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(dramatic violin music) (thunder cracking)
- [Narrator] For those in power or vying for it,
there can be no rest.
(Henry VII battle cries)
(swords clashing)
(horse whinnying)
Over centuries, kings and queens are crowned,
overthrown, imprisoned, reinstated and murdered.
(dramatic violin music)
- [Dr. Emmerson] If this had been the work of fiction,
we would think it was pushing credulity.
- [Dr. Norton] He still did not have a legitimate male heir.
- [Dr. Emmerson] And I think this is
the beginning of the end.
- [Narrator] This is a dangerous game of strategy,
cunning and deception.
- [Dr. Norton] Mary is undoubtedly
the biggest threat to Elizabeth.
(dramatic violin music)
- [Narrator] Dynasties will rise and fall
all in answer to the ever present question
that fueled civil war and blood feuds,
which pitted brother against brother,
father against son, cousin against cousin.
(horse whinnying)
- [Dr. Emmerson] Family who killed one another.
- [Narrator] Who will wear the bloody crown of England?
(dramatic violin music)
- [Henry VIII] I am the king, I am the king!
- [Dr. Norton] There was no dynasty
like the Tudor dynasty for drama.
- It's this wretched thing!
(Henry VII battle crying)
(swords clashing)
- [Narrator] This is The Game of Crowns.
(dramatic violin music)
It's 1484, civil war has raged on in England
for almost half a century.
Richard III, who's rumored
to have killed his infant nephews,
the rightful heirs to the throne
after imprisoning them in the Tower of London,
sits on the throne safe behind castle walls in London.
He is yet to learn that 250 miles west of the capital,
a young man is about to land
on the craggy Pembrokeshire coast,
an army of French mercenaries in tow.
He is about to set his sights on the very throne
Richard III has battled and butchered his way onto.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Now his claim to the throne
was rather tenuous.
His father was the illegitimate son of Catherine of Valois
and a relationship with an Owen Tudor.
So not only was his claim an illegitimate one,
but it also only came through his mother.
The odds really were stacked against Henry Tudor
at the Battle of Bosworth.
(epic music playing)
Not only did Richard III have the support of the nobles
and a much larger army, he was also a seasoned warrior,
whereas Henry Tudor had much less experience.
(epic music playing)
(Henry VII battle cries)
(swords clashing)
(soldiers yelling)
But the battle was really decided by the Stanley brothers
who held back their troops of around 6,000
and waited to see which side was likely going to win.
(Lord Stanley battle cries)
They then joined and fought alongside Henry Tudor.
(epic music playing)
- [Narrator] On the battlefield at Bosworth,
two armies clashed to decide who will sit on the throne.
On the battlefield at Bosworth,
a king will die caught in the fray of soldiers,
swords and horses hooves.
On the battlefield at Bosworth,
a king will emerge triumphant and go on to found
one of the greatest dynasties in British history.
His name is Henry Tudor.
Born January the 28th, 1457
to Margaret Beaufort and Owen Tudor in Pembrokeshire,
Henry's claim to the throne is a tenuous one.
@ - Henry VII had a veryú difficult hereditary claim
to the throne, of which he was well aware.
@ It was almost no claim at all.
- [Narrator] He becomes king in 1485
when King Richard III is slain
at the battle of Bosworth field.
He is crowned King Henry VII of England on October the 30th.
Knowing that many of the nobles surrounding him
have a stronger claim to the throne than he does,
Henry is endlessly paranoid.
His reign is one of terror.
- He very much rules with an iron fist.
People are scared of Henry VII
and he rules through finances.
Very cunningly, he dates his accession to the throne
to the day before Bosworth field
and that means that anyone who fought for Richard III
was actually committing treason against their
lawful king of England,
which means of course he can seize their property
or say that they owe him money.
And this very much keeps nobility in line,
but he doesn't rule through love.
- [Narrator] A key part of establishing
the Tudor dynasty on the throne
is Henry's marriage to Elizabeth,
the heiress to the House of York
in a union which unites the two warring families as one.
- And the House of York had always used
the symbol of the white rose
and we see it all the time in Yorkist iconography.
The house of Lancaster had on occasion
used a red rose symbol
and Henry very cleverly actually,
noted these two symbols and created the Tudor rose,
which is a red and white rose
and which symbolized the union
of the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
- [Narrator] Henry knew that any children
they should have would be of
both the Lancastrian and the York line,
ending in perpetuity the wars of the roses.
