Anne Boleyn attributed to John Hoskins
A reader recently wrote in to ask whether I knew what had happened to Anne Boleyn’s famous pearl necklace and I thought I’d post a response here so that others have an opportunity to add information as well.
There is much speculation as to what actually happened to Anne’s famous necklace with the gold B. Some people believe that it was passed down to Elizabeth and others that it went back to the Crown after her downfall. I have even heard that some of the pearls are in the crown of Elizabeth II!
Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to the question of Anne’s jewellery. I have read many Anne biographies and have only ever come across theories. I think if we consider that in 1532 Henry reset much of the royal jewellery for Anne then it is likely that when she fell from favour he did the same for his next queen. In Eric Ives’ biography on Anne he states that Henry went about, “setting aside many of the best stones for Anne, as in the case of four bracelets, which yielded her no fewer than eighteen tabled rubies.” (Ives, pg. 158)
Interestingly enough, he not only reset the royal jewellery he also stripped Catherine of her own jewels, this obviously did not please the former queen and she responded by saying that it would be a sin for her jewels to adorn ‘the scandal of Christendom’ (Ives, pg. 158).
If Catherine of Aragon, after 26 years of marriage, was ordered by Henry VIII to return her jewels then I think that Anne’s jewels would have suffered a similar fate.
In saying that, some of Anne’s belongings, like her two Book of hours, survived the ‘coup’ and so there is hope that her ‘B’ necklace was also saved by a loyal Boleyn supporter and kept safe until the reign of her daughter, Elizabeth I.
I certainly hope so.
Ives, E. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2004.
I, too, would love to know what became of Anne’s iconic “B” necklace.
Interestingly, according to Alison Weir, Anne Boleyn’s “A” necklace (she had a “B”, an “A”, and an “AB”) was passed down to Elizabeth I. You can even see her wearing it in the Whitehall Family Grouping portrait. I have been doing some research on the jewelry, and it will be included in an article I am posting on BeingBess by next week. I will share the link with you then!
SEMPER EADEM,
Ashlie of “BeingBess”
http://www.beingbess.blogspot.com/
“BeingBess” is dedicated to celebrating the life of Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) and the legacy of her reign as Queen of England (1558-1603).
Hello Ashlie,
I am so looking forward to the post you are writing! I have seen the painting at Hampton Court on three occasions and have never paid close enough attention to Elizabeth’s necklace – so annoying! I believe that the original painting was destroyed by fire and this is a seventeenth century copy, is that correct? I find it hard to believe the Henry would have permitted Elizabeth to wear Anne’s necklace when he worked so hard to erase her memory. Could this have been added to the copy by the artist as a possible tribute to Anne or do you think Henry just didn’t notice…
I will have to look into this more. Thank you for sharing!
Natalie
I think it would be lovely to think that her famous necklace would have been saved and given to Elizabeth, but I think the chances of it being stripped down and re-designed into another piece of jewellery are more likely…
Contrary to popular belief, Elizabeth I did not speak about her mother a mere two times in her entire life.
My answer to the commonly asked question, “How did Elizabeth I feel about her mother, Anne Boleyn?” is in my NEW feature-length article on BeingBess: “Death Could Not Separate Them: How Elizabeth I Connected to Her Deceased Mother.”
“Using a surprising amount of contemporary evidence and a little bit of conjecture based on fact, I believe I have arrived at a formed opinion on the matter, and I am excited to share it with my readers. Hopefully you will discover things here that you did not know before, and upon finishing the article, share with others how Queen Elizabeth I really felt about her mother, Queen Anne Boleyn.”
This article not only includes information about Anne Boleyn’s necklace, but many more suprising ties between Elizabeth and Anne.
The Link:
http://www.beingbess.blogspot.com/2012/08/death-could-not-separate-them-how.html
SEMPER EADEM,
Ashlie Jensen of “BeingBess”
http://beingbess.blogspot.com
“BeingBess” is dedicated to celebrating the life of Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) and the legacy of her reign as Queen of England (1558-1603).