076 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
ANNE BOLEYN Villainess or Tudor feminist?
The UK’s top-selling historian Alison Weir talks to INDEX about her new novel, and the allure of Anne Boleyn, 500 years after her execution for treason and adultery
A
lison Weir is the author of 17 history books and seven novels, covering such diverse historical figures as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Mary Boleyn, Richard III, Henry VIII,
Elizabeth I, and many others. In 2014, she began a series of novels, Six Tudor Queens, based on new research. Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession is the second, following the best- selling Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen. While the principled Katherine might
be Alison’s favourite wife, Anne is the most exciting. Alison was barely out of school when she wrote a biography of the dark- eyed temptress. Several years later, she included all of the queens in a thousand- page book entitled The Six Wives of Henry VIII. “The publisher rejected it, muttering something about a world paper shortage,” she recalls. Happily, a shortened version was published in 1991 and still sells well. Anne Boleyn was born around 1501 and spent her childhood at Hever. After serving at the courts of Burgundy and France, she became lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s Spanish queen. Henry fell in love with Anne, marrying her in 1533 and executing her barely three years later.
“Hers is a romantic and dramatic story,” says Alison. “Although not conventionally beautiful, Anne was wellborn, clever and, after seven years at the French court, witty, stylish and incredibly charming. It is hardly surprising that Henry fell desperately in love with her.” Although Anne was charged with adultery, it is unlikely that she was guilty. Her downfall is usually attributed to Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s minister. He perceived Anne as an enemy who was plotting his ruin. The Tudor period is well documented,
yet Anne remains an enigma. “Few of her letters remain and many of her actions were reported by those hostile to her,” Alison points out. We do know that she was a devout radical, encouraging Henry to embrace reformist views. One intriguing thread drawn out by Alison is the degree to which Anne was influenced by learned rulers, such as Margaret of Austria, who questioned the traditional views of women. “If so, Anne was a 16th century feminist, a woman ahead of her time and important in her own
right, not just as the mother of Elizabeth I,” says Alison. The next in the Tudor wives series, Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen, contains three new theories about the quietest of Henry’s queens, and is due out in May 2018.
WIN! WIN! WIN!
INDEX has one signed copy of Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession to give away. For your chance to win, send your name, address, contact number and email on a postcard to: Anne Boleyn Giveaway, INDEX, 39 Little Mount Sion, Tunbridge Wells TN1 1YS by Monday 31st July 2017. The winner will be the first entry drawn at random. There is no cash alternative and the prize is non transferable. • Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series is available from Amazon: Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen £3.85; Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession £9.99; Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen (due out on 17th May) £14.90.
www.indexdigital.co.uk
Broadstairs Folk Week, 11th-18th August
In its 52nd year, Broadstairs Folk Week celebrates English and multi- cultural folk music and dance. With venues all over town, including the 600-seater Concert Marquee in the town’s park, Broadstairs will be bursting at the seams with music- loving people.
Headliners include Lau, The Dylan
Project, Faustus, the Demon Barbers, Rusty Shackle, Phil Henry and Hannah Martin, Tim Edey, Rod Clements
and Ian Thompson, and the Keston Cobblers Club. In addition there will be dances and ceilidhs, more than 70 workshops covering music, dance and song from beginners to advanced, and a Craft and Music Fair at Victoria Gardens.
The opening parade is on 12th August, with Morris sides and more. • For more information and tickets call 01843 604080 or book online at www.
broadstairsfolkweek.org.uk
Vicky Hales-Dutton
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