra podcast<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nElizabeth I: \u201cdearest father\u201d<\/h3>\n
![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/GettyImages-985008912cmyk-c122ab2.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"A\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn\u2019s relationship<\/h3>\n
Anne Boleyn, the mother<\/h3>\n
On visiting his newborn daughter Elizabeth for the first time, Henry VIII remarked that: ‘You and I are both young and, by God\u2019s grace, boys will follow’ <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Anne\u2019s last act for her daughter<\/h3>\n
Elizabeth I\u2019s troubled youth<\/h3>\n
Elizabeth was now illegitimate as well as motherless. No longer a princess and heir to the throne, her household was drastically reduced, her father the king wanted nothing to do with her <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Reigns of Edward VI and Mary I<\/h3>\n
Elizabeth I\u2019s coronation<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2023\/06\/HKXAD3sml-10a7ae7-e1686656097849.jpg?quality=90&resize=296%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Family heirlooms<\/h2>\n
1. The \u201ctriumphant\u201d bed<\/h6>\n
2. Anne\u2019s falcon<\/h6>\n
3.\u00a0 A Book of Hours<\/h6>\n
4.\u00a0 A gilt cup<\/h6>\n
5. The Chequers ring<\/h6>\n
Boleyns in the private household<\/h3>\n
In appointing the men and women who would serve her, she prioritised her Boleyn relatives. This was particularly apparent in her private household, where almost all of the most prized positions went to her maternal relatives and supporters <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Troubles with Henry\u2019s side of the family<\/h3>\n
![\""Queen\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/A64WN3sml-cf62d0c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Queen\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\u201cI will have but one mistress here, and no master!\u201d<\/h3>\n