Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers.

Dr Owen Emmerson, Kate McCaffrey & Alison Palmer.

History has delighted in their famed rivalry, but these queens may have shared more in common than tradition has allowed… Celebrating the ground-breaking discoveries found within Anne Boleyn’s Books of Hours, made by Hever Castle’s Assistant Curator Kate McCaffrey, this book brings a new perspective to the precarious relationship between Henry VIII’s first two queens. Together with McCaffrey, Dr Owen Emmerson and Alison Palmer explore the complex connections between these two remarkable women, delving into their well-documented differences but also their unexpected similarities. This book accompanies the ‘Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers’ exhibition at Hever Castle in 2023.

Available exclusively from the Hever Castle Shop.

“Rather than rest on caricatures of Katherine and Anne, we need afresh understanding that recognises the religious faith at the heart of these dynamic, intelligent women. By putting Katherine and Anne’s matching Books of Hours in the same room for the first time, Hever Castle’s new exhibition gives us a chance to notice how their owners were alike. When the tussle for the heart of a king came, it was a battle of wits between two of the most brilliant, formidable, and religious women in England. “

— Professor Suzannah Lipscomb