Francis Weston

Sir Francis Weston KB (1511 – 17 May 1536) was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber at the court of King Henry VIII of England. He became a friend of Henry VIII and was accused of high treason and adultery with Anne Boleyn, the king's second wife. Weston was condemned to death, together with George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton. They were all executed on 17 May 1536, two days before the Queen.

Background

Francis was the only son of Sir Richard Weston of Ufton Court in Berkshire and Sutton Place near Mayford in Surrey and Anne, the daughter of Oliver Sandys of Shere at Dorking in Surrey. In 1526, aged only fifteen, he is listed as a page at court. Although he was twenty years younger than the King, he quickly became a minor member of the King's circle, listed as beating Henry at bowls, tennis, dice and other games. In 1532, he was made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, giving him frequent access to the King. Other honours followed, including becoming a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533.

In 1530, he married Anne Pickering, daughter to Sir Christopher Pickering of Killington, Cumberland and by her had a son named Henry, born in 1535. An oak marriage chest with carved heads of Francis and Anne is preserved in Saffron Walden museum, Essex.

Arrest

Once arrested, Anne Boleyn was attended by four unsympathetic ladies, who had been instructed by the King's chief minister Thomas Cromwell to report on the Queen's actions. Anne told one of these ladies, Mrs. Coffin, that she had reprimanded Weston for flirting with Madge Shelton, who was betrothed to Henry Norris. Anne wondered aloud to Weston why Norris had not married Shelton yet. Weston replied, "[Norris] came more to her [Anne's] chamber for her than for Madge."

Execution

Francis died aged twenty-five when he was accused of committing adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn, treason and plotting to kill the king. There is no evidence to support either of these accusations. Although a myth has arisen in the last twenty years that the men were accused of buggery as well as treason this is unlikely to be true. This myth has arisen solely due to the unsubstantiated theories of Retha Warnicke in her 1989 biography of Anne Boleyn. None of the men were charged with buggery and there were no extant rumours of homosexuality relating to any of them. Francis was beheaded on Tower Hill, just outside the Tower of London, on 17 May 1536 along with his co-accused, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, William Brereton, Henry Norris and Mark Smeaton.