Jane Boleyn, wife of Anne Boleyn’s brother George, is one of Tudor history’s best-known figures. Yet, if you search online for her portrait, you will find… nothing.
Why are there no portraits of Jane? She was one of the highest ranking noblewomen in the Tudor court, and was lady-in-waiting to no less than five of Henry VIII’s six wives. She was the daughter of a lord, and when she married George (Viscount Rochford), she became sister-in-law to the soon-to-be Queen. Top notch, then, on the scale of posh!
But there are no portraits, because they really knew how to cancel people in Tudor times. If you offended King Henry VIII you lost your head, and then every visible trace of you was wiped from history. All portraits of Jane, just…