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The Mystery of Queen Anne Boleyn’s Second Pregnancy
By Natalie Grueninger
In most recent biographies, Anne Boleyn’s second pregnancy, at the most, occupies a couple of paragraphs. Eric Ives and David Loades conclude that it ended in a miscarriage, Alison Weir in The Six Wives of Henry VIII states that ‘it was either stillborn, or died very soon after birth’ (pg. 271), Antonia Fraser suggests that ‘the most likely end was a stillbirth: probably a month or so early’ (pg. 218), David Starkey sums it all up by stating that it ‘ended in miscarriage or still birth’ (pg. 553) and Paul Friedmann, writing in the late nineteenth century, concluded that ‘Anne had been mistaken about her condition’ (pg. 151) and had never been pregnant. Only in The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn, does the author, historian Retha Warnicke, go into some detail in her attempt to unravel the tapestry of secrecy shrouding the events of the summer of 1534.
While researching my debut book, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn, my co-author, Sarah Morris, and I examined what contemporary evidence exists and pieced together a tragic story.
Greenwich Palace
Christmas 1533 at Greenwich was a jovial and lively affair. John Husee informed Lord Lisle that, ‘The King has kept a great court and is as merry and lusty as ever I see.’ On New Year’s Day there was the customary exchange of gifts, Queen Anne presented the king with:
A goodly gilt bason, having a rail or board of gold in the midst of the brim, garnished with rubies and pearls, wherein standeth a fountain, also having a rail of gold about it garnished with diamonds; out thereof issueth water, at the teats of three naked women standing at the foot of the same fountain.
Retha Warnicke believes that Anne’s gift ‘must be characterised as a fertility symbol.’ (pg.173) If Anne was in fact already hinting at her condition then we can assume that she became pregnant sometime around November 1533.
On 5 January, in the instructions to Nicholas Heath and Christopher Mont, who were being sent on embassy to the German princes, Henry praised his wife:
‘whose approved and excellent virtues, that is to say, the purity of her life, her constant virginity, her maidenly and womanly pudicity, her soberness, her chasteness, her meekness, her wisdom, her descent of right noble and high parentage, her education in all good and laudable thewes and manners, her aptness to procreation of children, with other infinite good qualities, more to be regarded and esteemed than the only progeny, be of such approved excellency as cannot be but most acceptable unto Almighty God, and deserve His high grace and favour, to the singular weal and benefit of the King’s realm and subjects.’
It seems that Henry was already aware that his wife was again pregnant, inspiring the reference to her ‘aptness’ to procreate children.
By 23 January 1534, imperial sources had been informed that Queen Anne was ‘again in the family way’ allegedly by a letter from the newly arrived English ambassador in France. Eric Ives postulates that if the ambassador was Lord William Howard, ‘the date of arrival must have been the beginning of December, suggesting that Anne became pregnant in November 1533.’ (Pg. 394) By 28 January, Eustace Chapuys was aware of Anne’s condition and on 29 January, it was observed that, ‘The King and Queen are merry.’
In February, Henry VIII met with Chapuys and confirmed the rumours of Anne’s pregnancy by saying that he believed he’d shortly have a son.
On 27 April, Anne’s receiver-general, George Taylor, wrote to Lady Lisle of the king and queen’s good health and of Anne’s ‘goodly belly’.
By April 1534, the pregnancy was common knowledge. The king, confident and beaming, expected a prince and ordered from his goldsmith, Cornelius Hayes, an elaborate silver cradle:
A silver cradle, price 16l. For making a silver plate, altering the images, making the roses underneath the cradle, the roses about the pillars, and new burnishing, 13s. 4d. For the stones that were set in gold in the cradle, 15s.; for fringes, the gold about the cushions, tassels, white satin, cloth of gold, lining, sypars and swadylbands, 13s. 6d. Total, 18l. 1s. 10d. The silver that went to the dressing of the Adam and Eve, the making of all the apples, the gilding of the foot and setting of the currall, 33s. 4d.
At around the same time, a portrait medal was struck to commemorate the anticipated birth of a son, it was inscribed with Queen Anne’s motto, The Moost Happi, Anno 1534 and A. R for Anna Regina. Since the baby did not survive, multiple copies were not commissioned, however, the prototype survives and is today stored in the British Museum.
