Was ANNE BOLEYN EXECUTED WHILST PREGNANT? This theory about the second wife of Henry VIII is one which I was asked about in the comments of my recent video on the royal fertility problems of the Tudors and so in this six wives documentary from History Calling, we look at the origins of this theory and whether or not it has any merit. We’ll first examine the comments made by King Henry which some, most notably author Alison Weir, have sometimes used to argue that Anne was pregnant at the time of her death on 19 May 1536. We’ll also study the Queen’s conversations and comments made in the Tower of London during her two week imprisonment there and look at Anne Boleyn’s final speech upon the scaffold. We’ll ask how likely is it, given Henry VIII’s quest for an heir (which for him could only mean a boy), that he would have executed his pregnant wife? Like Catherine of Aragon before her, Anne had thus far failed in the task of producing a male heir, having had two miscarriages, but would Henry really have knowingly killed his potential son just so that he could marry Jane Seymour more quickly? Finally we’ll consider whether the Victorians found any evidence of a pregnancy when Anne Boleyn’s bones were disinterred from beneath the floor of the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula in the 1870s. Let’s look at one of the most famous executions in history to see if it was even more tragic and scandalous than has previously been thought.

Patreon:   / historycalling  
Instagram:   / historycalling  

SUBSCRIBE with NOTIFICATIONS switched on for new videos every Friday.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

THE BIRTH OF ANNE BOLEYN    • THE BIRTH OF ANNE BOLEYN | Six wives ...  
THE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, PART 2 | THE STORY OF ANNE BOLEYN    • THE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, part 2 | The ...  
DID ANNE BOLEYN HAVE A PSEUDO PREGNANCY IN 1534?    • Did ANNE BOLEYN have a PSEUDO PREGNAN...  
TUDOR ROYAL FERTILITY PROBLEMS    • TUDOR ROYAL FERTILITY PROBLEMS. Royal...  
ANNE BOLEYN’S EXECUTION: HOLLYWOOD VS HISTORY    • ANNE BOLEYN’S EXECUTION. Hollywood ve...  
DIGGING UP ANNE BOLEYN AND OTHERS    • DIGGING UP ANNE BOLEYN and others | B...  

BUY OR RENT

The Tudors, season 1 https://amzn.to/3rFmveg (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/2VCwQ0j (US link)
The Tudors, season 2 https://amzn.to/3m64HIn (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/2VMPnHw (US link)
The Tudors, season 3 https://amzn.to/3wiwPwi (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3BijsPB (US link)
The Tudors, season 4 https://amzn.to/3rNeggF (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3z16S58 (US link)
Wolf Hall (2015) https://amzn.to/2UJ9Mwz (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3B70Qlp (US link)
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) https://amzn.to/3jhXAgo (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3xKvbEg (US link)
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) https://amzn.to/3dAIlf9 (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3z5xt18 (US link)
Henry and Anne - The Lovers Who Changed History (2014 docu-drama) https://amzn.to/2Stho5w (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/2USJc3Z (US link)
Henry VIII and his Six Wives (2016 docu-drama) https://amzn.to/3jiCkag
Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016 docu-drama) https://amzn.to/3hd93vd (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3wH2mr2 (US link)

DVDS

The Tudors complete collection: https://amzn.to/3gWs4Ty (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3z3Ef7n (US link)

Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016 docu-drama): https://amzn.to/3h7Qh8z (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3xKuBGA (US link)

READ

[FREE] Eustace Chapuys to Charles V, 15 April 1533
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/let...

[FREE] Henry VIII to Richard Pate, 25 April 1536 in State papers, published under the authority of His Majesty's Commission. King Henry the Eighth (London, 1849), vol. 7, pp. 683-4. Available at https://archive.org/details/statepape...

Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) https://amzn.to/3h9efQD (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3xLivgr (US link)

Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn (2013) https://amzn.to/3y8rt6z (UK LINK) OR https://amzn.to/2W9oJct (US LINK)

Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (2nd edn, Phoenix, 2009) https://amzn.to/3atiEfi (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/36IqD5r (US link)

David Starkey, Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004) https://amzn.to/3k9uD4Z (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/3wImKIh (US link)

Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate, 2010) https://amzn.to/3AbIr6D (UK link) OR https://amzn.to/2UQmA48 (US link)

NB: Links above may be affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I earn a small commission. It in no way affects the price you pay.

Creative Commons licenses used see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/