Henry Made Anne a Noble in her Own Right
Most noblewomen in sixteenth-century England acquired their status through their fathers or husbands. Anne’s father was a noble by birth and became Earl of Ormonde and Wilshire thanks to King Henry’s good graces. However, Anne had no title in her own right; and in 1532, she needed one. This was because Henry planned to cross the channel to meet with his old rival Francis I in an attempt to secure French support for his divorce and new marriage. He planned to take Anne with him, believing that if the French King received and accepted her, the rest of Europe would follow.
However, Anne had to be of a suitable rank before she could be presented to the King of France as the future Queen of England. After all, Francis remembered her as one of his wife’s ladies in waiting. So, on September 1, 1532, Anne took part in an impressive ceremony at Windsor Castle. Wearing her hair loose over an ermine-trimmed crimson robe, Anne knelt before Henry while Stephen Gardener announced she was now Marquis of Pembroke in her own right. This was an unprecedented honor for the title Marquis was a male title. So Henry was effectively making his bride be a peer of the realm, with the right to pass on her lands to her children.