Anne Boleyn nearly married an Irish Lord.
Lady Margaret Butler, Thomas Boleyn had a claim to the earldom of Ormonde in Ireland through his mother, Lady Margaret Butler. However, there was also another contender for the title: the cousin of the late Earl, Piers Butler. The courts could not decide who should have the title. So in 1520, Thomas Boleyn’s brother-in-law, Thomas Howard the Earl of Surrey suggested they should settle the matter by marrying Pier’s Butler’s son, James to Thomas’s daughter Anne.
In September 1520, the Irish Council proposed the match to Henry VIII and Anne was recalled from France. The negotiations continued throughout 1521 and into 1522. However, it seemed that Sir Thomas Boleyn, confident that he would soon be awarded the Earlship in his own right began to make difficulties. It is also possible that Piers Butler had discovered that his future daughter-in-law was making marriage plans of her own.
Either way, the marriage plans foundered. However, by 1529, there was no need for a marriage between Anne and James Butler. For Thomas Boleyn had finally become Earl of Ormonde in his own right and without the need to marry his daughter into Ireland. This change in circumstance was just as well because, by now, Anne was well and truly off the market.