New research has upended our image of Anne Boleyn. If the claim of one Tudor historian is to be believed, the ill-fated queen’s most famous portrait is, in fact, a likeness of her daughter Queen Elizabeth I.

Though she is one of history’s most popular monarchs, Anne Boleyn’s appearance remains a mystery. After she was executed for high treason in 1536, her vindictive ex-husband King Henry VIII is said to have ordered the destruction of all her portraits so that her likeness would be forever lost to history.

Despite this, some rare, contemporaneous portraits of Boleyn have emerged in recent years. Still, her image in the cultural imagination is largely defined by a late-16th-century, post-humous painting on display at London’s National Portrait Gallery. New historical research suggests, however, that this famous portrait only shows Boleyn’s upper body. The face belongs to Elizabeth I.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, c. 1600. Photo: Robert Alexander / Getty Images.

The Tudor historian Owen Emmerson believes that the portrait, which was painted half a century after Boleyn died, towards the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, was deliberately made to resemble the ruling queen. This way, it would “show a legitimate and God-ordained line of succession,” boosting Elizabeth’s claim to the throne, he explained to the London Times.

Emmerson developed his theory by comparing the portrait with another of Elizabeth I at Compton Verney, a museum in Warwickshire, England. He believes that the same tactic of reinforcing a family resemblance among the Tudors was used in portraits of Elizabeth’s half-sister Mary I.

The idea has found support among other experts in Tudor art. Lawrence Hendra, a research director at Philip Mould gallery and advisor to the BBC’s The Antiques Roadshow, told the Times that the portraits were “probably [from] a workshop from the end of the 16th century, going into the early 17th, which appears to have a niche producing posthumous portraits of English kings and queens.”

Next month, a show co-curated by Emmerson at Boleyn’s childhood home of Hever Castle, will explore how the queen’s image has changed over 500 years. “Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn” will be the largest ever exhibition of some 30 depictions of Boleyn, including some newly identified portraits made during her lifetime.

One example of a contemporaneous image of Boleyn is a miniature painting belonging to the British Museum. Another probable drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger from around 1532 or 1533 belongs to the Royal Collection. These images show Boleyn with much lighter, possibly auburn hair, in stark contrast to the dark hair she sports in some later portraits and in more recent cinematic portrayals. Boleyn has been played by several brunette stars of the screen, including Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Portman, and Claire Foy.

Another little-known image of Boleyn that will be included in the Hever exhibition is a mid-1530s woodcut of the queen with Henry that belongs to the British Library in London.

Emmerson said his show will “challenge the long-standing belief that her image was systematically erased after her downfall.” Visitors will be presented with all the evidence, before being given the chance to cast their vote for the painting that they believe best represents the queen.

“Capturing the Queen” marks 500 years since Henry VIII’s courtship of Boleyn, who had been a lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon. When the King made his initial advance in 1526, Boleyn refused to become his mistress and fled to Hever Castle to escape court gossip. There, he continued to court her via written correspondence.

“Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn” is on view at Hever Castle, Hever Rd, Hever, Edenbridge, United Kingdom, February 1, 2026–January 1, 2027.