[MUSIC PLAYING] Anne Boleyn gave birth
to one of Britain's most cherished monarchs,
Queen Elizabeth I. While being married to one of
Britain's most worst people, Henry VIII, who had a hankering
for lopping off heads. Despite being eventually
murdered by her man, Anne was a fiercely loyal
wife who went above and beyond to keep her family together. She was also a cunning
and extremely intelligent woman who could hold a grudge
and wasn't above a petty outfit choice or two. Today, we'll look at the
strange life of Anne Boleyn, but before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. Oh, and leave us a
comment down below and let us know what other
historical bad asses you would like to hear about next. Now, let's go all in on Boleyn. Anne Boleyn was
eating up a serving of her only sister
Mary's sloppy seconds when she married her
beau, famously nice guy husband, Henry VIII. Before Anne walked
into the picture, her sister, Mary,
was the lucky lady attached to this beefy boy. The two sisters worked
together for years, both serving Henry's sister, Mary,
a different Mary entirely, when she was the
queen of France. Mary B didn't mind a roll or
two in the hay with her bosses, since it's rumored she was also
the mistress of the new monarch of France, King Francis. Can't say the girl
didn't have a type. According to a curious twist
in the law at the time, trying to marry a woman whose
sister you once hooked up with was considered incest,
so in order to marry Anne, Henry had to receive a
papal dispensation to say, this is fine. Despite all the hoops Henry
VIII had to go through, the honeymoon period between
Anne and Henry faded quickly, and he went back to
his old dirty dog ways starting more affairs
with more women. Anne, who was quite
the control freak, attempted to at least
gain the upper hand by enlisting her own
allies to spy on the King. She even ordered some to
become Henry's side piece to try to prevent him
from finding somebody who would turn him against her. If your husband is
going to cheat on you, it should at least
be with a friend. And that's one to grow on. One of these lucky ladies just
so happened to be her cousin, but as it turns out,
your husband sleeping with your cousin
was not any better than if he was sleeping
with a rando street lady. And to boot, it didn't make
Henry treat Anne any better. Not cool, Henry. Anne had a lot of catty
enemies, and some of them started spreading some
shade towards our girl Anne that even her own mother
slept with her husband. One even went as far
to spread the rumor that Henry was intimate with all
three Boleyn women, the mother and her two daughters. In bowling, that's
referred to as a turkey. Another woman
suggested that Anne should be burned at the stake
since her husband cheated on her with so many
relatives, which as far as burning someone at the
stake feels a little misguided. And then there was Nicholas
Sander, a Catholic priest who was not a fan of Anne. He started a rumor that Henry's
second wife was actually his daughter, which is a
very unchristian thing to do. For what it's worth, the
mom thing never panned out. There was no evidence that Henry
had an affair with Elizabeth Boleyn. Probably just the
classic, will they or won't they, TV
sitcom back and forth between man and mother-in-law. Moving on. Anne had her fair
share of enemies. One major antagonist
was Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Anne was taking the jealous
wife routine to the extreme, plotting against
Catherine, who also happened to be her old boss. When Catherine bit the
bullet in January 1536, it was reported
that Anne skipped the traditional solemn black
garments, opting instead to go for a bright cheery yellow
to represent joy and happiness. Very few people can
pull off yellow, so this was both rudeness
and a fashion miss. During Anne's
coronation in 1533, she wore a crown fit
for a literal King, dawning St. Edward's crown. This was the same
crown her husband wore and the crowning ceremony
with her mortal enemy, Catherine. Catherine was stuck with
some dumb hand-me-down crown. The crown was a symbol that
Anne and her unborn child were the real royal family now. Further giving the middle finger
to Catherine and her daughter Mary. Anne would later wear a
crown made especially for her that surely could have been
made before the coronation, but Anne was also
a queen of drama. Once Henry VIII decided
to go full Henry VIII and behead his wife, he did so
with a modicum of compassion, opting to hire an
expert swordsman. His hired man was from the
French territory of Calais. The swordsman was there for
a quick and easy lopping, as anyone could only hope
for when in such a position, as opposed to slow
and drawn out. That sounds not ideal. Anne's emotional state
before her execution was described as
both happy and dazed. She was even
cracking jokes saying that she might be remembered
as Queen Anne Lackhead after her death. Nobody said her jokes were good. After that, she got the light. In order to justify her death,
many rumors and folklore popped up immediately
after Anne's demise. Rumors spread that
and had a freak hand with an additional finger
and moles all over her body. It wasn't until a century
after Anne's death that a manuscript appeared
proving the extra finger and moldy body to be
