Anne Boleyn - The Queen Mother

 

Anne Boleyn (by an Unknown Artist)

 

 The title of 'Queen Mother' is an honorific one given to the mother (usually a former queen herself) of the current sovereign.

Such persons are usually held in great esteem, like the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002), but in the case of Anne Boleyn, that was not the case. In 1536, her husband Henry VIII had her executed on charges of high treason, and her infamy was blazoned across Europe.

Consequently, we will never know how Elizabeth I felt exactly about her infamous parent. She was gone before her daughter was three years old, and ever since, the subject of Anne must have been a painful one to Elizabeth.

Nonetheless, there are indications that despite her silence, Elizabeth honored her mother's memory, at least privately. You can read about such examples here:

https://tudorfaces.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-chequers-locket-ring-mother-and.html

https://tudorfaces.blogspot.com/2013/06/queen-elizabeths-napkin.html

 

Still, Anne Boleyn made her presence felt on two great public occasions, those marking the beginning and the end of her daughter's reign.

 

The Coronation Procession of Elizabeth I

In January 1559, at Elizabeth's coronation procession through London, a tableau was set up at on Gracechurch Street showing the 'uniting of the two houses of Lancaster and York.’ At the bottom were figures of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, in the middle Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (which the Venetian ambassador described as being accompanied by her device of the white falcon with 'a gold crown on its head and a gilt scepter in its right talon, the other resting on a hillock; and surrounded in front of her by small branches of little roses, the coat of arms and device of the said Queen'), and at the top Elizabeth herself.

When Elizabeth passed away in 1603, Anne was acknowledged again. At Elizabeth's funeral that April, among the banners of her royal ancestors surrounding her hearse, was that of the coat-of-arms of 'Henry the eight and Anne Bulleine, father and mother to our deceased Queene, carried by the Lord de la Ware'.

This banner can be seen in an illustration of the procession. It is the last on the second row of banners.

 

 The Funeral Procession of Elizabeth I

 

 

 The Funeral Procession of Elizabeth I (Detail, showing a banner with the arms of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn)