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Rare portrait of Anne Boleyn foe causes dilemma

Gareth Fuller/PA A bald white man wearing a black shirt. He is holding a framed portrait of Thomas Cromwell. The man is stood in a long room with brown wooden walls and a cream ceiling. He is looking down and to the right at the picture he is holdingGareth Fuller/PA
Dr Owen Emmerson is assistant curator at Hever Castle and a historical consultant on the BBC drama Wolf Hall

A portrait of the "mastermind" behind the fall of Anne Boleyn is set to be unveiled at the former queen’s childhood home.

Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith, worked his way up to become King Henry VIII's chief minister following the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Some historians believe it was Cromwell who would go on to engineer Boleyn's execution after making claims of adultery against her.

Hever Castle's assistant curator Dr Owen Emmerson was initially unsure about buying the rare 16th-Century portrait of Cromwell and displaying it at Boleyn's childhood home.

Gareth Fuller/PA A framed portrait of Thomas Cromwell on a dark wooden wall. The frame is dark brown wood with gold trim. To the left and right of it are green curtains. A black curtain rail runs above the portraitGareth Fuller/PA
The portrait has gone on display at Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home

He said: “When I first saw this painting listed at auction back in 2020, I thought twice about suggesting the purchase, for fear of what Anne Boleyn would have thought of us hanging a portrait of the man who orchestrated her downfall in her home.

"However, I remembered that before Anne’s downfall, she had threatened Cromwell with his life, telling him that she wanted his head off his shoulders, and I then reasoned that, since the portrait only shows his head, we were, in a way, fulfilling her wishes."

The painting was bought by Hever Castle in 2020 and restored. It had been in the Duke of Manchester’s collection for centuries.

It once hung at Kimbolton Castle, in Cambridgeshire, which was the final home of King Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to where she was banished and then died in 1536.

On Sunday, the second episode of BBC drama Wolf Hall, series two, airs on BBC One, continuing to tell the story of Cromwell's rise to power.

Dr Emmerson was a historical consultant for the first episode of the new series, which was broadcast on 10 November.

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