On this day 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn was crowned.

Anne Boleyn arrived at Westminster Abbey at 9am, dressed in her magnificent coronation robes of purple velvet trimmed with ermine. A gold coronet rested on her flowing dark hair, a symbol of her virginity and regality. 

The same golden canopy from the day before was carried above her head, and before her were carried the dove-topped ivory rod and the golden sceptre. She processed along a blue carpeted route between Westminster Hall and the Abbey’s altar. The Lord Great Chamberlain, Earl of Oxford, carried the crown of St Edward – a crown traditionally reserved for anointed monarchs. Following Anne, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk carried her train, while the bishops of London and Winchester, along with scarlet clad ladies, completed the procession. 

Inside the Abbey, Anne paused briefly in St Edward’s Chair before prostrating herself before the altar while Archbishop Thomas Cranmer prayed over her. After being anointed with holy oil, she returned to St Edward’s Chair, where Cranmer crowned her and presented her with the sceptre and rod. She then took the sacrament, gave an offering at the shrine of the saint, and refreshed herself before regressing back to Westminster Hall. Henry likely watched the proceedings from behind a latticework screen.

Anne then attended her lavish coronation banquet, seated alone at her table with only the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer, as her companion. Henry watched from a special box with the French and Venetian ambassadors. Anne must have been exhausted after four days of ceremonial spectacle, all while heavily pregnant with the future Elizabeth I. It must have been so gratifying for her, however, to finally have her moment in the spotlight – this was literally seven years in the making.

I hope she was truly happy.