(Genevieve Bujold as Anne Boleyn, in Anne of a Thousand Days, 1969)
On June 1st 1533, Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen of England in a ceremony steeped in splendour and significance. The coronation of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was not just a moment of personal triumph for Anne, but a pivotal event in English history. The pageantry and celebration surrounding Anne's coronation were meticulously planned to reflect the grandeur and authority of the monarchy, as well as to legitimise her contentious marriage to the king. The coronation festivities spanned several days, each event more lavish than the last, designed to impress both the English court and the populace. The coronation ceremony itself was held on Whitsunday, June 1st, at Westminster Abbey and was a masterpiece of medieval ritual and Renaissance opulence. Anne's coronation was more than a mere formality; it was a statement of her rightful place beside Henry VIII and an assertion of the legitimacy of their union. The grandeur of the event reflected the turbulent and transformative nature of the period, marking a defining moment in the history of the English Reformation. Through the elaborate ceremonies and public celebrations, Anne's coronation encapsulated the hopes, ambitions, and complexities of the Tudor dynasty, leaving an indelible mark on the annals of English history.
Letters from Henry VIII arrived with Mayor of London, Sir Stephen Peacock, at the beginning of May. In those letters, Henry proclaimed he wished for his ‘most dear and well-beloved wife Queen Anne’ to be crowned on ‘the Whitsunday next ensuing.’ This gave organisers mere weeks to meet the task and meet the task they did. The celebrations began on 29th May, with Anne's entry into London. At around 1pm, a spectacular waterborne procession on the River Thames began, starting at Billingsgate, and later arriving at the Tower of London. It was the highlight of the pre-coronation festivities. The barges that processed down the river were lavishly decorated with royal emblems, banners and cloth. One barge was even dressed as a dragon, “continually moving and casting wildfire, surrounded with monsters and wild men, all likewise belching fire and making hideous noises.”[1] David Starkey accounts that the next barge was that of Mayor Sir Stephen Peacock and the Aldermen, followed by one barge that was a pageant of Anne’s white falcon badge; a falcon wearing the imperial crown, atop a golden tree stump that was sprouting red and white roses representing the Tudor dynasty and the heirs that her fertile body promised to deliver. At 3pm, Anne stepped aboard the richly re-decorated Queen’s barge, which sailed from Greenwich to the Tower of London, accompanied by a flotilla of brightly coloured boats. Anne was decked out in a grand gown of cloth of gold. The riverbanks were lined with cheering crowds, and the air was filled with the sounds of music and cannon fire, creating an atmosphere of joyous anticipation.
A letter by Cranmer, who was one of the accompanying lords and bishops in her entourage, details the splendour of the event:
“Trumpets, shawms, and other diverse instruments all the ways playing, making great melody, which, as is reported, was as comely done. Never was like in any time nigh to our remembrance.” [2].
(Anne Boleyn’s Processional Entry Into London, John Cassel’s Illustrated History of England, 1858.)
As Anne arrived at the Tower, gun salutes greeted her, firing four at a time along with the ships that lined the river. At the Tower, the scenes of a happy occasion unfurled—happier than those traditionally associated with Anne at the Tower a mere three years later. She was greeted by statesmen and the King himself, who is recorded to have “laid his hands on both [Anne’s] sides, kissing her with great reverence and a joyful countenance.” [3].
Chronicler Edward Hall, who was a witness to the event, claimed “people that stood on every shore to behold the sight, he that saw it would not believe it.” [3]. The Tower, with its deep historical and political significance, served as a powerful backdrop for this pivotal moment. Anne's stay here also included the traditional vigil, a period of reflection and prayer, which added a solemn, spiritual dimension to the otherwise exuberant celebrations.
The following days were filled with banquets, tournaments, and masques, each event a testament to the wealth and cultural sophistication of the Tudor court. A grand procession was a carefully orchestrated to display the royal power and prestige behind Anne’s impending queenship, and Anne processed through the streets on a litter draped in cloth of gold, her path lined with enthusiastic spectators. She was accompanied by a dazzling entourage of nobles, knights, and courtiers, all dressed in their finest attire. Her francophile nature was too represented in the twelve Frenchmen that headed the procession, dressed in Anne’s colours of violet and blue.
