However, they spent most of their childhood at another of the family's homes, Hever Castle in Kent, which became their chief residence in 1505 when Thomas inherited the property from his father, Sir William Boleyn.

[10] However, following the executions of Anne and George in 1536 their father wrote to Thomas Cromwell and in his letter he stated that upon his marriage his wife gave him a child every year.

Since learning was highly praised at Court and essential for a career as a diplomat, George received an excellent education, speaking fluent French together with some Italian and Latin.

[15] They were certainly married by January 1524 because a note of that date in Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's hand confirms that an extra £20 a year had been awarded to "young Boleyn for him and his wife to live on".

George Cavendish, gentleman usher to Cardinal Wolsey, in his poetry entitled Metrical Visions lambastes the young man for his womanising, saying: I forced widows, maidens I did deflower.

Yet in the same poem Cavendish, who was a staunch Catholic and hated the Boleyns and what they stood for, acknowledges George's good looks and charm, saying: God gave me grace, dame nature did her part, Endowed me with gifts of natural qualities: Dame eloquence also taught me the art In meter and verse to make pleasant ditties[18] Thomas Wyatt in his poetry recognises George's "Great wit" (although wit in the 16th century could suggest that a person was witty and charming, it mainly meant intelligence, and it is George's intelligence that Wyatt was referring to.)

Likewise, neither Cavendish nor the Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, who was actively looking for faults in order to demonise the Boleyns, make any mention of him being particularly arrogant.

[23] However, more recently Alison Weir has resurrected the theory regarding George's sexuality by using the same arguments that Warnicke used 20 years previously.

[28] To use Metrical Visions and George's scaffold speech as the lone pieces of evidence to support an argument for homosexual behaviour is problematic.

As part of a reorganisation of the Court structure, known as the Eltham Ordinance, Cardinal Wolsey, an opponent of the Boleyns, ensured that George lost this position six months later when he halved the number of gentlemen in the Privy Chamber.

The French ambassador, Jean du Bellay, commented that George was considerably younger than many of the other foreign diplomats and that the appointment of a man barely out of his teens would cause amusement.

Yet despite the criticism Du Bellay grudgingly gave praise for the respect George Boleyn inspired at the meeting and the strength with which he argued the case.

[45] In July 1534, George once again attended the French court, this time to rearrange the meeting that had been arranged between the kings as a result of Anne's pregnancy (she later miscarried).

[48] In addition to his diplomatic career, George was an acknowledged court poet of considerable merit, and was also much admired as a talented linguist and translator.

"[49] The translations codify the Lutheran doctrine which both Anne and George were so immersed in, and emphasise the joint commitment of both siblings to reform of the Church.

[52] On 5 February 1533, George was formally called to Parliament and his attendance rate was higher than any other Lord despite his other onerous duties, clearly indicating his commitment.

[53] He obviously voted in favour of the statutes which brought to an end the Pope's powers in England, and his commitment to religious reform earned him many enemies who held true to the Catholic faith.

George twice held the proxy vote of Thomas West, 9th Baron De La Warr, an adherent to the old religion.

George, his father, the King's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy and all other courtiers of rank were present at the monks' executions, which took place on 4 May 1535.

To rid himself of his wife, Henry and his chief advisor, Thomas Cromwell, devised a plot whereby Anne was accused of adultery with five men, one of whom was her brother, George.

During a conversation with Chapuys following the Boleyns' deaths, Cromwell boasted that he had gone to a great deal of trouble arranging the plot, suggesting he did so in order to assist an alliance with Spain.

[59][60][61] On 23 April 1536 George was expected to be chosen to receive the Order of the Garter, but the honour went to a known opponent of the Boleyns instead, Sir Nicholas Carew.

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk sat on the jury and effectively condemned his own niece by finding the men guilty.

Everyone who witnessed George's trial, including the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, considered that he put up a magnificent defence and many thought that he would be acquitted.

Chapuys reported that those watching were betting 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted, and the court chronicler Charles Wriothesley said that his evidence was a marvel to hear.

In fact his distress was so acute that the Constable of the Tower, Sir William Kingston wrote to Cromwell twice begging him to help ease George's conscience.

It was not the honourable thing to deny guilt once a guilty verdict had been given in a court of law, and therefore he followed the conventions of the day by admitting he was a sinner deserving of death.

He came close to denying his guilt by declaring, "beware, trust not in the vanity of the world or the flatteries of the court, or the favour and treacheries of fortune".

[citation needed] In the 1830 tragic opera Anna Bolena by Gaetano Donizetti, the character of Lord Rochfort is based on George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford.

George Boleyn was portrayed by Michael Johnson in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days and by Jonathan Newth in the 1970 television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII.