Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire, 1st Earl of Ormond, 1st Viscount Rochford KG KB (c. 1477 – 12 March 1539), of Hever Castle in Kent, was an English diplomat and politician who was the father of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, and was thus the maternal grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. By Henry VIII he was made a knight of the Garter in 1523 and was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Rochford in 1525 and in 1529 was further ennobled as Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond. Origins He was born in about 1477 at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, the son of Sir William Boleyn (1451–1505) of Blickling (purchased by Sir William's father Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a wealthy mercer who served as Lord Mayor of London) by his wife Lady Margaret Butler (1454–1539), a daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. Marriage and issue Around 1500 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard, eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his wife Elizabeth Tilney. Six children are attested, only three of whom survived childhood: Mary Boleyn (c. 1499/1500 – 19 July 1543); Mary Carey (1520–1528); Mary Stafford (1534–1543); Mary's second husband, William Stafford, was knighted in 1545 – two years after his wife's death in 1543. Thomas Boleyn the younger (died after 1506) died young; Henry Boleyn (died after 1506) died young; George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 - 17 May 1536), eldest surviving son and heir apparent who predeceased his father, having been executed in 1536 together with his sister the queen. From 1529 he used his father's junior title of Viscount Rochford as a courtesy title. Anne Boleyn (c.1501 – 19 May 1536); later Marchioness of Pembroke (1532–1536); later Queen Consort of England (1533–1536) Diplomatic career In his youth, Thomas Boleyn was active in the court of Henry VII. He attend the wedding of Prince Arthur with Catherine of Aragon. In 1503 he was part of Princess Margaret Tudor’s escort, to Scotland, to marry King James IV. He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Henry VIII in 1509. His appointment in 1512 as ambassador to the Low Countries brought him into contact with the regent Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Like Thomas, Margaret of Austria spoke French and Latin and they got along well enough for her to accept his daughter, Anne, as a