Each of these women have books aplenty written about them. They are amongst the most famous women, not only of the Tudor period, but probably in all of English history. And yet because Anne died when Elizabeth was not even three years old, there is a general assumption that mother's influence on daughter was extremely limited, if not non-existent. However, expert historian Tracy Borman has taken the time to examine this and produce a work that weaves the lives of these women together in a clear, concise and fascinating way.

Although the book does only provide an overview of the events of Anne's rise and fall, and Elizabeth's time on the throne, it is clear that the point of the narrative is not to be a straight, dry timeline of events, nor is it meant to be a simple biography. It is of course more difficult to provide a view of Anne as a mother, given that she was a Queen at a time where royal children were placed into their own established households very early on. But through small snapshots granted by eyewitness accounts, paintings, letters and even the royal accounts, Borman easily convinces that the 'goggle-eyed whore' was in fact as much of a mother as she could be. As you would expect though, it is much harder to bring their stories together at this early stage. Instead, it is when Elizabeth takes centre stage that this book begins to fulfil its aims.

While Elizabeth is only known to have spoken publicly about her mother twice during her lifetime, Borman illustrates in great detail the subtler nods to Elizabeth's affections for Anne, and with her words sets out an extended Boleyn family tree who found favour at Elizabeth's court. I would say it is a shame that an actual Boleyn family tree wasn't included though - given how many people have similar names, it might have made it slightly easier to establish who was who. There are also the wider circle of people, kept close because of their knowledge of Anne, and in one case because of their relationship to one of Anne's supposed lovers. Likewise, there are the motifs, heraldic symbols as mottos lifted from Anne, and the items that may have passed from mother to daughter. Far from being two very separate entities as in most works, this gives the impression that Elizabeth almost idolised her mother, in private at least.

Equally, it also addresses the question of why Elizabeth did not do as her sister did and remove the taint of bastardy from herself at the first opportunity, and publicly try to rehabilitate her mother's memory. Ultimately, simply by being the Queen Regnant she proved to be was enough to kick start that process all by itself. 

This book definitely spoke to me as a reader and an avid Tudor history fan, but while all of the above is true it did still feel a bit like the premise was based on quite a thin foundation, and the author had had to pad things out a bit with details of the family. I mean, as much as it's lovely that Elizabeth appeared to favour her Boleyn relatives over her Tudor ones, equally if you were in that position isn't it more than likely that the first people to find favour, either by genuine means or as a way to placate the money-grabbers, would be your family? And why would she need to favour her Tudor brethren? They're already doing pretty well for themselves. I will concede that the author does stress that Elizabeth did seem to favour those who showed loyalty, but I'm not sure that it illustrates the bond between mother and daughter specifically.

I wouldn't normally comment on this, but I feel it's warranted in this case. Having now read it, I do regret paying full price for this book. £25 is a lot for quite a short history book, and doesn't compare favourably with other, much more detailed and chunkier hardback tomes that are priced similarly. It does feel like you're paying something of a premium for the author's name and the subjects, and not getting quite as much as you'd hope for in return. But cost of living crisis and all that! 

Would certainly recommend to any Anne/Elizabeth fans out there as a supplemental read, once you know their stories.