Anne Boleyn's Letter from the Tower

Book excerpt: The British Library Archives protects a fragile, burned fragment of an impassioned letter. The document concludes, "From my doleful Prison the Tower, this 6th of May. Your most Loyal and ever Faithful Wife, Anne Boleyn." The year was 1536. This letter, possibly the final words from Queen Anne Boleyn to her husband, King Henry VIII, has mystified historians for centuries. Was it composed by Anne? How did it reach the British Library? Did the King ever see it? In the definitive study on the 'Tower Letter', Sandra Vasoli begins to untangle the letter's convoluted past, presenting a provenance spanning almost 500 years. Vasoli also reveals a little-known, startling deathbed admission by Henry VIII. The cryptic clue gives us a glimpse into Henry's anguish over his second wife. This research may well alter the accepted view of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's doomed marriage...