Anne Boleyn exhibition sheds light on her many faces

Infrared images have revealed that an artist who painted Anne Boleyn deviated from an approved design for portraits of the Tudor queen.

Curators at Hever Castle, the childhood home of Boleyn, said new research showed that the painter altered the undersketch for the Hever Rose portrait from the standard "B" pattern they initially followed.

The finished painting deviated from the approved design to include the executed queen's hands, according to researchers.

Assistant curator Dr Owen Emmerson said it was a "visual rebuttal to hostile rumours" that Boleyn – the second wife of Henry VIII – was a witch with extra fingers.