Answer:
Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, well known for being the first wife of Henry to be executed by beheading in the Tower of London, as well as for being the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. The English Reformation, involving Henry's separating the Church of England from Rome, was a direct result of Henry's marriage to Anne. Songs and stories about her execution and alleged ghostly haunting of both the Tower and other locales are well known in English and American folklore.
Anne Boleyn came from a noble family. She was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, the 1st Earl of Wiltshire and his wife, Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire. It should be noted that Elizabeth Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. This made Anne the first cousin of Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's 5th wife - who happened to be the only other wife of Henry VIII sentenced to death, also by beheading.
The date of Anne Boleyn's birth, as well as that of her other siblings, has never been determined. Most scholars believe, though, that it probably occurred in either 1501 or 1507. It is generally accepted that her sister, Mary, was the older of the two. Mary Boleyn had been a mistress of Henry VIII prior to his meeting Anne. Mary also married earlier, being the custom of the time to marry elder daughters prior to the younger ones. They also had a brother, George Boleyn, who would have been born around 1504.
Anne's father, Thomas, was a gifted diplomat who had endeared himself to many other heads of state. It is perhaps through his good reputation that he was able to get for her an education in the Netherlands, help her become the regent to Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy and eventually secure for Anne a position as Maid of Honour to Claude of France. It should be mentioned that Margaret of Austria was extremely impressed with Anne and asked Anne to be part of her household. Anne was well liked in the Netherlands, Austria and France.
In 1522 while in France, Anne returned from England in order to marry her Irish cousin, James Butler, 9th Early of Ormond. However, those marriage plans failed and she was able to get a post as Maid of Honour to Henry VIII's Queen consort, Catherine of Aragon.
In 1525, Henry had noticed Anne and started actively courting her. She refused his attempts as she had no intention of becoming his mistress, as her older sister Mary had done. It became apparent to Henry that the only way to get Anne - and a male heir to his throne - would be to annul his marriage to Catherine so he would be able to marry Anne. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry and Anne proceeded to marry on January 25th, 1533. On May 23, 1533, the Boleyn's family chaplain declared that Henry's marriage to Catherine was null and void. Five days later he declared Henry's marriage to Anne was good and valid. This resulted in Henry's excommunication from Rome. One September 7th, Anne gave birth to Elizabeth, who would later become Elizabeth I of England.
Elizabeth's birth did not initially create a problem for Henry. He insisted that he loved her like a son and was certain other sons would follow. Unfortunately for Anne, three miscarriages followed and by March of 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour, a woman who had been a Maid of Honour to both Catherine and Anne. Jane was also Anne's half second cousin, sharing a great grandmother while additionally being Henry's fifth cousin three times removed.
In order to marry Jane, Henry had Anne investigated for high treason. On May 2nd, 1536, Anne was sent to the Tower of London. On May15th, she was found guilty of high treason with charges including adultery and incest. May 19th saw her executed by beheading. She had been queen less than three years.
Her daughter Elizabeth would later become Elizabeth I of England, ushering in what many would consider to be England's Golden Age. As queen, Elizabeth had her mother venerated as a martyr and a heroine of the English Reformation.
To this day, though, certain slanders still exist about Anne Boleyn, many of which are mistakenly repeated in history books and textbooks. For example, it has often been repeated that Anne had six fingers on one hand, jaundiced complexion and an extended tooth under her upper lip, among other physical deformities. These words, however, were penned by a Catholic propagandist, who was opposed to the English Reformation and a half a century after Anne's death. Her contemporaries felt quite differently. Lancelot de Carles called her "beautiful with an elegant figure." Other contemporaries wrote of her being "young, good-looking, of a rather dark complexion." It is accepted that Anne exerted a rather powerful charm over those who met her. Even those who found her appearance too dark and tall reported the beauty of her black eyes.