The SECRETS of Anne Boleyn's most treasured possession

Discover the prayer book that Anne Boleyn carried around "like a handbag", as Dr Owen Emerson and Professor Kate Williams get closer to Anne’s treasured Book of Hours, a personal prayer book on display at Hever Castle

Published: January 9, 2026 at 8:05 AM

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Get closer to a remarkable Tudor artefact, as Dr Owen Emerson and Professor Kate Williams get closer to Anne Boleyn’s treasured Book of Hours, a personal prayer book on display at Hever Castle.

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Including illustrations and prayers to be conducted at different times of day, this Book of Hours would have governed Anne Boleyn’s daily schedule – and it even features Anne’s handwriting. Discover the marginalia that shows how the doomed queen turned to the book for solace in times of tumult – from when she was close to death from a disease known as the Sweating Sickness, to the fearful moments when she waited for King Henry VIII to decide her fate.

Authors

Dr Owen EmmersonHistorian

Owen Emmerson is a social and cultural historian working as Castle Historian and Assistant Curator at Hever Castle

Professor Kate Williams

Professor Kate Williams is a historian, author, and broadcaster, and professor of Modern History at Reading University

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