DISCOVER "THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL AT HEVER CASTLE"

Best known as the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, another
of Hever Castle’s
stories is revealed
this year as the film ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric
Bana is released.

The film is based on the best selling historical novel of the same name by author Philippa Gregory. Rich with sex, love, intrigue and most of all ambition, the book explores the love triangle between Henry VIII and the two Boleyn sisters, Anne and Mary. ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ won the Parker Pen Novel of the Year in 2002 and the Romantic Times fictional biography award. The book was later made into a BBC TV adaptation in 2003 and was released as a Hollywood film on March 7th.

The turbulent and compelling tale details how Henry’s affections switch between the two sisters as, pushed forward by ambitious parents, they compete for his attention. Both sisters trade sex for power in their quest to win the biggest prize of all: to become Queen of England. In history, Mary will always be remembered as the lesser known other Boleyn girl but in Henry’s heart this was not always the case.

Mary is the more beautiful and demure of the two but Anne is the more enchanting and determined. Ultimately it may have been Anne who succeeded in marrying Henry but it was Mary who survived with her life.

Much of the novel is set at Hever Castle, the childhood home of the Boleyn sisters and held especially dear to Mary Boleyn as a place of solace with her children following her rejection from Henry. Henry VIII visited Hever on many occasions and is thought to have first laid eyes on Anne Boleyn in the Rose Garden. Visitors to the Castle can immerse themselves in history and explore the real home of the Boleyns and enter the rooms of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. As well as the Tudor and Rose Gardens, visitors can stroll down Anne Boleyn’s walk, part of the thirty acres of beautifully landscaped mature gardens.

www.visitTheOtherBoleynGirl.co.uk

Notes
The book ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ by Philippa Gregory was published in 2001 by Harper Collins
The film ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ was Directed by Justin Chadwick with Screenplay by Peter Morgan and was released in the UK on March 7th 2008


Film locations in Kent

Penshurst Place 
Knole House 
Dover Castle

See Kent Television’s interview with the locations involved in the filming and of course Hever Castle