Eventually replacing the long-suffering Catherine of Aragon, Anne enjoyed a magnificent coronation and gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth, but her triumph was short-lived. Why did she go from beloved consort to adulteress and traitor within a matter of weeks? What role did Thomas Cromwell and Jane Seymour of Wolf Hall play in Anne’s demise? Was her fall one of the biggest sex scandals of her era, or the result of a political coup?
With her usual eye for the telling detail, Amy Licence explores the nuances of this explosive and ultimately deadly relationship to answer an often neglected question: what choice did Anne really have? When she writes to Henry during their protracted courtship, is she addressing a suitor, or her divinely ordained king? This book follows Anne from cradle to grave and beyond. Anne is vividly brought to life amid the colour, drama and unforgiving politics of the Tudor court.
- First major full-scale biography for 30 years and the most
detailed ever published.
- Praise for Amy Licence: 'This insight is so rare and so
valuable' PHILIPPA GREGORY; 'Vivid, very readable,
and wonderfully detailed' SARAH GRISTWOOD.
- Reveals a stunning new portrait of Anne, and answers many of
the previously unresolved questions around her life.
- Reviews in history magazines, national weeklies, national
daily and Sunday newspapers, to include: The
Independent and The Sunday Times,
THES, and BBC History Magazine.
- Article tie-in to be published by BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE in month following publication.
- Subject of the book is relevent to many historic castles and
houses with Tudor associations run by National Trust (eg Hardwick Hall, Speke
Hall), English Heritage (eg Dover Castle, Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan
Garden), and Historic Royal Palaces (eg Tower of London where Anne was beheaded
and Hampton Court). Also independent attractions, Hever Castle (childhood home
of Anne).