The Beheading Game

Prologue

Anne and Henry courted for seven years as he negotiated an annulment from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, with whom he had one surviving child, the Princess Mary.

The conflict over the “great matter” of Henry’s annulment ultimately led to England’s break with the Catholic Church in Rome, setting the nation on a path toward Protestantism.

At her execution, she delivered the following speech:

Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.

I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.

And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.

O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.

The day after Anne’s execution, Henry VIII became betrothed to his mistress, Jane Seymour. Most historians today agree that Anne was innocent of all charges.