They have a successful marriage
and no less than seven children are born,
securing the next generation in the Tudor dynasty.
- [Dr. Norton] Prince Arthur is their eldest
and he is the future of the dynasty.
@ - Arthur, Prince of Wales, ú was supposed to be the heir
@ that succeeded to Henry Tudor
@ and much hope and expectationú lay on his shoulders.
- He wants to use ideas of
the legendary king of the Britons,
because of course the Tudors are Welsh,
the descendants of the Britons.
So Arthur is named Arthur, to reference King Arthur
and he's raised in his own household
and he's raised to become a king.
- [Dr. Emmerson] He was the Prince of Wales.
He therefore set up court at Ludlow.
In order to secure the realm
and to have alliances with other countries,
he was also married to the enfanter of Spain,
Catherine of Aragon.
Tragically their marriage was to be a short lived one
for Arthur contracted the sweating sickness
and died suddenly in 1502.
(epic music playing) (thunder cracking)
- [Dr. Norton] This is devastating
both for Henry and for Elizabeth.
- [Narrator] All of his father's hopes
are undone in his eldest son's death
and must now rely upon his only remaining male heir,
Prince Henry.
- Everything changed for Henry when Arthur died.
- He is the second son of Henry's VII and Elizabeth York.
- From having been the spare, he was now the heir
and all of England's hopes rested upon his shoulders.
- And he's always intended to be a great nobleman,
but of course isn't raised to become king.
He's declared Prince of Wales
and he now becomes the sole focus of his father's ambitions
and his father's efforts,
because his father has no brothers,
he has no other surviving sons.
So Henry VIII is the future of the Tudor Dynasty.
- [Narrator] Henry VII died in 1509,
leaving the throne to his 17 year old son, now Henry VIII.
- Henry VII was never a popular king.
Most of his court feared him,
so on his death there is a sense of celebration, you know,
of joy that England is now gonna get this
young and charismatic king.
Henry VIII very much resembled his grandfather,
Edward IV who'd been very, very popular
and there is a real sense of hope for the future.
He's seen as a true renaissance prince.
He's highly educated, he's incredibly good looking.
The young Henry VII was described as so beautiful,
he'd make a pretty woman.
- [Dr. Emmerson] He was very much
conversant in the language of courtly love.
He enjoyed singing, dancing, composing music,
and also playing instruments.
- He's athletic, he's very into his sports.
He's very muscular and well built. He's very, very tall.
He is a king of which England can be proud
and there is very much celebration
at his accession to the throne in 1509.
(jubilant music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] When Henry VIII ascended to the throne,
one of his first acts was to ask his brother's widow,
Catherine of Aragon, for her hand in marriage.
- [Narrator] However, to marry,
the new king has to gain a special dispensation
from the Pope in Rome.
The Pope approves this and Henry and Catherine are wed
and crowned King and Queen of England,
strengthening once again England's alliance with Spain
and the rest of Catholic Europe.
- [Dr. Norton] When she marries Henry VIII
after several years of waiting,
she must have felt that all her prayers have been answered.
He is incredibly good looking
and undoubtedly Catherine fell deeply in love with Henry.
(suspenseful music playing)
Catherine of Aragon was raised her whole life to be queen.
Both her parents are monarchs.
Her mother is Isabella of Castile
and her father is Ferdinand, King of Aragon.
So she's incredibly royal.
- She was wily and determined and also courageous.
Catherine in many ways was an ideal queen consort.
She was supportive of Henry and his many campaigns abroad,
but she was also happy to be subservient to him.
She was a loyal wife to Henry
and also expected loyalty back.
- [Narrator] Catherine proves herself to be a good wife
and a great queen.
Henry adores her and the country follows suit.
She fulfills all her duties as queen,
save one, securing a male heir.
- [Dr. Emmerson] For the first 10 years
of her life married to Henry,
Catherine spent most of it pregnant
and tragically out of six children,
only one was to survive.
In 1516, after many years of sadly losing children,
Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a daughter
who was christened Mary.
Now it is often stated that Henry was disappointed
at the birth of a daughter,
but actually I think we have evidence
that he was relieved that at last a child was surviving
into it's infancy.
- And while for Catherine,
as the daughter of a female sovereign,
the idea of a reigning queen is not so alien.
