Hello, I’m so excited to tell you about the Tudor characters in my new book, The House of Echoes.
My Tudor protagonist is Anne Brandon, the daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and stepdaughter of Princess Mary Tudor, the youngest sister of Henry VIII and the Dowager Queen of France.
In my books, I like to surround my heroines with friends. Part of my research involved searching the shadows of other people’s tales to discover who had a connection to Anne Brandon that might lead to a friendship. One of the most prominent possibilities was Anne Boleyn.
The two girls met in 1514 at Mechelen, the court of Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy in the Netherlands. Anne Brandon was seven years old and Anne Boleyn was approximately twelve. They were there to be educated as courtiers and it seems possible they became friends. After two years, Anne Brandon was summoned home but Anne Boleyn remained until December 1521.
I have a scene where the young women are reunited at the Christmas court of 1521. A period of calm before the storm of Henry falling in love with Anne Boleyn and all the upheaval and difficulties this would cause.
Whether the two Annes did know each other and were friends, I will never know but I hope they approve of me using their shared younger years as an inspiration for their possible friendship when life became difficult for them both.
