The Other Boleyn Girl

Page 2 of 6

• 1. Family background
• 2. Early years
• 3. Life at court
• 4. Later years
• 5. Afterwards
• 6. Find out more
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Early years

There has always been a certain amount of confusion between the Boleyn sisters at this period of their lives, and doubt over their dates of birth. Suggested birth dates for Anne vary between 150l and 1507, and although it is most likely that Mary was the elder of the two, there may have been no more than twelve months between them.

All we really know for sure is that both girls spent some part of their early years abroad. By 1512 their father was undertaking diplomatic missions to Europe and used his official connections to get the extra advantage of a Continental 'finish' for his daughters.

'... in 1514 Mary Boleyn went over to France in the train of Henry VIII's sister (Mary) when the latter was briefly married to old Louis XII.'

One of them, now generally thought to be Anne, lived for a time in the household of Margaret, Archduchess of Austria and Regent of the Netherlands, and in 1514 Mary Boleyn went over to France in the train of Henry VIII's sister (Mary) when the latter was briefly married to old Louis XII. Again information is scanty, but it is known that Anne presently joined Mary at the French court, entering the service of Queen Claude, wife of the new king Francois I.

Mary returned to England before Anne, though we don't know exactly when, and brought with her a colourful reputation for wanton behaviour. Francois I, himself a notorious womaniser, described her ungallantly as his 'English mare' and another French commentator was later to refer to her in even more outspoken terms. In spite of this, her father apparently experienced no difficulty in finding her a place at the English court, as one of Queen Catherine of Aragon's maids of honour.

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Published: 2003-03-27