Maid of honour
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A maid of honour is a junior attendant to a queen in royal households, ranking below a lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Mary Fitton, 1595, a maid of honour to Elizabeth I.
The six maids of honour of Queen Elizabeth II appear with her on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after her coronation
Anne Boleyn
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Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the polit
Maid of honour
…historically been used in most European royal courts. Traditionally, a queen regnant had eight maids of honour, while a queen consort had four. Queen Anne Boleyn had seven maids of honour and one mother of maids. A maid of honour was a maiden, meaning that she had never been married (and therefore was ostensibly…
Posthumous portrait of Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle, c. 1583
Portrait of Anne's elder sister Mary Boleyn, by Remigius van Leemput, c. 1630–1670
Interior Court of Savoy, Mechelen
Henry VIII’s first interview with Anne Boleyn, a 19th-century depiction by Daniel Maclise (1836)