Who is the woman in this portrait?

I rarely blog about history which is strange considering I have a history degree and it is something I am most passionate about. Yet I feel compelled to today.

I think most people, even the most history averse, have heard of Anne Boleyn. Chances are you know her by the famous portrait and by the fact she was executed by her husband Henry VIII 

There is of course a lot more to her but recently I read some very interesting things. With Wolf Hall now on the screen in Britain, (A TV series adapted from the brilliant Hilary Mantel novel based on the life of Thomas Cromwell) articles about Anne have been coming thick and fast. 

Just who was she? Was she power hungry? An adulteress? A scheming nasty piece of work? Or a young woman in love? The truth is we don't really know. Though I suspect she was far less horrible than she has been made out to be from certain quarters. Aren't women who rise to power almost always portrayed in a bad light? 

But a couple of things we thought we absolutely knew it turns out we might not know at all. Above is the famous portrait. I imagine you have seen it at least once or twice, if not many times like myself. Except it turns out this may possibly not be Anne at all but rather some other woman who was not even a contemporary! 

Any contemporary portraits of Anne were most likely destroyed and this 'famous' picture was painted after both she and Henry were dead. It could of course be based on an older portrait that somehow managed to survive or it could in fact, be someone else. 

One thing that points to it being someone else is that we now consider the famous pearl necklace with the letter B to be inaccurate. It has been suggested that Anne actually wore the letter A for her first name and not a B for Boleyn. Which makes sense given that once she was married she would not have gone by the name Boleyn. Plus the initials entwined and displayed throughout Hampton Court Palace were H and A for Henry and Anne.

So it may well be that Anne looks nothing like we suspect she did. Of course we have some contemporary descriptions but many of these were made by her adversaries, men who didn't like her because she was ousting who they believed was the rightful queen. So descriptions of her being swarthy, not beautiful, having a large nose etc may well be false. She could have been an absolute stunner. Then again she may have been a woman who was charismatic and alluring rather than beautiful, as has been suggested.

We will of course never know. That is the beauty of history yet also a regret for historians.There is so much conjecture and guess work in history. Even when we think we absolutely know something, it could easily turn out we in fact, know nothing. 

If you are interested in Anne or Tudor times might I suggest you like The Anne Boleyn Files or The Tudor Dynasty on facebok. They have tonnes of fascinating articles and facts for you to enjoy.