On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed. I don't have a lot to say about this that isn't being amply covered elsewhere; BUT some of my girls were in service to her at the time, and I find it really fascinating to think about this from their perspective.

If she was remotely guilty of any of the accusations - and we needn't assume straightaway that she was innocent - it's extremely likely that at least some of her women will have known something about it.

They are with her all the time, including at night. It's really hard to conduct a flirtation, never mind an actual sexual affair, without the connivance of somebody else in that context. Ask Margaret Douglas.

George Bernard argues that the investigation began in the first place because of a careless comment by one of her women - Elizabeth Browne/Somerset, Countess of Worcester. And, I mean, I find that very plausible.

So, ok, when your queen is arrested, how would you feel? Shocked? Appalled? Scared you might be next? For this kind of thing they're going to want the best witnesses they can find, and for a queen that's her women. There is no way that they weren't questioned.

But it must have been bloody terrifying. Household in turmoil, not knowing quite what's going on, pulling on all your networks and contacts for news, probably being sworn to silence by councillors.

No depositions from the queen's women have survived. We do know that anecdotal evidence from Jane Parker/Boleyn, Lady Rochford, Anne's sis-in-law, was used at trial, which again does suggest they were questioned.

None of Anne's women (or women at all) were arrested with her or afterwards, which suggests to me either that they told anything they knew, or knew nothing. With Katherine Howard later, those who gave up info were protected from consequences.

Anne's household was broken up, which will have meant that her women returned home, either to parents or to their marital homes. Mary Howard/Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, went back to her father's house at Kenninghall.

Not all of them, though; Jane Seymour became queen basically immediately, and she needed attendants. Some were kept on to serve her.

Must have been a bizarre atmosphere. Nothing quite like that had ever happened before. I wonder whether the queen's household felt itself watched more than previously.

Anyway, this is the kind of stuff my current project is concerned with, and I'll keep you posted!