Source:
The girlhood of Queen Elizabeth, a narrative in letters, Frank Arthur Mumby, 1909
Above: Anne Boleyn, artist unknown.
Above: George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Above: Anne Boleyn (played by Natalie Dormer) holding the newborn Elizabeth in the Showtime series The Tudors.
Anne Boleyn wrote this letter to George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham after having given birth to her daughter the future queen Elizabeth I on September 7, 1533. The baby was expected to be a boy, for the letter was already written announcing the birth of a prince, so the s had to be added in at the last minute to correct it to say that a princess had been born.
The letter:
September 7, 1533.
Right-trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And whereas it hath pleased the goodness of Almighty God of His infinite mercy and grace to send unto us at this time good speed in the deliverance and bringing forth of a Princes the great joy and inward comfort of my Lord, us, and of all his good and loving subjects of this his realm, for which inestimable benevolence so shown unto us we have no little cause to give high thanks, laud, and praise unto our said Maker, like as we do most lowly, humbly, and with all the inward desire of our heart. And inasmuch as we undoubtedly trust that this our good speed is to your great pleasure, comfort and consolation, we therefore by these our letters advertise you thereof, desiring and heartily praying you to give with us unto Almighty God high thanks, glory, laud and praise, and to pray for the good health, prosperity, and continual preservation of the said Princes accordingly. Given under our signet at my Lord's Manor of Greenwich, the 7th day of September, in the 25th year of my Lord's reign.
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