For someone who was queen of England, our knowledge of Anne Boleyn’s birth is surprisingly hazy, but she was born possibly in 1501, probably at Blickling Hall in Norfolk. What we do know for certain is that her parents were Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife Elizabeth Howard. The Boleyns were a well-connected and wealthy family — her great-grandfather had been Lord Mayor of London in 1457 and had bought the manor of Blickling, while her maternal grandfather was the Duke of Norfolk.
As a young girl, Anne spent several years, along with her elder sister Mary, in the household of another Mary, Henry VIII’s sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. There she learned to speak fluent French and developed a fondness for French costume, poetry and music. She returned to England in about 1521 and soon after went to the English court as a lady-in-waiting to the queen, Catherine of Aragon.
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