Elizabeth Taylor in Anne of The Thousand Days (1969) she wears the famous La Peregrina pearl, worn by queens of Spain in the 16th and 17th century, her husband Richard Burton who plays King Henry VIII bought the pearl under the mistaken idea it had once been own by Queen Mary I, wife of Philip II of Spain, as Mary can be seen wearing a large pearl in many of her portraits. However this is the ‘Mary Tudor Pearl’ or ‘The Tudor Pearl’ which has been lost over the years. The Burtons donating a portrait of Queen Mary which depicts her wearing The Tudor Pearl to the NPG when they learned the museum did not have a portrait of Mary in their collection.
OTD May 19th 1536, Anne Boleyn is beheaded by a French Swordsman at the Tower of London after being found guilty of adultery, incest and treason. Her body lies in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula - may she rest in peace