Page 33 - All About History - Issue 52-17

Although not
conventionally
beautiful, Anne
Boleyn’s dark eyes
were captivating

Henry VIII was still the
most handsome prince
in Europe when he
married Anne Boleyn

Hever Castle in Kent, his own later admission. From early 1522, Mary’s husband
the childhood home of began to receive significant royal grants, suggesting that he 33
the Boleyn sisters
accepted the relationship between his wife and the king.
Mary, who remained in Katherine of Aragon’s household, also
began to star in court masques and entertainments. While
there is no evidence that either her husband or her parents
pressed her to accept the king, they may have done. William
Carey received a number of financial incentives, while
Thomas Boleyn was appointed treasurer of the household in
April 1522, a Knight of the Garter the following year and, in
June 1525, ennobled as Viscount Rochford.
Mary’s children, too, may have been fathered by the king,
although Henry acknowledged only one illegitimate child –
Henry Fitzroy – during his lifetime. In around 1524 she gave
birth to a daughter, Catherine Carey, while a son, Henry,
followed in March 1526. There were certainly rumours about
the children, with the vicar of Isleworth, for one, stating
during his examination by the royal council on 20 April
1535 that “Mr Skidmore did show to me young Master Carey,
saying that he was our sovereign lord the king’s son by our
sovereign lady the queen’s sister, whom the queen’s grace
might not suffer to be in the court.” Since Mary was married
throughout her affair with Henry, the children’s paternity
may have been uncertain, but the rumours later damaged the
relationship between the Boleyn sisters.
Thanks to her relationship with Henry VIII, it was Mary
who was the most prominent Boleyn in the early 1520s.
Anne finally returned to England in early 1522 when, no
doubt thanks to her sister’s influence, she was able to enter
Katherine of Aragon’s household. That March, she was
honoured by being appointed as one of only eight court
ladies to dance in a masque at Greenwich. The ladies, who
each portrayed a virtue, were besieged in a mock castle by
a group of masked knights, led by the king. It was ‘Beauty’
– portrayed by Mary Tudor – who danced with the king,