Little is known about Shakespeare’s wife and mother of three, Anne Hathaway, but she is nonetheless intriguing to UK tourists and locals, alike. While we would all, no doubt, like to see the muse that once captured Shakespeare’s heart, no images of Anne Hathaway exist because, during her lifetime, only men had their portraits canvassed, save women in aristocracy. Anne was 26 and William, 18, when they married. She was old for a woman of that time because 26 was considered near the end of childbearing age. She kept her name after marriage, not an unusual sign of the times, as it was the custom in the 16th century for women to take their husband’s religion but not his name. She lived in Shottery, a small hamlet that’s a short walk from Stratford-upon-Avon and remained in Stratford when Shakespeare went to London and became a successful playwright in 1592.

He retired in Stratford in 1613, and died three years later. In his will he left her only his “second best bed with the furniture,” but by law she would have been entitled to a third of his estate. Devoted to the end, Anne asked to be buried with William when she died in 1623. She was. Anne rests in the chancel next to William, in Stratford’s Holy Trinity Church.

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