Reader Questions

Hello again readers!

This week we had some really great question submissions, many that I had to some research on to be able to accurately answer. Thank you for your questions and keep them coming!

Q: Does any of Anne's jewelry survive?

A: This is a great question, but one with a sadly disappointing answer. Most of Anne's jewels would have been seized upon her arrest because they would've been property of the crown. It is very likely that they would've been reset and worked to fit the style of Jane Seymour and her predecessors as was customary. However, there is one happy bit of news. In a portrait of the Tudor family which Henry VIII had commissioned, Elizabeth can be seen wearing the A necklace that Anne was known for. Anne had a B necklace which is commonly depicted in portraits of her but also an A which she wore often after her coronation. It is said by several historians that she started the trend of monogram jewelry in her time. Here is the portrait of Elizabeth so you can see the necklace yourself.

The Full portrait

Close-up of Elizabeth

Q: How did Mary Stafford [sister to Anne Boleyn] die?

A: Mary died July 19, 1543 at her home in Essex. The cause of her death is unknown, so more than likely it was of natural causes indiscernible by medicine and technology of the period. Her burial place is also unknown though Alison Wier believes it to be the Church of St. Andrew near Rochford. Despite the fact that we do not know much about her death, we do know thanks to genealogical records that Mary is an ancestor to many great and influential people including Charles Darwin and Princess Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Q: I [the sender] read somewhere that Elizabeth contracted small pox during her reign. Is that true?

A: Yes! This is true. On October 10, 1562 Elizabeth came down with what her doctors thought was a cold. However, the illness quickly escalated with high fevers and it was thought that she would die. She recovered thanks to the special care of one of her devoted ladies, Mary Sidney. Unfortunately the woman caught the disease herself and was badly scarred the rest of her life. Elizabeth did not suffer from major disfigurement but afterward did begin to use white makeup to cover the blemishes on her face and neck.

Q: Did Elizabeth of York [mother to Henry VIII] have an affair with her own uncle?

A: Great question, there is no question that Elizabeth and her paternal uncle Richard III had some type of relationship. She had written to her mother Elizabeth Woodville, former Queen of Edward IV to explain the relationship. Elizabeth the elder also corresponded with Richard himself regarding his desire to marry his niece following the sure death of his sickly wife Anne. Although this seems taboo according to our modern standards the union would have made a lot of sense during the time. Richard was faced with continual uprising of those who believed he was not the true heir to the throne because he had seized it from his nephew Edward V (Elizabeth's younger brother) following the death of the boy's father Edward IV. By this point most of England had accepted that Edward and his younger brother Richard were dead. Marrying Elizabeth would have united those who believed in the legitimacy of Edward IV's line with his own supporters bringing peace to a fractured England. Now, while they may have had a relationship; it is doubtful that they were engaging in sex. Firstly, because Richard and Elizabeth were both very religious and it would have been unseemly. Secondly, there was no effective means of birth control so if Elizabeth were to become pregnant she would have been scorned and not considered a viable candidate for queen. Regardless of whether or not there was a sexual relationship, it is accurate to say that Elizabeth was a favorite of Richard and that he intended on marrying her and making her queen following his wife's death.

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