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On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn went bravely to her death in a private execution at the Tower of London. It took only one stroke of the sword to sever her delicate neck, the very same neck that the poet Thomas Wyatt had once praised as 'fair' in one of his admiring verses.
Anne's ladies carried her head & body to the royal chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, where they undressed their mistress, before placing her remains in an elm box made to hold bow-staves. She was then interred in the earth beneath the chancel pavement in an unmarked grave.
In October 1876, the chancel was restored with Queen Victoria's approval as part of a larger restoration project. Anne's remains were exhumed, examined & then reburied in the same spot. It was at this time that the memorial plaques were added to the chancel.
Each year, on the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's death, an anonymous floral tribute is delivered to the chapel. The card simply reads, 'Queen Anne Boleyn, 19th of May 1536'.
Contrary to popular belief, the scaffold on which Anne was executed was not erected on the current Tower Green. It stood on the north side of the White Tower, roughly where the entrance to the Waterloo Barracks is today and where this crowd of people are gathered in this photo.
