Tracy Borman Makes Me Rethink EVERYTHING About the Boleyns
About this episode
Tracy Borman discusses her new novel about the Boleyn family, challenging common perceptions of historical figures.
This conversation totally rearranged some things in my brain. I sat down with Tracy Borman, Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces, to talk about her new novel The House of Boleyn, and it flips the whole family on its head. Thomas Boleyn, the guy we all love to hate as the scheming dad pimping out his daughters? Tracy did the research and found basically none of that. He comes across as actually protective, terrified of what Henry could do to Anne. And Jane Boleyn, who Wolf Hall (and basically everyone else) paints as the ultimate betrayer? Tracy found letters of her BEGGING Henry to spare her husband. We also get into Anne's grandmother Lady Margaret Butler, who Tracy compares to the Maggie Smith character from Downton Abbey (I'm obsessed with this comparison), plus the Duke of Norfolk, who might be one of the most legitimately villainous people in Tudor history, no rehabilitation needed there. And Tracy tells this incredible story about inventing a plot line for the book, and then finding actual historical evidence afterward that proved she'd accidentally landed on the truth. Chills. Tracy also gives her take on whether Anne actually loved Henry (spoiler: she doesn't think…
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