Anne's birth date has never been certain. Historians place her birthday between the year 1500 and 1509. She spent her childhood at Hever Castle in England and during her teens was placed in the household of Henry VIII's sister, Mary Tudor. Mary was a French queen having married Louis VII. When Anne joined the court, she also joined her own sister Mary, who was already in place within Queen Mary's French court.
When Louis VII died, Mary Tudor returned to England taking Anne's sister with her but Anne stayed behind. Anne herself didn't return to England until around 1521. Her father Thomas, was hoping that a marriage between her and James Butler, heir to the Ormonde title, would bring the title firmly into the Boleyn family.
The marriage however did not take place and a year later Anne made her debut at the English court after being sent to attend to Henry's first wife and then queen, Katherine of Aragon. Anne was linked to two men at court, Henry Percy and Sir Thomas Wyatt. Her romance with Percy was said to have ended after Cardinal Wolsey put a stop to the romance. It is believed that Anne then turned her affections to Sir Thomas for a short time.
Historians again differ as to when exactly Anne was first noticed by good King Henry himself. However, most agree that Henry at first had no plans to marry her, but wished instead to have her as a mistress. Anne wasn't to be used so lightly though. It is believed that she refused to settle for anything less than being pronounced queen.
Henry remember, was desperate to have a male heir and he also was completely in love with Anne herself. It is said that she would be the only one of his wives that was allowed to talk back to him and indeed they often had blazing rows in front of the entire court. When Anne finally became pregnant with Henry's child in December of 1532, he and Anne were secretly married just a month later.
Henry and Katherine's marriage though, had still not been annulled, but Henry was convinced that the marriage never really existed anyway and the annulment was finally completed in May, when the Archbishop of Canterbury declared the marriage invalid.
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