Replica of Anne Boleyn’s Portrait Medal by Lucy Churchill
In early June, Henry was in the midst of planning a trip to Calais to meet with Francis I. It was scheduled to take place on 20 August or soon after, presumably after Anne’s lying-in, again corroborating the argument that the queen had become pregnant sometime around November 1533.
On 26 June Sir Edward Ryngeley reports that the ‘King and Queen are merry’ at Hampton Court Palace. However, quite suddenly, on 2 July Henry leaves Anne behind and moves to The More, where he summoned Thomas Cromwell and Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, to meet him on 5 July. At around this time the decision was made to send the queen’s brother, George Boleyn, ‘with all speed’ on a special embassy to France, in order to delay the planned meeting between Henry and Francis on account of the queen’s advanced pregnancy and her desire to have her husband, the king, by her side at this time.
Lord Rochford’s instructions were as follows:
1.Rochford is to repair to the French king with all speed, and in passing by Paris to make the King’s and Queen’s hearty recommendations to the queen of Navarre, if she be there, and say that the Queen his mistress much rejoices in the deeply-rooted amity of the two kings, but wishes her to get the interview deferred, as the time would be very inconvenient to her, and the King is so anxious to see his good brother that he will not put it off on her account. Her reasons are, that being so far gone with child, she could not cross the sea with the King, and she would be deprived of his Highness’s presence when it was most necessary, unless the interview can be deferred till April next. Rochford is to press this matter very earnestly, and say that the King having at this time appointed another personage to go to his good brother, the Queen, with much suit, got leave for Rochford to go in his place, principally on this account.
2. That there was nothing she regretted at the last interview so much as not having an interview with the said queen of Navarre ; and she hopes she may be able to come to Calais with her brother in April next, if the interview be deferred till then.
Hampton Court Palace. © Gemma Higgin Sears, Iris Creations
It seems very likely that the proposed meeting was cancelled because sometime between 26 June and 2 July, disaster struck – Anne was delivered of a stillborn baby, after which the king, no doubt crushed by his wife’s failure to provide him with a living heir, left her behind at Hampton Court and commenced his already delayed summer progress.
In our book, Sarah Morris and I suggest that:
‘No longer able to face Francis, who was already the father of three healthy sons, a cover story was created to save face and the whole event swept under the carpet.’ (Pg. 167)
On 18 July we hear from John Husee that ‘The King is now at Oking [Woking Palace Surrey], and comes hither on Tuesday, and will tarry here and at Eltham till Friday, when he will meet with the Queen at Guildford. Southwark, 18 July.’
The king was planning to visit the Princess Elizabeth at Eltham Palace before joining the queen at Guildford, where they were reunited sometime toward the end of July or the beginning of August. The king and queen had been apart for more than a month, their longest period of separation since 1528, when Anne had retired from court in anticipation of the arrival of Cardinal Campeggio.
It is not until the end of September 1534, that Chapuys reports that ‘the lady’ (Anne Boleyn) was not going to have a baby after all. At the same time we hear through Chapuys that rumour had it, Henry doubted whether the queen had ever been pregnant, an idea explored by J. Dewhurst in Medical History.
Dewhurst suggested that Anne might have suffered from a case of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy, a rare condition where a woman believes that she is carrying a baby and shows pregnancy-like symptoms when she is not pregnant. The condition is yet to be fully explained, however, psychologists believe that most women who experience false pregnancy are often experiencing stress and anxiety, along with an extremely strong desire to be pregnant.
Having only just given birth to a healthy daughter in September 1533, I don’t believe this to be a reasonable argument. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Anne was under any stress around the time of her alleged second pregnancy. On the contrary, the reports we have paint the picture of a healthy and happy couple.
In the notes section of his biography of Anne Boleyn, Eric Ives states:
“That it was a miscarriage and not a stillbirth or neonatal death is indicated by the queen not having ‘taken her chamber’” (pg. 394)
That there is no record of the queen having ‘taken her chamber’ is indisputable, however, does this prove that Anne did not suffer a stillbirth? Not necessarily.
