Royal love affairs pepper the history books, with greatly varying degrees of personal and national consequence. One of the most seismic repercussions resulted from the tempestuous relationship of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII in the 16th century, which changed the course of English history. Their story remains much discussed to the present day and nowhere more so than at Hever Castle, the former Boleyn home.
Visitors to the idyllic Kent castle at Edenbridge can walk in the family's footsteps, learning of the childhood that shaped Anne's life and about Hever's key role in her relationship with the monarch. This has been given sharper focus with the recent unveiling of the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment, the only surviving suite of rooms lived in by the family.
Recent research has revealed Anne spent much more time at Hever Castle than had previously been thought and that the castle played a major part in her romance with the Tudor king. It was to Hever that Anne retreated from Henry's excessive attentions, where she finally decided to accept them and where she received his letter effectively promising marriage "autillic, autullibi" ("either there" [marriage] "or nowhere"). Henry's actions to facilitate that marriage of annulling his marriage to Katharine of Aragon shook the world, leading Tudor historian Dr David Starkey to comment of the castle: "It's the place, literally, where the English Reformation began.
Denne historien er fra September 2024-utgaven av Best of British.
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Denne historien er fra September 2024-utgaven av Best of British.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom