This exhibition presents an unprecedented gathering of portraits identified as Anne Boleyn, more than have ever been displayed together before. It challenges the long-standing belief that her image was systematically erased after her downfall, instead revealing that a greater number of likenesses of Anne survive, created during her lifetime, than previously recognised.

Dr Owen Emmerson, Assistant Curator, Hever Castle

We are thrilled to share Owen’s brilliant new research into a topic that is still hotly debated in scholarship and popular imagination: the question of Anne Boleyn’s appearance. All our evidence will be laid out so that visitors can decide what Anne Boleyn looked like, before voting for the portrait they believe best represents her.

Alison Palmer, Curator, Hever Castle

It feels especially fitting to mark the quincentennial anniversary of Henry VIII’s courtship of Anne Boleyn with an exhibition here at Hever, a place so central to Anne’s story. We will be exploring why there is such a desire to capture Anne’s physical appearance, and asking our visitors if it even really mattered what Anne might have looked like. She was far more famed for her charisma, wit, and intelligence.

Kate McCaffrey, Assistant Curator, Hever Castle