Ives himself stated that it’s likely Anne was pregnant by November 1533, in which case by the beginning of July, when it’s generally accepted that she lost the baby, she would have been around 8 months pregnant.
In modern terms, a miscarriage is generally defined as the loss of a baby before 20-24 weeks; the death of a fetus at 8 months gestation is referred to as a stillbirth. In this case the mother still needs to go through labour and delivery in the same manner as mothers delivering a live baby.
Miniature of Anne Boleyn attributed to John Hoskins
In light of the evidence, it seems likely that Anne went into labour prematurely sometime between 26 June and 2 July, explaining why no records survive of the queen’s confinement. This leaves open the possibility that the loss was so devastating, so damaging, especially considering that Henry was still trying to prove to the world the righteousness of his marriage, that all present were sworn to secrecy and the whole incident erased from history.
Unless one has experienced such heartbreak, it’s difficult to imagine the overwhelming emotional and physical pain that Anne must have felt. The baby would have been well formed and the sex determinable, although, the details were not recorded. The king left Hampton Court in all haste and abandoned his grieving wife. Was the loss of an heir the reason for their extended and uncharacteristic separation? The silence of the royal nursery and the empty silver cradle, perhaps, too much for even a hardened king —and one well-versed in loss— to bear.
This event must have brought memories of Katherine of Aragon’s tragic obstetric history flooding back and sowed a seed of doubt in the king’s mind that would eventually grow to consume him. Anne had promised Henry sons and heirs but had only delivered a daughter and a stillborn baby. In the king’s eyes, she’d failed him; with Henry’s insecurities awakened, there would be no room for further disappointments.
References & Sources Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1 – 1534-1535 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 – 1533. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7 – 1534. Fraser, A. The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 1992. Friedmann, P. Anne Boleyn, trans. J. Wilkinson, 2013. Grueninger, N. & Morris, S. In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn, 2013. Ives, E. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2004. Loades, D. The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 2010. Starkey, D. Six Wives, 2003. Warnicke, R. The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn, 1989. Weir, A. The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 2007. The Mystery of Queen Anne Boleyn’s Second Pregnancy Good luck!
In Bed With the Tudors by Amy Licence
Thank you for the great article and the opportunity to win this interesting book!! 🙂
i love the history, Im keen on learning as much as I can.
Thank you for writing this interesting article and for the opportunity to win this.
Regardless of whether you believe that Anne had a bad case of karma visited upon her as her treatment of Katharine and Mary had been so dire or not, what this article does is show what a rough deal women in those times had. To be abandoned by your husband straight after losing your baby, probably forbidden to talk about it, made to feel like an abject failure over something that wasn’t your fault – one can only imagine the additional anguish. I wonder if Henry was as callous with Katharine’s numerous miscarriages and stillbirths (not because I think he cared more but that as a man of his times and king, if the child wasn’t living then he wasn’t interested). Katharine and Anne suffered terribly at the hands of this man. Thank you for the additional research, it throws a different light upon things.
Thank you so much for letting me know about this very interesting article.
I’ve been wondering about this second pregnency a lot because I know she was pregnant a second time but like you’ve mentioned there isn’t a lot of details.
Found it very cool to read. Would love to read your book!!!
Very interesting article! It was much enjoyed!
Never to busy to read you blog. This one was facinating, I have always felt that Anne was much maligned, it would be wonderful to find out more about this matter. What happened about the burial of stillborn babies in those days? It seems so sad that there is not even a record of the existance of the baby, both for a it and for Anne.
Stillborn babies were not buried at that time. They were thrown into the fireplace.
I would absolutely love to have a copy of this book! This whole time period is so exciting for me. I think its important to know where we all came from. Religion is a major factor in that, where Anne ans Henery VIII were at the front of breaking from Rome.
What an interesting article! Thank you for sharing such an informative piece. Thank you for the opportunity to enter the draw as well.
This is truly interesting and since I love Anne Boleyn, I would love to win this book so I could learn more! Thank you!
Poor Anne 🙁 To go through that and then to have Henry abandon her and go on his progress and sweep it under the rug must have been doubly heartbreaking, as she no doubt was also heartbroken over losing her child 🙁
Thank you for the article of Anne Boleyn, for reasons I don’t understand the fascination with this Queen, indeed all of Henry VIII’s Queens but Anne Boleyn surpasses them all. Thank you for including me in this contest.
