May 19 at the Tower of London: Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth (ep 56)

I’m one of those people who, when the Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle announced their wedding date, immediately thought: “Why
would you want to get married on the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s
execution?” That’s what May 19 means to us in Anne Boleyn fandom.
That and one more thing, at least to me: 19 May is also the date
Anne’s daughter Elizabeth was released from the
Tower. 

So how did the two women come to share that fateful day at the
Tower? 

Anne Boleyn's 1533 coronation celebrations would last four days
and include a triumphant arrival at the Tower of
London. Once she arrived at the Tower, Anne was greeted by
heralds, great officers of state, and finally by the King
himself. The Queen’s apartments, now gone, were located in the
innermost ward of the Tower, between the White Tower and the main
curtain wall. Then on Saturday, 31 May Anne processed from the
Tower to Westminster for her coronation. As Anne left the Tower
in glory no one could have imagined the events that would bring
her back just three years later.

On 19 May 1536, Anne left the Queen’s Lodgings in the Tower for
the last time. She had worried she would be put into a dungeon
when she arrived on 2 May; she was not, but the royal apartments
had been little comfort as she had watched her life unravel. That
morning she walked past the Great Hall and through Coldharbour
Gate, the remains of which can still be seen today. When she
passed along the west side of the White Tower, she saw the
scaffold. A single stroke and it was over. Anne’s body was placed
in a makeshift coffin, by legend an arrow case, and buried in the
Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. 

After the Wyatt rebellion, Mary I was certain her half-sister was
guilty. On 18 March, 1554, Mary sent Elizabeth to the Tower.
Elizabeth is described as playing the moment of her arrival at
the Tower to its fullest effect, sitting down on the steps and
when encouraged to come in out of the rain replying “It is better
sitting here than in a worse place.” Declaring herself the truest
subject in the land, she entered the Tower.

On 19th of May, the soldiers knocked at Elizabeth’s door. She
would have known the date, of course. She would have known how
her half-sister hated her mother, and how much she would love to
have Elizabeth follow in Anne’s footsteps to the executioner.
Instead, Elizabeth was taken from the Tower on 19 May 1554.
Guarded by Bedingfield’s men, Elizabeth set off for
Woodstock.

On 17 November 1558, Mary I died. Word came to Elizabeth at
Hatfield. According to legend, she sank to her knees and quoted
the scripture in Psalms: “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is
marvelous in our eyes.” After spending two days being celebrated
and honored at the Tower, Elizabeth left for her procession to
Westminster. According to Sir John Hayward, Elizabeth remarked,
“Some have fallen from being princes in this land to be prisoners
in this place. I am raised from being a prisoner in this place to
be a prince in this land.” 

I think the day she left the Tower, Elizabeth began her journey
toward becoming the Queen her mother would have wished her to be.


History shows us what's possible.