The story of "The Tudor Maid" is narrated by Margery Hallows. She is the fictional maid and seamstress of Anne Boleyn.
However, Anne Boleyn had a real maid of honour named Margery Horsman, who worked in the Queen’s Wardrobe. Margery became Anne’s maid of honour in 1532 and she was one of the ladies who attended her coronation in 1533.
Margery Horsman visited Queen Anne at the Tower of London and brought her some items of clothes including six frontlets (decorative bands worn with French hoods) in May 1536.
When I discovered that the historical Margery Horsman had made a visit to the Tower, it become the inspiration for a scene in The Tudor Maid where the fictional Margery Hallows takes clothing to the doomed queen:
Chapter 12: The Lady in the Tower
After the arrest of the queen became known the atmosphere in the sewing room grew so tense that we jumped if anyone knocked on the door. Lady Lee set aside the making of costumes and set us to the plain sewing of linen. I asked permission to knit stockings as I found that it made my hands tremble less.
Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door. “Open for the king’s guard and be quick about it!” We all froze in our places. Lady Lee courageously opened the door herself and was confronted by one of the guards from the Tower. He thrust a note at her saying, “You are ordered to send these clothes to the Lady in the Tower.”
Lady Lee read the note and recovered some of her customary composure although she was deathly pale. “Certainly, Sir, I will attend to this matter myself. But I will have to enter the queen’s chamber to obtain some of the items.”
“Not you, my Lady,” said the guard insolently. “Send one of these women here. Tell them what to fetch and then they can accompany me to the Tower.”
We all stared down at the floor in horror at the idea. But I felt a sense of duty to the Boleyn family so I looked at Lady Lee and nodded. “I will go, Lady Lee.”
She looked relieved. “Listen carefully, Margery. You are to go to the queen’s chamber and bring two sets of undergarments, three pairs of woollen stockings and six frontlets for her hoods.”
“Yes, Lady Lee. But they may not allow me to enter the queen’s chamber.”
The guard snatched the letter back and shoved it in my hand. “Show that to them!” he snapped. I hurried out of the room but surprisingly encountered no resistance to my request to fetch clothes for the queen. I wrapped it all inside a warm cloak and struggled back with the bundle to the sewing room.
Lady Lee insisted on checking the items despite the impatience of the guard. “I shall send some handkerchiefs as she is sure to need them.” She wrapped up the bundle again and bade me take it carefully and send her best wishes to the queen.
The guard glowered at her. “Hurry girl or we shall miss the tide!”
And so, I followed Queen Anne in her sorrowful journey by barge from Greenwich to the Tower. When we arrived at the iron gates my courage almost failed me, but I bit my lip and clutched my bundle close to me. The surly guard delivered me to the house of the Constable of the Tower, Sir William Kingston.
“Come inside, girl,” he said kindly. “You must be cold after your journey.” And indeed, I was cold, but not from the river. “Lady Kingston will check the bundle and then we shall take it to your mistress.”
I sat on a stool by the fire and pretended to warm my hands, for my knees were trembling. Somewhere imprisoned in this great stone fortress were Queen Anne and poor Mark Smeaton. I shivered and Sir William gave me an encouraging look. “It is not far to go now and your mistress will be glad of the clothing. I have taken every care of her and she occupies the same rooms she did at her Coronation. I will escort you there myself.”
“Thank you, Sir William,” I said gratefully and followed him along the corridors of the Tower. At every door we passed I wondered if Mark was kept within the cell. If only there was some way that I could let him know that I was here.
Finally, we arrived at a door with two guards who bowed respectfully to Sir William and opened the door. I was surprised to see such a fine apartment and so many attendant ladies. I recognised the queen’s aunts, Lady Shelton and Lady Elizabeth Wood and her old nurse Mrs Mary Orchard who had lived with us at Hever.
“Kindly inform your mistress that her maid has brought her the clothing she requested, Mrs Stoner,” said the Constable.
The reply soon came back, “The queen bids the maid bring her clothing to her chamber.”
One of the ladies looked affronted. “I will check the bundle first, Sir William.” “There is no need, Mrs Coffin. Lady Kingston has already done so. You may take the bundle to your mistress and inform the guard when you are ready to leave. I bid you all good day, ladies.”
And so it was that I was reunited with Queen Anne in her chamber in the Tower. She smiled ironically when she saw me. “So it is you that they sent, Margery.” She looked around the room. “I entered here with more ceremony the last time I came.”
“Yes, your Majesty,” I replied as I placed the bundle onto the bed. I was surprised by how avidly the queen opened the bundle and sorted through the clothing.
“Did you bring any messages, Margery?” she whispered.
“No, your Majesty.” I replied.
“What about paper and pen?”
“Just what was on the list, your Majesty.”
She sighed. “Well it was worth a try. Do you have any news of my parents or the Princess Elizabeth.”
“There has been no word, your Majesty.”
Her eyes darkened with anger. “I have nothing with which to write and Sir William told me that if I had any message I could tell to him and he would send it on. So I dictated a letter to the king saying that if he has already determined of me, and that not only my death, but an infamous slander must bring him the enjoying of his desired happiness; then I desire of God, that he will not call him to a strict account for his unprincely and cruel usage of me. But I know not if he will have the courage to send it as he promised.”
“I can take a message to Lady Lee, your Majesty,” I assured her.
“You are a brave girl, Margery. There is one last service you can do for me. I am condemned although entirely innocent. It has all been done because the king has fallen in love with Jane Seymour and does not know how to get rid of me. But I do not care for all the harm they can do me now for they can never deny that I was a crowned queen. Tell Lady Lee to send you back with my robe of black damask, my cape of white ermine and my crimson petticoat for the day of my execution. They shall see me die as a queen and they will remember me.”