I love that history is just as compelling than even the best fiction.
Very informative piece of work
Have loved Anne since I was able to read!
Always amazed at the new things I learn and these books are terrific ! Thank you
O find it hard to believe the court could have kept silent for so long such a secret ESP chapus and annes enemies just one more tragedy for Anne to suffer
This was an interesting article… poor Anne wanted so bad to give Henry a son and for her to experience a still birth must have been devastating to her. Thank you for the great read!
What a wonderful article! I knew only a little about Anne’s later maternal tragedies, and this made it so much clearer! I love your website and visit it frequently!
The absence of evidence for how the pregnancy ended should surely not be equated to absence of evidence that the pregnancy was real, and I’m wondering what the chances are that both Anne and Mary Tudor suffered pseudo-pregnancy…….absence of evidence is always irritating!
I would love to read “In Bed with the Tudors”. Thank you! Thank you for your article. How difficult it must have been for Anne Boleyn in those times to lose her baby and I can only imagine how she must have felt.
She must have been under enormous pressure to give the King an heir.
Interesting read.
Congratulations Natalie, I am sure I am not the only one of who visits your site appreciates all your hard work that you put into the Tudor Trail, which gives a great insight to these fascinating people, and much enjoyment and knowledge to its visitors. Thank you.
It is a pleasure to be a part of it, and I am sure the site will go from strength to strength
I would love to read this book and I hope to win.
I have never won anything before!. I want this to be the first time!! I´m crossing my fingers
Thanks Natalie for such a wonderfull blog!
I really want to win a copy of this book!!!!! I´m a great Tudor fan!!! and I love this site!!!
Great article about Anne´s second pregnancy!
Thanks Amy and Natalie!
I am fascinated with Tudor history and read everything I can lay my hands on, fictional or not.
Thanks Natalie for all the giveaways!!!! you are the best!!! and obviously to Amy too!
Wonderfully written. I am captivated by the stories of The Tudor Royals…. wonderful that you are researching and elaborating on the subjects for us to enjoy. With thanks
That was a very interesting article. Thank you for writing and sharing it.
Very interesting indeed. I love reading anything and everything about the Tudor Dynasty from it’s earliest beginnings. Thank you for taking the time to give us some insight into one of your most interesting of characters.
Natalie, thank you for the many opportunities to share thoughts and the giveaways chances are a wonderful touch.
Take Care…I will be writing soon!!
A fan of yours, Vivi! 😉
I am so excited about this book. I seem to get more and more entranced by Tudor history every time I read another book on them. Thank you so much, Natalie and Amy for the chance to win this book!
Always a pleasure to recieve recommendations of historical authors I have yet to discover.
Amy Licence looks like a name to be adding to my list.
Thank you “On The Tudor Trail” for continued updates and fab tweets!.
Another new book I look forward to reading!
I have always been fascinated by the Renaissance period and history of Europe in general, but no dynasty intrigues more than the Tudors. I read just about every book on them and I’d love winning this copy so I can also share it with my friend!
I have always been fascinated by the Tudors for as long as I can remember.
This book looks so interesting, I would love to read it!
Thank you Natalie!!!!
It is always good to have another Tudor related book to look forward to reading. I`m sure this one won`t disappoint ,it has all the elements that hook us Tudor fans in!!!
Thank you Natalie and Amy for this opportunity!
Hi there,
I am fascinated with English history especially the Tudor period, and try and resource information and books. This is on my wish list to add to my collection, can hardly wait!!
All the best,
Vero
I so love to read about anything Tudor related. It’s also so much fun to get into a book from another perspective, to see where the imagination of the author will go. It seems that no matter how many books I read on the subject, I am still constantly drawn to this fascinating era.
I am so grateful to all of you who continue to write about these people !!
This was most interesting and a sad chapter in Anne’s efforts to maintain her position and Henry’s heart. I’ve often wondered if Henry and Anne were Rh incompatible. Poor Anne; she was a link in Henry’s chain of “if only.”
