Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Twitter Ye Not - Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn


Twitter Ye Not - Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn

A regular piece about how figures in history might have twittered or tweeted or whatever, had they the chance, inclination and technology.

The forthcoming marriage of William and Kate is merely the latest in a long history of royal weddings that have captured the hearts of the nation. In the Spring of 1533, after a lengthy, romantic courtship punctuated by adultery, an annulment, several arrests, a couple of executions, an almost terminal illness, a pregnancy, two ex-communications, and a complete collapse of relations with the Vatican, King Henry VIII quietly married Anne Boleyn. The marriage was declared valid on May 28th. That royal wedding, just like its contemporary equivalent, excited the Twittersphere greatly.

I have shown King Henry (one of history's biggest bastards in my opinion) looking on lasciviously towards his apprehensive bride Anne Boleyn. To Henry's left is the Tudor rose, the emblem his father, Henry VII, created upon his marriage to Elizabeth of York, ending the War of the Roses and combining the emblems of the two houses, the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York. Next to Anne's loosely attached head is the HA monogram created for their partnership. Anne Boleyn wears the famous Boleyn pearl necklace with a B of solid gold from which hung three drop pearls - it was her favourite jewel (all portraits show her wearing it) and was inherited, after her beheading, by her daughter Queen Elizabeth I.

Apologies for the hiatus in posting up images of late - I've been suffering from a trapped nerve and bad back for the last month and its really slowed me down.

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