Is This Anne Boleyn or Elizabeth I? New Theory About Famous Anne Boleyn Portrait in NGP

From History Calling

Is the most famous portrait of Anne Boleyn actually a picture of her daughter, Elizabeth I? That’s the explosive new theory from Dr Owen Emmerson and Kate McCaffrey in their book, Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn, released through Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home, in February 2026. The argument is that while this portrait, which is held in the National Portrait Gallery in London, was always intended to be used to represent Anne Boleyn (she is wearing a B pendant in it after all) the face pattern was modelled on Elizabeth I, and so the question of what did Anne Bolyen look like, is still much more up in the air than previously thought. The painting has been dated to 1584 or later using dendrochronology and Emmerson and McCaffrey argue that for political reasons, at a time when Elizabeth’s throne was under increasing attack at home and abroad, her legitimacy was in doubt and she was past childbearing, it was deemed politic to make her look like her mother as well as like other members of her family, like her half-sister and paternal great grandfather, Edward IV and as such, the same face pattern (that of Elizabeth) was used to create portraits of her extended family in the 1580s, all by the same artist. Does this intriguing theory hold water though? Join me in this episode of History Calling as I delve into the evidence presented in this book and explain whether or not I find it convincing and why. If true, this theory would completely reshape how we see Anne Boleyn and her portraiture and leave us with even fewer images of her which we can trust. That said, the book also claims to have identified a previously unknown image of Anne Boleyn from her lifetime, a claim which I’ll also examine. In addition, I’ll examine how the National Portrait Gallery painting of Anne Boleyn compare to others we have of Henry VIII’s second wife, including the famous Moost Happi medal, created in 1534 (until now the only contemporary image we have of Anne Boleyn and still the best), the Chequer’s Ring, made in c. 1575 and depicting her alongside her daughter and Hever Castle’s Anne Boleyn rose portrait, so called because she holds a red rose in it and now properly dated for the first time using dendrochronology. If you love Tudor art history, the history of the Tudor royal family or stories about the life of Anne Boleyn, this is the video for you.