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Beheading with an  was the most common form of execution for the nobility.

Following the act, the executioner held the head up to show it to the crowd and to.....it's own body !!

Consciousness remains for at least eight seconds after decapitation until the lack of oxygen occurs and then merciful death.

When the head had witnessed his own body, it was then turned to face the crowd.

On May 19th it is reported that when the swordsman turned Anne’s head to show it off, her lips and eyes were moving, exactly like the seconds before the execution, when she said her prayer.

Also, a contemporary account tells us that Mary's Queen of Scots lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour. Meanwhile her lap dog was pulled out from her skirts and insisted upon lying between the severed head and Mary's shoulders.

Source ~ Terry Breverton's , everything you ever wanted to know about the Tudors.

Image Giovanni Battista Piazetta , MAT.