Scientists convinced they’ve just discovered Anne Boleyn’s ‘real face’

She may be one of the most famous royal spouses, but Anne Boleyn was never pictured in her lifetime.

The second wife of Henry VIII has been the subject of fierce debate, with her physical appearance remaining shrouded in mystery.

However computer scientists have now linked a sketch of an unknown woman to the famously beheaded royal using facial recognition technology.

As Boleyn was never depicted while she was alive, our understanding of her appearance is shaped by several posthumously created paintings.

These include a sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger, which is part of a collection held in Windsor by the Royal Collection Trust.

While many scholars believe it is an accurate representation of Henry VIII’s second wife, the computer scientists from the University of Bradford believe it in fact could be her mother, Elizabeth née Howard.

Professor Hassan Ugail, who specialises in visual computing said the team was comparing a series of drawings, including some of Boleyn’s first cousins and her daughter, Elizabeth I, using a computer algorithm.

The cutting edge technology was used to analyse familiar similarities.

But the method ‘shocked’ researchers when it appeared to match an unidentified sketch to Boleyn.

Lead author Karen Davies long had a childhood obsession with Boleyn.

However she was skeptical of the sketch named after the Tudor royal by Holbein, citing discrepancies between the artwork and descriptions of Boleyn, as well as the fact that the name was etched in an 18th century hand – several hundred years after Boleyn was executed.

Not everyone is onboard with the methodology however. Some have questioned how such technology can be used to identify drawings, which are of course the work of artists, many of whom typically sought to create flattering depictions of their subjects, particularly royals.

Historian Dr Bendor Grosvenor described the research as ‘a load of old phooey’.

He told the BBC that he was convinced the Holbein sketch was genuinely of Boleyn, saying it had been identified by someone known to her and that her informal dress was of a type typically only worn by aristocracy.

Dr Charlotte Bolland, a senior curator for the 16th century collections at the National Portrait Gallery, said there was no single work that acts a ‘lifetime reference point’ for Boleyn, who was estimated to be in her late 20s or early30s when her head was cut off.

This mystery around Boleyn’s appearance and her life story is what continues to drive intrigue and, with that, research, she said.

‘The incredible emotional tragedy of her life is this story that people want to revisit’, she added.

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