by Carrie Eckles

Created on: October 06, 2009   Last Updated: October 07, 2009

These days, Mary Boleyn is often referred to as "The Other Boleyn Girl", per the movie of that title which gained her fame in modern minds. And perhaps that nickname suits her well; while her sister became famous for her notoriety and violent death; Mary faded into relative obscurity during her later years.

Mary Boleyn's year of birth is widely disputed. The accepted range for her birth is, generally, 1499-1508. These dates are based on her personal life, and that of her sister, Anne. Many historians believe that Mary was the elder sister, but other historians, such as Retha M. Warnicke, claim that it was Mary who was younger, given that Anne was shown more favor during their early lives. Still, that might not have necessarily have been the case. Mary's descendants alluded to the fact that she was the eldest daughter; the fact of the matter is that their ages are so ambiguous, further proof is needed to give a concrete date for Mary's year of birth.

Whatever the case, we do know certain facts about the early life of Mary Boleyn.

She was born at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, but she grew up at the Boleyn family home of Hever Castle in Kent. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard. (Thus she was the cousin of another queen of England, Catherine Howard.) Mary had two siblings, Anne and George. The three Boleyn children were afforded the education common of their rank and prestige at the time.

In 1514, Mary had the honor of traveling to the court of Henry VIII's sister, Mary Tudor, who was queen of France at the time. There, she was Mary Tudor's maid-of-honor. Thomas Boleyn, who had been appointed as ambassador to France, stayed in the country at the time. Mary Tudor left France on January 1, 1515, when her husband, King Louis XII of France, died. Mary Boleyn stayed on in France to serve Queen Claude, the wife of the new French king, Francis I.

After Mary Tudor's departure, Anne Boleyn, who had been abroad in the Netherlands, joined her sister in France.

During her time in France, Mary gained an unsavory reputation. Many referred to her as a "prostitute", which likely meant that she was a mistress to someone important. It is now believed that her affairs were exaggerated; still, it seems that these allegations haunted her time in France.

Mary returned to England in 1519 to become a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. It was then that she was married to the courtier Sir William Carey on February 4, 1520. At court, she began

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