On this day in 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was executed.
Her death marked one of the most infamous and tragic moments in English history.
Just days earlier, five men – including Anne’s own brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford – had been beheaded on Tower Hill, accused alongside her of adultery, incest, and treason. These charges were almost certainly fabricated. Nevertheless, Anne’s fate had been sealed. Her marriage to the King was annulled, and a skilled executioner from Calais had been summoned to dispatch her quickly and cleanly by sword.
The Morning of the 19th of May
Anne rose early. At dawn, she celebrated Mass for the final time, receiving the sacrament from her almoner, John Skip. Her breakfast followed at 7am. She had spent days preparing for death, even as the date shifted. On this morning, though, the end was truly near.
At 8am, the Constable of the Tower, Sir William Kingston, entered her rooms to inform her that the hour had come. Anne was already dressed, composed, and ready.
She wore a robe of black or grey damask trimmed with ermine, beneath which was a striking crimson kirtle. Her headdress was English in style, a gable hood. Though she walked to her death, she did so as a queen, with grace and dignity.
Anne’s Final Walk
Anne left the Queen’s Lodgings, walked past the Great Hall, through Cole Harbour Gate, and along the side of the White Tower to the scaffold, which had been erected within the Tower grounds, a more private space than the public Tower Hill.
There, she was met by a gathering of important witnesses: Thomas Cromwell, Charles Brandon, Henry Fitzroy (Henry VIII’s illegitimate son), and Thomas Audley, among others. Despite the gravity of the moment, one observer later recalled that Anne “was never so beautiful.”
Anne’s Final Speech
“Good Christian people, I have not come here to preach a sermon; I have come here to die. For according to the law and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.”
In accordance with the expected format of the day, Anne did not declare her innocence or challenge the King’s actions. Execution speeches were not the place for protest, not if one wanted to protect their family, their dignity, or, in Anne’s case, her daughter’s future.
Anne knew that Elizabeth, just two years old, would live in the shadow of her mother’s legacy. Any final words could either endanger or help secure her place at court. Anne chose the path of protection.
She commended herself to God, praised the King, and asked those present to pray for her.
The Execution
Her ladies-in-waiting stepped forward to remove her mantle. Anne then removed her headdress and tucked her dark hair beneath a simple linen cap to clear the path for the sword.
Eric Ives writes that her only visible sign of fear was the way she glanced behind her, checking to see if the executioner was preparing the blow.
The executioner, brought from Calais, asked her forgiveness, which she gave, and knelt to pray one last time:
“O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.
To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.”
With a cry of “Bring me the sword,” spoken as a distraction to direct her gaze, the executioner swiftly took her head in a single, clean stroke. Anne’s suffering was over.
Aftermath
Her body and head were gently wrapped in white cloth by her grieving ladies and placed in an old elm chest, once used for storing arrows. No grand tomb awaited her. Anne Boleyn, crowned queen just three years before; was buried as a traitor in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, in an unmarked grave.
She who had once worn ermine and held a crown was now gone. But her legacy was only just beginning.
Within two decades, her daughter Elizabeth would become Queen of England, ushering in one of the most glorious reigns in the nation’s history.
On the day of her execution, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, her spiritual ally, is said to have wept, declaring “She who has been the Queen of England upon Earth will today become a Queen in Heaven.”
May her soul rest in eternal peace 🕊️
