Mary boleyn death
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Mary Boleyn (1499-1543) was the most famous member of the Boleyn family before her sister Anne’s ascendancy as Queen of England in 1533. Yet Mary’s early renown was something of a dubious honour, since it was based on her adulterous affair with King Henry VIII: Mary is thought to have been Henry’s mistress for a brief period in the early to mid-1520s, a few years before he married her sister, Anne.
Mary married twice in her life, first to William Carey, one of the king’s courtiers, and again in secret, to William Stafford. This second married was deemed unacceptable by King Henry and Queen Anne, and Mary was banished from the family.
Ironically, after the downfall of the Boleyn family in 1536, when both Anne and her brother George were executed, Mary briefly became the sole survivor of the once-powerful dynasty that had disowned her.
Here are 10 facts about Mary, the ‘other Boleyn girl’.
1. Mary Boleyn was one of Henry VIII’s mistresses
As a product of their affair, Mary is rumoured to have borne King Henry VIII two children, although
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Mary Boleyn
English noblewoman (1499–1543)
Mary Boleyn, also known as Lady Mary,[1] (c. 1499[2] – July 1543) was the sister of English queen consortAnne Boleyn, whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Mary was one of the mistresses of Henry VIII for an unknown period. It has been rumoured that she bore two of the King's children, though Henry did not acknowledge either. Mary was also rumoured to have been a mistress of Henry VIII's rival, King Francis I of France, for some period between 1515 and 1519.[3]
Mary Boleyn was married twice: in 1520 to William Carey, and again, secretly, in 1534, to William Stafford, a soldier from a good family but with few prospects. This secret marriage to a man considered beneath her station angered King Henry VIII and her sister, Queen Anne, and resulted in Mary's banishment from the royal court. She died seven years later, having spent the remainder of her life in obscurity.[4]
Early life
Mary was probably born at Blickling Hall, the family seat i
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The Boleyn family were well-respected at court, their heritage a blend of mercantile and noble, and Thomas Boleyn had successfully built upon the foundations laid by his father and grandfather. He was equally ambitious for his children, and secured Anne’s sophisticated education at Margaret of Austria’s court at Mechelen, while it is likely that Mary was tutored at Blickling and then Hever Castle in Kent. Mary’s was certainly a less glamorous education than Anne’s, but she, like her brother, enjoyed a well-rounded education as befitting her status.
Royal connections
In 1514 Mary’s father secured her a position as a maid of honour to Henry VIII's younger sister, Princess Mary Tudor, accompanying the princess to France for her marriage to King Louis XII. She was likely accepted because she had some knowledge and skills in speaking French, a great asset serving the future queen in a foreign court. Unfortunately, Louis died a few months into the marriage, but Mary Boleyn did not follow her mistress back to England, and instead stayed on to serve at the court of the new king, Fr
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