Portrait of Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist, 1525.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII, and the younger woman who it had been hoped for would give him a son. Anne was in her 20s when Henry began to court her. She had lived much of her life in Burgundy and France, and was well versed in courtly behaviour.

After a more than 10 year ordeal of breaking with the church and annulling his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Henry secretly married Anne. She was a few months pregnant at the time.

The baby was a girl, Elizabeth, future Queen and namesake to the Elizabethan age.

Anne, too had failed Henry in the eyes of his court, as she went on to miscarry her next pregnancies. Eventually the powerful nobles turned Henry against her, and, after 1000 days as queen, she was executed for adultery, incest, and witchcraft.