Is this Anne Boleyn’s comb in the portrait of Lady Philadelphia Carey?
When I was researching Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn, I came across information about a portrait of Lady Philadelphia Carey in which she holds the comb that used to belong to Anne Boleyn. Intrigued, I started my quest to locate that portrait.
In 2019 I contacted Izabela Banasik, administrator at the Southside House, because according to my research the portrait was displayed on the wall of the Prince of Wales’s bedroom. Although the portrait was no longer at Southside House, Ms Banasik was very helpful and suggested that I should contact Hellens Manor.
To my utter delight, the portrait in question was indeed located at Hellens Manor. Also known as Hellens House or simply Hellens and located in the village of Much Marcle in Herefordshire, it is one of the oldest dwellings in England, primarily composed of Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian architecture, but the foundations date from the 12th century. Justine Peberdy, who works there as the general manager, kindly provided details about the portrait and took a picture of it for me.
When I opened the picture on my computer, I was speechless. The portrait that I only knew from small pictures in online catalogues was now in front of my eyes. Lady Philadelphia Carey wears a low-cut white dress with floral decoration and fine lace cuffs and collar. She holds a white comb that is believed to have belonged to Anne Boleyn. This style of dress, a floral waistcoat with low-cut décolletage edged with fine lace and straight sleeves with lace cuffs, was popular in England c. 1610-1620.
Who was Lady Philadelphia Carey? The inscription below the portrait states that she was the daughter of Robert Carey, 1st Earl of Monmouth, and Elizabeth Trevannion. Robert was the youngest son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, and Anne Morgan and thus one of Mary Boleyn’s numerous grandsons. In his memoirs Robert Carey stated that he was “youngest of ten sons.” Four of Henry Carey’s sons lived to reach adulthood: George, John, Edmund and Robert. Henry Carey was the son of Mary Boleyn and her first husband, William Carey, although rumours circulating in 1535 attributed his paternity to Henry VIII. The Lady Philadelphia in the portrait was thus Mary Boleyn’s great-granddaughter.
Ever since I learned about that comb allegedly belonging to Anne, I knew I had to research it further. The sole existence of such an item and its inclusion in a portrait of Mary Boleyn’s great-granddaughter means that the Careys owned mementoes that belonged to Anne Boleyn. If the comb held by Lady Philadelphia truly belonged to Anne, it is a stunning example of how Anne’s memory was kept alive by the family of her sister.
But did the comb really belong to Anne Boleyn? Alas, this is impossible to ascertain now, unless I find a specific mention of this item in the papers and wills belonging to the Carey family. Anne Boleyn certainly gave away some of her belongings to the members of her family. In her last will, Alice Clere, sister of Anne’s father and thus Anne’s aunt, passed “a pair of beads of gold which Queen Anne gave me with divers precious stones in them” to her son Thomas.
It is not implausible to imagine that her sister’s family would hold on to the possessions associated with Anne. In the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, there is a pair of valances that once belonged to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, decorated with the monogram HA and a design of their personal motif of honeysuckle and acorns. These valances were not listed in the 1547 inventory of Henry VIII’s goods, suggesting that they were disposed of before that date. The valances came into the possession of the Wodehouse family. Research manager Rebecca Quinton believes that it is possible that the valances may have been passed down as family heirlooms by Blanche Carey, the great-granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, who married Thomas Wodehouse in 1605.
I have recently delved deeper into the Carey family’s history, uncovering some exciting finds that I’m going to share soon with you all.