Even Anne’s own dress was in the French fashion, yet white according to the precedents of ceremony set out by The Royalle Book. “Her dress, litter and even the trappings of her horses” were white. Her hair was loose in accordance with The Royalle Book, atop which sat a simple gold circlet. The procession was half a mile long according to the accounts of Cranmer. The streets of London were adorned with tapestries and banners, and temporary arches decorated with roses, heraldic emblems, and the initials "H" and "A" underscored the union of Henry and Anne. At Fenchurch Street, Anne stopped to hear the wishes of welcome from children of the city, who all dressed as merchants in a nod to dub her one of their own. Her connections to both a mayor and a citizen of London among her ancestry enabled the people to connect with her it would seem.
Further splendour awaited Anne at the Gate to St Paul’s Churchyard. David Starkey details a pageant there centred on an empty throne, inscribed with the Latin ‘Regina Anna prospere! Precede! Et regena! (Queen Anne prosper! Proceed! And reign!) Below the throne stood three ladies each holding a tablet, two in silver, and the lady at the centre a tablet of gold. One silver tablet displayed a Latin inscription from psalm 11.1 which read Confide in Domino (In the Lord I put my trust). On the other silver tablet, from psalm 119.133, the Latin inscription read Domine! Dirige gressos meos (Order my steps in Thy word). And the third, golden tablet in the centre, not attributed to any biblical reference for certain (for further details see the works of Starkey), was inscribed with the Latin words Veni amica coronaberis (Come my love! Thou shalt be crowned!). At the feet of the ladies read further Latin verse that translated into modern English as ‘Queen Anne, when thou shalt bear a new on of the King’s blood; there shall be a golden world unto thy people!’ The ladies threw rose petals and confetti at Anne that were adorned with these Latin verses.
Further adoration could be found at Gracechurch Street in their pageant, organised by the Hanseatic merchant community. They had built a huge arch on which was Mount Parnassus. Atop this were actors dressed as Apollo and the four Muses reciting speeches in Anne’s honour. Prolific Tudor painter and artist, Hans Holbein the Younger, designed this pageant and the sketch of which survives today in the care of the Kupferstichkabinett collection in Berlin. These revels and pageants displayed that contrary to the popular conception that Anne was hated by the masses, she was adored by many who welcomed her new queenship as a hope for the future prosperity of the Tudor dynasty (though of course the revelries were commissioned, and there are accounts of spectators laughing aloud at the couples ‘H&A’ intertwined initial that decorated the banners that hung in the streets of the city, spelling out ‘HA HA HA’).
(Mount Parnassus pageant by Hans Holbein the Younger, from the collections of the Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin.)
But finally, coronation day had come, Whitsunday, 1st June 1533. After 8am, Anne entered Westminster Hall dressed in purple coronation robes trimmed with ermine. She wore a golden coif topped with a golden circlet showing off precious jewels. She rested upon a throne of marble while final preparations were made for her procession to the Abbey. She walked barefoot upon a ray cloth (a blue velvet carpet) up the nave of the Abbey and toward Edward the Confessor's shrine, and the high altar. Barons of the Cique Ports covered her with a golden canopy on her procession route as they had in the previous days of celebration, and ahead of her in the procession order were the monks, bishops and archbishops, parliamentary nobles, among them the Duke of Suffolk who was acting as High Steward (a personal triumph for Anne given Suffolk’s opposition to her union with Henry), and the Earl of Oxford who was carrying the St Edward’s Crown. He was followed by Marquis Dorset who carried the sceptre, and the Earl of Arundel who carried the ivory rod.
The ceremony was officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, who anointed Anne with holy oil, affirming her consecration as queen. The abbey was filled with the elite of English society, from high-ranking church officials to foreign dignitaries, all gathered to witness the anointing of their new queen. As Anne walked the processional route through the abbey, she was surrounded by the rich aroma of incense and the sound of choral music, creating a sensory experience that was both otherworldly and deeply rooted in the traditions of the English monarchy.
(Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, in The Tudors, 2007-2010)
Witness accounts recollect that “she was sat in a rich chair [St Edwards throne], and after that she had rested a while she descended down to the high altar and there prostrated herself while [Cranmer] said certain collects over her; then she rose and the [arch]bishop anointed her on the head and on the breast, and then she was led up again to her chair where, after divers orisons [prayers] said, the archbishop set the crown of Saint Edward on her head and then delivered her the sceptre of gold in her right hand and the rod of ivory with the dove in the left hand.“ [4].
The moment of coronation was magnificently done with the use of St Edwards Crown. This is significant because the use of the crown was traditionally reserved for the crowning of the monarch, and not the consort. This was an unprecedented display that set out to legitimise Anne and Henry’s union, and demonstrate to all those present, and all those who would hear of it, that Anne Boleyn was the new Queen of England. Significantly, Anne was also pregnant at this time, so the use of the crown reserved to crown kings regnant adds symbolic legitimacy to the son they hoped she was carrying in her belly (though this turned out to be Elizabeth, the poignant irony is not lost on us). Choristers sang Te Deum, and the coronation mass began. Anne made an offering to the altar, and a second to St Edward’s shrine, further aligning herself with St Edward’s significance in this ceremony. Her father, Thomas Boleyn Earl of Wiltshire, aided her in her procession from the abbey back into Westminster Hall in supporting her right hand along the route.
Back at Westminster Hall, Anne’s conation banquet was of no less opulence than the days of ceremony had set out. She headed her own table on a raised dias covered in a cloth of gold canopy, and she enjoyed course upon course of lavish dishes (dishes that offered an array of choice; she was offered a choice between 24 dishes for her second course and 30 for third). She had parliamentary men, nobles, even old lovers (Thomas Wyatt) waiting on her every need. Even the Duke of Suffolk in his role as High Steward was patrolling Westminster Hall on horse back, ensuring the celebrations were proceeding as planned. Of course, Anne’s experiences in France played part in the celebrations, and just as at Queen Claude’s coronation banquet (at which Anne was likely a lady in attendance), Garter King of Arms cried “largesse largesse,” and threw coins at the guests in celebration of their new Queen. Henry himself was, as always, watching close by in a hidden and covered alcove high in the walls of Westminster Hall. Sweet meats and sweet wines were served to close the banquet, and Anne left via barge for Whitehall, to spend the night with Henry.
(Sketch thought to have been by Thomas Cromwell in the British Library collection, Anne Boleyn beneath a canopy of cloth of gold at her coronation Banquet in Westminster Hall)
Anne’s coronation was a breathtaking and fantastic display of regal splendour that encapsulated the political prowess of the new Queen of England. It was literally her crowning moment. From the moment she entered London to the echoes of cannon fire along the Thames, to her grand procession through the streets lined with enthusiastic crowds, the celebration was meticulously orchestrated to cement her position as Queen of England. The richly decorated barges, a solemn vigil at the Tower, and the vibrant pageantry through London all underscored the significance of her ascension. The culmination of these festivities was the coronation ceremony itself at Westminster Abbey, where Anne, carefully watched over by Henry, and adorned in luxurious robes and crowned with St. Edward’s Crown, was anointed queen in a ceremony imbued with medieval tradition and unprecedented opulence.
This moment was a powerful statement of her legitimacy and the anticipated prosperity she symbolised for the Tudor dynasty, with many seeing her as a beacon of hope for the future of the succession of England. Anne Boleyn’s coronation stands as a poignant moment in history, marked by both its immediate splendour and its enduring impact. It encapsulated the hopes and ambitions of a queen whose life and legacy would shape the course of English history.
References:
British Library, X.
David Starkey, Six Wives; The Queens of Henry VIII (London: Vintage Books, 2003).
Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (London: Blackwell, 2004).
John Guy and Julia Fox, Hunting the Falcon; Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage that Shook Europe (London: Bloomsbury, 2023).
https://thetudortravelguide.com/anne-boleyns-coronation-procession/