I would love to be entered for this book giveaway, as i am not only an avid reader and literature lover but i also adore historical fiction. My love of the Tudors began when i was at primary school aged 11 and i visited ‘Hampton Court Palace’ – ever since i have taken so much pleasure in exploring this particular time in history and delving into the past lives of the Tudors
I absolutely love reading your articles, very informative, and since I am new at learning about all of this it has been the moost helpful 🙂 Can hardly wait to start collecting books, jewelry, and whatever else I can find!! Thank You
What a sensative and delicate matter to write about and so well written. The lose of any baby whether a miscarriage or still born or neo natal is a deversating experience to go through. Anne and Henry must have been saddened and grief strickened beyond belief. Instead of bringing them closer it appears that it tore them apart. Sadly because of the times and beliefs Henry must have blamed Anne wholely for the loss of this baby making annes grief even worse to bear. The lose of a baby and a husband must have bore heavily on annes mental state at the time and as it was not publically acknowledged Anne would have recieved little or no comfort or counsel to aid her recovery. She must have felt truely abandoned. My heart goes out to this women who in the end laid down her life Henry in such brave fashion. RIP AB XXX
Having unfortunately suffered the stillbirth of a daughter, I can only imagine the pain Anne must have suffered. To have been abandoned by Henry as such a time is horrible to contemplate. That said, if Anne did suffer a stillbirth, women of the time would still go through the churching ceremony to purify their souls. If this was not done, I wonder if Anne and/or Henry felt it left a dark mark on her soul? It could explain a lot in his future treatment of her. She had failed him, thus did not deserve to be purified…even though it was to preserve his own self-esteem amongst his people and other rulers of Europe.
Fascinating article! I didn’t realize how advanced that second pregnancy was for Anne. It must have been pretty devastating for her to lose the baby, History would have been re-written if there had been a different outcome.
Great article!
Thank you so much for this article which has answered many questions which I have wondered about since I became fascinated with Anne Boleyn and all the Tudors.I would love to read your book ,to find out more of your prospective of this incredible woman.
Very interesting. The details do suggest a still birth rather than a miscarriage.
I cannot imagine the pressure of having to bear sons instead of daughters to any man much less the King. It seems if you were Henry’s queen, all that mattered was bearing a son. I believe he loved Katherine because he only divorced her to get his male heirs. But poor Anne was found guilty of crimes she did not commit ( in my opinion) Because she did mot produce the next king of England. How hard it must have been to not only lose her child, but to know how much it disappointed and angered Henry. Who helped her through HER feelings of loss? Women were for breeding to Henry, how sad. How sad and pitiful. What of the babies? I can only wonder what happened to them when they were stillborn or miscarried.
I know this sounds odd. But I wonder what happened to the things he commissioned to be made. Such as the silver cradle.
I still find Anne Boleyn fasinating and this article was very interesting. In the end, Anne ‘didn’t deliver on her promise’ and that was too much for Henry after what he brought on to have her… and the promised sons. I read all I can of the Tudor era but find Henry VIII and Anne’s relationship to be the most amazing part of the Tudor history (as well as Elizabeth I). Thank you also for the opportunity to enter in drawing for one of these great books!
dawn.pinnataro@aronov.com
I now have even more sympathy for the Lady Anne Boleyn that ever before. The pressure must she have been under ! Being the wife of Henry VIII was stressful enough, but having to not only become pregnant and give birth to a living child, but also praying for that child to be a son, must have taken an extraordinary toll on the poor woman. Then to contend with false accusations and lose it all, including her head, was simply tragic.
Thank you for the informative article. The obstetric history of Henry’s marriages and affairs is always fascinating reading, trying to draw conclusions from contemporary accounts with the insights provided by modern medicine.
I have always been intrigued, not just by the difficulties encountered by Henry’s lovers. I have long suspected not just that the reproductive disability lay with Henry, but that it likely had something to do with his blood rather than his sperm count or the difficulties of medieval pregnancies in general.
The more we learn of modern obstetrics, the more tantalizing it is to sift through the primary historical record looking for clues about why Henry had such difficulty producing an heir.
I always look forward to your articles! Thank you for sharing!!
I have just received a book about Ann Boyelyn so your post really caught my eye! I would love to read them together. So much mystery surrounds her life. Thank your for the added information and the chance to win your book.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com