Who ya gonna call?! GHOSTBUSTERS!

 

 



Is this the ghost of Anne Boleyn? Visitor to beheaded Queen's childhood home spots ghoulish hand in a castle corridor

By Jenny Awford for MailOnline

Published:  3 August 2015 

 

 

• Liam Archer, 26, claims to have captured ghost of Anne Boleyn on camera
• He took a picture of fireplace at queen's childhood home Hever Castle
• When he got home he spotted ghoulish hand pointing towards chimney
• He is convinced it is spirit of beheaded queen who is said to haunt castle

 

A tourist who visited the childhood home of beheaded queen Anne Boleyn has captured a creepy image of what he claims is her ghost stalking the corridors.

 

Liam Archer, 26, was exploring Hever Castle in Kent with his family when he took the picture which appears to show a ghoulish hand hovering in the left hand side of the frame.

 

He spent the afternoon taking pictures around the former home of Henry VIII's second wife including one of an ornate fireplace in a dimly-lit living room in the 13th Century Kent castle. But it was only when he returned home and studied the photo that he spotted what looks like a hovering hand with a long finger apparently pointing towards the chimney.

Mr Archer, from Lewes, East Sussex, who did not believe in ghosts before taking the picture, is convinced it is the spirit of the young queen, who is said to haunt the castle. He said: 'In the prayer room there was a fog or a mist hovering around but I didn't think much of it at the time. 'I felt like an unknown force was pulling me through the castle. I couldn't see it but I could definitely feel it. 'I didn't know what to make of it because I didn't believe in ghosts at this point. But I am now confident it is her. 'It wasn't until three months after that I realised what I had taken a picture of. 'I believe there is something important historically inside the fireplace she wants me to recover.'

 

This is not the first time the queen's ghost has been spotted in the grounds of the castle, which later came into the possession of King Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Her ghostly apparition has been seen wandering the gardens of the castle, often drifting over the bridge that crosses the River Eden. Anne's ghost is also said to appear each Christmas at Hever Castle. She is believed to manifest beneath a great oak tree where Anne and Henry courted.

 

American billionaire William Waldorf Astor bought and restored the castle in 1903 and it is now owned by Broadland Properties Limited. The estate is now run as a conference centre, but the castle and grounds are open to the public.



'Vivre et Mourir'



 

Sheet music for Vivre et Mourir.

Note: The title (Wish Now Was Then) with lyrics by Don Black
appear in the song sheet, but not in the actual film.

 

Probably the best musical score composed for a Tudor-themed film was for Mary Queen of Scots (1971).

 

The composer was the great John Barry. Among his other celebrated compositions were the soundtracks for The Lion in Winter, Born Free, and several James Bond movies.

 

One of the loveliest selections from Mary Queen of Scots is Vivre et Mourir. Sung by actress Vanessa Redgrave (in the opening and closing credits, and in a scene where she serenades the sick Lord Darnley), the lyrics are taken from the last six lines of a sonnet attributed to the historical Mary Stuart ('attributed' because the sonnet was found amongst the controversial 'Casket Letters', which may or may not, or were only partly written by Mary to the notorious Lord Bothwell).

 

The lines (written in 16th century French) set to Barry's music are as follow:

 

Vous conoistres avecques obeissance
De mon loyal deuoir n'omettant la science
A quoy i'estudiray pour tousiours vous compliare
Sans aymer rien que vous, soubs la suiection
De qui ie veux sens nulle fiction
Viure et mourir...

 

 

Translated as:

 

Someday you certainly will comprehend
How steadfast is my purpose, and how real
Which is to do you pleasure until death
Only to you, being subject: in which faith
I do indeed most fervently intend
To live and die...
 

(Sonnet taken from Letters and Poems By Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, modernized and translated by Clifford Bax, New York: Philosophical Library, 1947).

 

 

You can listen to the song below at the 1:10 time mark. Thanks to the person who posted this online.

 

 

¡Dios mío!

Love the Grenadier Guards they put in the front!

 

 

Spanish Blu-Ray Disc of 'Anne of The Thousand Days'



'The Queen suffered with sword this day... and died boldly'

'The Queen suffered with sword this day... and died boldly.'
(from a letter by John Husee, London, May 19, 1536)

 

 

The Execution of Anne Boleyn, by Jan Luyken (c. 1664-1712)

 

 

 Today, May 19, marks the anniversary of the passing of Anne Boleyn.
 

 Her death was remarkable in two ways. Firstly, Anne was the first Queen of England to be executed, and secondly, she was accorded the privilege of a sword. The common English practice was the use of an axe and a block, but in this case, a French swordsman had to be sent from Calais to do the deed.
 

 Anne Boleyn's execution was also significant in the very way she died. John Husee, a London merchant, who may have been present at the Tower of London that fateful morning as an eyewitness, commented on how Anne 'died boldly'.1 Her alleged lovers, on the other hand, were described by Husee  as going to their deaths 'very charitably' (that is, in a forgiving and generous state of mind, as good Christians ought to).
 

 Such conduct was expected, but how did Anne's differ? What exactly did Husee mean by her 'bold' behaviour?
 

 The procedure on Tower Green that day was conventional. The Queen mounted the scaffold, addressed the crowd, was blindfolded, and knelt for the fatal blow.2 But perhaps her speech may provide clues. In it, Anne submitted herself to the law as the law had judged her, and she prayed for the well being of the King. It was seemingly nondescript. However, it was not what she said on the scaffold that really mattered, but what she didn't say. Anne never acknowledged her fault and that she was deserving to die, as she was supposed to. When Queen Katheryn Howard and Lady Rochford went to the block in 1542, both ladies declared they were 'justly condemned' and asked the spectators to regard their 'worthy and just punishment'.3 Anne Boleyn expressed no such guilt or remorse.
 

 As well, there was something in her demeanour. The Queen's jailer Sir William Kingston had written to Thomas Cromwell that while he had seen many men and women in great sorrow before their impending executions, the Queen on the contrary, 'has much joy and pleasure in death'.4
 

 Even upon the scaffold, Anne was in the same frame of mind. Unlike some recent tv and film recreations which have her being nervous or terrified (Wolf Hall and The Other Boleyn Girl come to mind), Anne was calm and dignified in her last moments. When she addressed the crowd who came to see her die, she even did so 'with a goodly smiling countenance.'5  
 

 Anne Boleyn's death was a tragedy in that she was almost certainly innocent of the crimes she was accused. In response to such injustice, she did not die merely bravely, but 'boldly' in defiance.

 

 We would not have expected less from this extraordinary woman.
 

 

 

-------------------

 

NOTES

 

1 'Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII', Volume 10, January-June 1536, no. 919. See also no. 920.
 

2 The story that Anne Boleyn was tricked into turning her head by the executioner is suspect as it comes from a later source, and a questionable one at that. See: 'Chronicle of King Henry VIII of England', trans. by M.A.S. Hume, 1889, p. 71.
 

3 'Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII', Volume 17, 1542, no. 106.
 

4 'Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII', Volume 10, January-June 1536, no. 910.
 

5 'A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559,' by Charles Wriothesley, pg. 42.
 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

In celebration of Mother's Day - a portrait of Edward VI with his mother Jane Seymour:

Edward VI and Jane Seymour (C. Butler Collection)