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The Solution: Elizabeth

And Grafton thus speaks under date 7 September 1533 of Elizabeth's birth: "The Queen was delivered of a fayre Lady." Now Anne Boleyn is described as small and lively, a brunette with black hair and beautiful eyes, and yet her daughter is given as red-haired by all the painters.

It is somewhat difficult to make out the true colours of persons. For instance Giovanni Michiel writing to the Venetian Senate in 1557 puts in his description of Elizabeth "She is tall and well formed, with a good skin, although swarthy" but in the same page he says "she prides herself on her father and glories in him; everybody is saying that she also resembles him more than the Queen [Mary] does." As to the introduction of the word "swarthy" as above; it may have been one of the tricks of Elizabeth to keep the Venetian ambassador from knowing too much or getting any ground for guessing. If so it looks rather like Elizabeth concealing her real identity-which would be an argument in favour of an imposture; if she was the real princess there would be no need for concealment.