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Anne Boleyn apartment reopens after renovations

Hever Castle A roof with pink curtains along the left wall. The ceiling is blue and hold. There is a long dark wood table in the centre of the room. The carpet is light brown.Hever Castle
The Great Chamber represents Anne’s return to Hever Castle after spending time in the French court between 1513 and 1522

The childhood home of Anne Boleyn has reopened after undergoing major restoration.

The Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle, in Kent, has been reimagined with 16th-century artefacts and offers an insight into how the Boleyn family would have lived.

Visitors can explore Anne’s journey from child to the ill-fated wife of King Henry VIII, now the six-month renovation is complete.

Castle historian Kate McCaffrey said she was “thrilled” to unveil the apartment’s redesign.

Hever Castle An orange room with a four-poster dark wood bed. There are red and gold curtains hanging from the corners. There is a dark wood chest at the foot of the bed. The carpet is light green.Hever Castle
The Best Bedchamber, where Anne Boleyn is thought to have read letters from King Henry VIII

Work began in January and was set to finish in March, but was delayed due to a change in the project’s direction.

“We wanted to create a series of rooms that lets the visitor step back in time to the world of Anne Boleyn and her family,” said Ms McCaffrey.

“We’ve had an incredibly rare opportunity to display these rooms as they would have been used and present them sympathetically.”

Hever Castle The Book of Hours prayer book signed by Anne Boleyn. It is an old book, open on a page with text and an image on the right page. It is stood in a window.Hever Castle
The Book of Hours prayer book signed by Anne Boleyn will be displayed in the restored Boleyn Apartment

Each room in the apartment represents a different time in Anne’s life, and Tudor historian Dr David Starkey said Hever Castle had changed so little that Anne would still recognise it today.

“She would even be able to find her way to the room where she slept,” he said.

Artefacts on display include furniture items, musical instruments, writing materials and books.

Visitor can even explore the bedchamber where Anne would have slept. Historians believe it is here where the future queen read most of Henry’s love letters, which are now kept in the Vatican Library.

The apartment is the only known surviving suite of rooms that the Boleyn family definitely occupied, according to Hever Castle.

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