You may have heard of or even watched the new three-part mini-series, which premiered
June 2021 on British TV Channel 5 where Anne Boleyn is portrayed by the black British-American
actress, Jodie Turner-Smith.
There is a lot of controvery over this portrayal of Anne Boleyn with some hating the idea and
others championing it as a new, innovative approach to historical drama.
Rather than offer an opinion at this point, let me just start with the words of Miranda
Kaufman, scholar and author of the book, Black Tudors: The Untold Story who has this to say,
and I quote:
“We have these iconic figures from history and literature, who people feel possessive
about in some way, but you have to remember that it’s not a historical reconstruction:
it’s a thriller; it’s a drama; it’s entertainment. As a historian, I think one
of our roles is figuring out how to engage people with the past—and this is a fresh
take on an old story.”
So to the question of,was the real Anne Boleyn black, the short answer is, well maybe or
maybe not. It is not as definitive an answer as it might seem.
What we do know is that there is a lack of portraits of her because Henry VIII so ruthlessly
and efficiently destroyed everything he could find to do with her, including portraits that
existed at the time of her life and death in 1536.
None of the images that we have today are contemporary to her time with the earliest
ones being produced something like fifty years after her death, and many of them later that
that.
In truth, we have very little knowledge about what Anne Boleyn actually looked like in her
lifetime.
But, there are contemporary written accounts of Anne Boleyn that speak of her appearance
as well as why Henry the eighth was so captivated by her.
Let's start with the fact that the real Anne Boleyn was not a great beauty.
One source that I found (you can find the link below), has this to say.
"Most scholars agree that it was not Anne's physical looks so much as her charm, her intelligence,
her accomplishments, her wit, her fiery nature, her uniqueness, in short, that captivated
Henry VIII and kept his attention for the best part of 10 years.
By all accounts, he was completely taken with her in a way he never was with any of his
subsequent wives or mistresses. There was, in short, something special about Anne that
cannot be relegated to mere looks and appearances." - conorbyrnex.blogspot.com
Another source reports that In 1532, a new Venetian ambassador described Anne thusly:
‘not one of the handsomest women in the world. She is of middling stature, with a
swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing
but the King’s great appetite, and her eyes, which are black and beautiful – and take
great effect on those who served the Queen when she was on the throne. She lives like
a queen, and the King accompanies her to Mass – and everywhere.’ - Englishhistory.net
Note the use of the word swarthy. Swarthy is defined in the dictionary as dark-skinned.
There are other reports regarding what Anne Boleyn looked like but suffice it to say that
she was probably not black, black but she was also probably did not have the creamy
skin and rosebud lips so often portrayed by other tv shows and movies such as
the 2007 Showtime television series The Tudors or the 2008 Hollywood, The Other Boleyn Girl.
I will end with this quote by Lacey Baldwin Smith, author of books on both Anne Boleyn
and Katherine Howard: 'Tudor portraits bear about as much resemblance to their subjects
as elephants
to prunes'.