Mary Boleyn

Due to a lack of parish records, neither the exact dates of birth of the Boleyn siblings nor their order of birth can readily be deduced. But most historians agree that Mary, the eldest surviving child of Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Howard, was born in 1499 at Blickling Hall, the family home in Norfolk. She was raised at Hever Castle in Kent, alongside her siblings Anne and George.

Thomas Boleyn was a well-respected diplomat and politician. He had a gift for languages and was a favourite of Henry VIII, who sent him on several diplomatic missions across Europe. In a career spanning three decades, he had been the ambassador to the Low Countries and France, was made the Sheriff of Kent, and served as an envoy to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. An ambitious man, he had high aspirations for both of his daughters.

Unlike her husband who was elevated to peerage, Lady Elizabeth Howard was born into it. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney. Her family claimed Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, as their ancestor. Her marriage to Boleyn took place sometime in the late 1490s, probably in 1498. Despite becoming pregnant many times in the following decade, only three of her children made it to adulthood. Known to be a highly attractive woman, she served as a lady-in-waiting first for Elizabeth of York, and later for Catherine of Aragon.

Mary grew up under the strict supervision of a French governess. She was educated in history, grammar, basic principles of arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, and her family genealogy. Her feminine accomplishments included training in dancing, etiquette, music, household management, embroidery, singing, and needlework. Noting Henry’s athleticism and love for sports and outdoors, Thomas instigated his daughters’ lessons in falconry, riding, archery, and hunting.

When Mary was around the age of 15, her father admitted her to the king’s sister, Mary Tudor’s service as her maid-of-honour. She accompanied the princess from Dover to France for her wedding to Louis XII. It is likely that she was present during the ceremony. Only after a few weeks, most of the Queen’s English maids were dismissed but Mary remained with her, possibly due to her father’s appointment as the English ambassador to France.

Louis was 52 when he married an 18-year-old Mary Tudor. He died less than three months after the wedding, on January 1, 1515. The princess had opposed the political marriage from the beginning and was in love with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Henry sent him to retrieve his sister from France, with a promise that he would not propose to her. But they eloped soon after he arrived and were married in a private ceremony.

Mary Boleyn did not follow the Princess back to England. Instead, she remained at the French court as one of the maids of the new French Queen, Claude, the daughter of Louis XII.

During her stay in the country, Mary had a series of affairs with several French courtiers and with the French King, Francis I, himself. While most of the reports could possibly have been exaggerations, Francis did describe her to Rodolfo Pio, the Bishop of Faenza as being a “great and infamous whore”. He even referred to her as “The English Mare”, often bragging about having “ridden her”.

Despite her proximity to famous historical figures, Mary’s own life, for the most part, is shrouded in obscurity. She was said to be beautiful, exuberant, impulsive, and full of energy. She had a round face and fair hair, as opposed to her sister’s dark and slender features. However, Anne was more thoughtful and intelligent. While Mary let her passion take control of her life, each of Anne’s actions had equal measures of ambition and sensibility behind it.

When the rumours of Mary’s deeds at the French court reached him, a furious Thomas brought her back to England and put her in the service of Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife, as a maid-of-honour.

On February 4, 1520, the Boleyn family married her to William Carey of Aldenham, a courtier and favourite of Henry. The fact that she was married before Anne is seen as an evidence that she was the eldest daughter of the Boleyns, as according to tradition back then, parents married their children in the order of their births.

Some time after the wedding, Mary caught Henry’s eye and they embarked on an affair. Both her husband and Boleyns reaped benefits from the affair. Carey received manors and estates and the Boleyns, grants of land.

The two children she had during her marriage to Carey, Catherine and Henry, are generally attributed to the King. But the fact that he did not acknowledge either of them like he did Henry Fitzroy, who was his illegitimate son with Elizabeth Blount, raised questions on the veracity of the claim.