Anne Boleyn's necklace

[lizbee]

In the comments to my second picspam yesterday, a couple of people expressed amusement at Anne's "B" necklace.




It is, in fact, a replica of a real necklace owned and worn by Anne:



The "B" necklace has become synonymous with Anne herself, as it features in most of the historical portraits of her.  The one above (Holdbein, I think) is the earliest, but even it is apparently a copy of a lost original.  According to Alison Weir's Henry VIII, King and Court, such jewellery was extremely popular.  Anne also owned an "AB" necklace, and one with an overlapping "H" and "A":





Some of this jewellery was eventually passed on to Elizabeth I, and there are records of her wearing it, but after that, who knows?  The "B" necklace is allegedly in the hands of a wealthy Canadian socialite, but here, you should have a grain of salt with that.

Comments

[fahrbotdrusilla]

I just wanted to let you know, I'm really enjoying your picspams for this show. I watched the first episode a while back and it didn't really grab me, the first picspam proved more entertaining than the show itself (for me) and overall all three have been very educational as well.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! I'm having fun, too. Not so much for the show itself, as amusing myself coming up with new jokes.

[velocityofsound.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I stopped watching The Tudors back in S1, in no small part because I found Natalie Dormer to be an absolute black hole onscreen, but I didn't realize Boleyn had multiple, documented letter necklaces, nor that the B necklace is supposedly still around. If only I could have had you in the corner, with running commentary, while watching the show, I'd be its biggest fan. :P

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

tv!anne needs moar pearls.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I know! Historical!Anne left no oyster unopened by the looks of her.

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

i'll open her oyster.



ummm. *shifty eyes* that wasn't me.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I should think not. Such disgusting, blatant heterosexuality!

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

i KNOW! disgusting! i am appropriately ashamed of myself, and am THINKING OF THE CHILDREN.

forgive me?

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I suppose I can let it go this time, but if it keeps up, we're going to stage an intervention and then send you to one of those camps where they beat the disgusting habit right out of you.

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

ooh, a beating!

*koffkoff*

by which i mean, of course, I PROMISE I WON'T BE SO FILTHY EVER AGAIN maybe.

[opheliastorn.livejournal.com]

I've never watched The Tudors, but I'm absolutely loving your picspams of it. Even the scary bits with Sam Neill. I keep ketting flashbacks to his bum in The Piano D:

*unrelated*

[peace-bloom.livejournal.com]

your icon is so cute!

Re: *unrelated*

[opheliastorn.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's boz4pm's, I'm pretty sure ^_^

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I knew that already! *iz tudor wiz n' stuff*

[cidercupcakes.livejournal.com]

Some of this jewellery was eventually passed on to Elizabeth I, and there are records of her wearing it...

Something about this just charms the hell out of me. Pretty much anything relating to Elizabeth and her mother and the -- oh, I don't want to say "relationship", since they never got a chance to have much of one, but "connection", I guess -- connection between them, just always gets to me.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Ugly Betty also wears a replica of the necklace--made by parrish_relics, who is all kinds of awesome. She sells various initials done the same way...

[fyrdrakken]

And this post sent me to the Museum Replicas The Tudors selection to check if any of their pretty pretty bits of jewelry based on the series included the B necklace. Sadly, no. Two pairs of earrings, an Anne gown, a Katherine gown, and all the rest is for cosplaying as Henry. (And I could have sworn I recalled some actual necklaces in the print catalog, too.)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It's a truly blingtastic necklace.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, Anne's srsfax-historically-documented necklace is one of the things I love about the show. They'll stick to things like that while changing history and conflating people.

[cesario.livejournal.com]

I knew the necklace was for real, that just didn't stop me finding it lulzy.

JANE GREY WOULD NOT BE HAVING WITH THAT NONSENSE.