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Today in History, May 19th

On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower of London. Plus Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday" to JFK and the birth of Malcolm X.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published May 19, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

May 19 is best known for 1536, when Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s Henry VIII, was beheaded at the Tower of London. The date also saw Marilyn Monroe sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962, and the births of Malcolm X in 1925 and playwright Lorraine Hansberry in 1930.

The big story: Anne Boleyn is executed (1536)

Henry VIII fell hard for Anne Boleyn in the mid-1520s, after she came home from the French court to serve as a lady-in-waiting. In 1532, with Thomas Cromwell engineering a break with the Catholic Church, Henry made himself supreme head of the Church of England, and Anne was crowned queen in June 1533. That September she gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. No son followed, and the king’s affection curdled. Anne was charged with adultery, incest and plotting against the king, charges most historians consider almost certainly false. On May 19, 1536, she was beheaded on Tower Green. Henry did grant one small mercy: a skilled swordsman from Calais instead of the usual axe. Within a day the king was engaged to Jane Seymour, and about 10 days later they married. Anne’s daughter would rule England as Elizabeth I for more than 40 years.

More events on May 19

Year	What happened
1643	A French army under the young Duke d’Enghien crushed Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, a defeat often seen as the end of Spain’s military dominance in Europe.
1802	Napoleon Bonaparte, then France’s First Consul, created the Legion of Honor.
1836	Raiders in Texas captured 9- or 10-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker. She grew up among the Comanche and became the mother of Quanah, the last Comanche leader.
1845	Sir John Franklin’s expedition sailed from England aboard the Erebus and Terror to search for the Northwest Passage. Its two ships were finally found by Canadian searchers in the 21st century.
1897	Oscar Wilde was released from prison after two years of hard labor, an ordeal that inspired The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
1935	T.E. Lawrence, “Lawrence of Arabia,” died of injuries from a motorcycle crash six days earlier.
1962	Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at a birthday gala. Her sequined dress later sold at auction for $4.8 million.
1967	The Soviet Union ratified a treaty banning nuclear weapons from outer space, one of the first major arms-control treaties of the Cold War.
1975	Nearly all of New York City’s Chinatown shut down to protest the police beating of Peter Yew, a Chinese American engineer.
2016	EgyptAir Flight 804, flying between Paris and Cairo with 66 people aboard, disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea.
2018	Britain’s Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, watched on TV by nearly 2 billion people.

Born on May 19

1925: Malcolm X, American Muslim minister and civil rights leader, born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1930: Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright of A Raisin in the Sun, born in Chicago.
1976: Kevin Garnett, American basketball star and 2008 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, born in Mauldin, South Carolina.