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English queen consort, the second wife of Henry VIII from 1533–1536. Daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn by Elizabeth Howard, she secretly married Henry (January 1533), and was soon declared his legal wife but within three months his passion for her had cooled. It was not revived by the birth (September 1533) of a princess (later Elizabeth I), still less by that of a stillborn son (January 1536). She was arrested and brought to the Tower, charged with treason, and beheaded (May 19, 1536). Henry married Jane Seymour 11 days later. |