nothing more than fake news. The manuscript written by an
superfan, poet Thomas Wyatt, was circulated by his nephew
and described her body as having the normal amount
of moles and the sixth finger as the beginnings of
a fingernail, hardly a full additional finger. Henry VIII had a quirky little
habit of beheading a wife or two, killing both Anne
Boleyn and Catherine Howard, but he seemed to have
a particular grievance toward this particular family,
since Anne and Catherine were first cousins. Anne's uncle, the brother
of her mother Elizabeth, was the father of Catherine who
was 22 years older than Anne. Anne and Catherine were both
enveloped into Henry's orbit by their uncle, the third Duke
of Norfolk, Thomas Howard. A man who loved
power so much he was willing to throw any
of numerous relatives into the path of
royalty, later marrying his own daughter to Henry's
illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy. To him, it was all a game
of royal family's stratego. Anne's father pulled
his strings and was able to get his loving daughter
into the best courts of Europe, and he didn't even have to
bribe anybody to get her in. In 1513, she learned how to be a
diplomatic savant while serving Margaret of Austria. Her royal education
continued as she served future sister-in-law,
Mary Tudor, Queen of France, wife of Louis XII. There, she developed
a deep love of France. A difficult thing for
some people to do. Fangirling over France
became an asset to her when she stayed in the
country after Louie's death. The new King of France, Francis
I, was Henry VIII fierce rival, but his sister,
Marguerite of Angouleme was a brilliant woman
and author that had a huge admirer in Anne Boleyn. So much so, she once
told a French ambassador that next to having a boy,
her greatest desire was to see Marguerite again, which
probably wasn't the best esteem builder for her daughter
Elizabeth to hear. Not to make a
shocking statement, but Anne's first love
wasn't Henry VIII. Boleyn's heart first
belonged to Henry Percy, heir to the Earldom of Northumberland
to whom she was engaged. Although only the daughter
of a minor official, Anne would boast of
important connections. Much like the worst person
at a Hollywood party, they pledged themselves in
front of a group of witnesses or what sounds very
much like a wedding. However, in a surprise twist,
Percy was already married. [GASP] Oh, my. That dog. King Henry's advisor
discovered the affair and shut it the hell down. We're guessing it was likely
at the direction of Henry who had his eye on sweet
Anne for himself. The affair with Percy would
later come back to haunt Anne, as affairs often do. Queen Elizabeth I rarely
spoke about her mother Anne who was murdered
by her father, Henry, which people probably had
a few questions about. Though she had her father's
famous fire red hair, little pieces of
Anne also slipped into Elizabeth's whole vibe. She often would use her mom's
old mottos, semper eadem, or always the same. And in the 1570s,
she wore a ring that contained little portraits
of her mother and herself. Anne's love language
was acts of service through the action
of giving people she loved extravagant gifts
they probably didn't need. For New Year's 1533, a holiday
which traditionally requires no gift, she gifted her man a
giant silver gilt foundation crafted by Hans
Holbein the younger, a master artist and
portrait painter. He would later also build
a cradle for Anne's son in 1533, because
a very fancy baby requires a very fancy crib. Anne was also a loving wife who
supported her husband's hobbies such as marrying various women
and chopping off their heads. Oh, and also hunting. In 1532, she gifted
him bore spears for his hunts, which is no
gift card to Olive Garden. Anne's family was
a real mixed bag to say the least, running
everywhere from middle class all the way to the most
ancient nobility in England. Her dad's family had to work
for their position in society. Her great grandfather,
Sir Geoffrey, rose from meager merchant
to lord Mayor of London, allowing him to purchase several
manners, which is nice when you really just need the one. Anne's father, Thomas,
on the other hand, was the real hustler
of this family unit. His wife, Elizabeth, was the
daughter of the second Duke mayor of Norfolk,
a true who's who among noblemen in the kingdom. Though he got to
some high places on his own merit and
charm, it was his daughter who would go on to make him
an Earl and father to a Queen. Anne's childhood home
is still around today, and if rumors are
to be believed, so is she a little bit. There are stories of Anne's
decapitated floaty ghost that still hangs around
Hever castle, a place where her and her siblings
spent some time as kids. There's even a photo
of a ghost hand floating terrifyingly
mid air at Hever castle. Believed to be Anne's,
but then again, it could be any ghost's hand. Ghost hands don't
have fingerprints. Other reports say
Anne is haunting other better places
where she once lived or even the Tower of London
where she was executed, which would make
less sense giving this is probably not the place
of her most favorite memory. So what do you think? Was Anne a part of
history's rawest deals? Let us know in the comments down
below, and while you're at it, check out some of these other
videos from our Weird History.
