Anne Boleyn was, at the very oldest, 12 years of age when she first arrived at the court of Paris to be a Lady in Waiting to Mary Tudor, the Queen of King Louis XII, and there is reason to believe that she was younger still, as her unusual youth was noted by the Queen. Anne joined her older sister (also named Mary) there, and the two served the Queen faithfully in the court. The Boleyn sisters would remain in Paris after Mary Tudor returned to England, now serving the new Queen, Claude of Valois.
Claude was very watchful of the morality and virtue of her attendants, but even so, Mary would in time become a mistress of Henry VIII. Anne would learn from her sister’s experiences.
