14. MYTH: Elizabeth swallowed Henry VIII’s propaganda campaign and completely disowned her own mother
Elizabeth was just three years old when her mother, Anne Boleyn was executed on the orders of King Henry VIII. The king had been disappointed that his second wife had given him a daughter instead of a son. And, according to the official statement of the time, Anne had also been disappointed that her child was a girl and that she had ‘failed’ to give her husband a male heir. After her death, the royal court issued lots of propaganda aimed at tainting the name of Anne, accusing her of treachery and even witchcraft. Since she grew up in such an environment, some have speculated that Elizabeth grew up to resent her own mother.
All the evidence suggests that this was simply not the case. Famously, while a young woman, and indeed for much of her adult life, Elizabeth wore a special ring. The ring was fitted with a little door. When this was opened, she could look at a tiny portrait of her mother. She had the picture painted by an artist who had known Anne Boleyn personally, and she managed to keep the commission a secret from Henry. There’s also a famous family portrait in which the young Elizabeth is seen wearing a necklace with the letter ‘A’ on it – proof that she was honoring her mother’s memory, right under the nose of her tyrannical father?