For Henry, coming out of the wars of the roses,
it is a terrifying prospect.
- [Narrator] With Catherine six years older than Henry
and nearing middle age, the king begins to worry.
With only one daughter and no legitimate sons,
the succession of the Tudor dynasty is not yet assured.
(tense music playing)
The king prays and prays,
asking God for a son and for a wife who could give him one.
In his wife's gaggle of ladies in waiting,
he finds the answer to his prayers.
A young, fertile and beautiful woman named Anne Boleyn.
Henry had many mistresses
during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon,
but Anne was a wily woman
and does not want to fall victim
to every whim and wish of the King,
like many of his mistresses had,
including her own sister Mary Boleyn.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry VIII was actually quite slow
in his advances towards Anne Boleyn,
who joined his court in 1522.
He actually had a relationship with Anne's sister,
Mary Boleyn, in the interim years
before he turned his attentions towards her.
But we know for certain by 1526,
that Henry VIII was falling
head over heels in love for Anne Boleyn.
- [Dr. Norton] Anne Boleyn had always looked
for a good marriage,
because marriage is a way towards social status for women.
There is no doubt that Henry adored Anne.
He loved her deeply.
In his letters he talks about
being struck by the dart of love.
- [Narrator] She is insistent
if he was ever to have her,
it would be as his wife and queen.
- She favored the French fashions
but also she was highly intelligent.
She had been afforded an education
that was quite different to the women around her in England
and she also had very radical religious ideas too.
So she really rebuffed Henry's advances
until she got to the point where
Henry offered her a legitimate path,
a hand in marriage and a crown.
- [Narrator] For the second time
pertaining to his relationship with Catherine of Aragon,
the King has to seek a special dispensation from the Pope.
(religious music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] The only real way
that Henry was going to be able to marry Anne was if
the Pope would annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
And Anne and Henry knew that the best mechanism
for achieving that end
would be through the King's minister, Thomas Wolsey.
- [Narrator] At Henry's behest,
Cardinal Wolsey travels to Rome,
where he'll petition Pope Clement
to grant the annulment of the King's marriage to the Queen
on the grounds that it was and had always been illegitimate.
- [Dr. Norton] Anne and Henry
place their hopes in Cardinal Wolsey
and he was dispatched to Rome
to try to bring about the annulment.
- [Narrator] The cardinal appeals to Pope Clement
for an annulment of Henry and Catherine's marriage
on the basis that the initial dispensation was void
as the marriage clearly disobeyed instructions
in the book of Leviticus,
which states that the marriage of a brother's wife
was incestuous and would bear no children.
- [Dr. Norton] Henry wanted to annul his marriage
to Catherine Aragon on the basis
that she had been his brother's wife.
So they're related to within the first degree of affinity,
they are as far as the church is concerned,
brother and sister.
- [Narrator] This became a matter of international tension.
Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V,
is vehemently against the annulment,
as is Queen Catherine herself.
Pressure comes from all sides for Pope Clement,
as Queen Catherine and King Charles V
urge him not to annul the marriage
and Wolsey and Henry push for the dispensation to be made.
- [Dr. Norton] While the pope is in the emperor's power,
he will never grant the annulment
of the Emperor's aunt's marriage.
The English try and Cardinal Wolsey tries,
but he's in an impossible situation.
He can never do it.
He will never be able to annul this marriage.
- [Narrator] Caught between the wills of two powerful kings,
the Pope delays his decision as long as possible.
The indecision infuriating both Henry and Anne,
who begin to doubt Wolsey's loyalty to the crown
over the church.
Wolsey returns to England without the Pope's annulment.
- Wolsey ultimately fails to secure an annulment for Henry
from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
and this leads to his dramatic fall.
- [Narrator] Enraged by Wolsey's failure
to secure the annulment, Wolsey is arrested.
Henry turns to more drastic measures.
Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry's key ministers at court,
proposes a new plan to grant Henry's divorce, reformation.
- Henry knows that the Pope is not going to grant
his annulment to his first queen, Catherine of Aragon.
- There is no solution other than
breaking away from the Pope.
Because if the Pope will not grant the annulment,
then perhaps the church needs to move from the Pope.
- And therefore he is greatly influenced
by these new thinkers, including Anne Boleyn,
and taking the unprecedented step
to break with the Church of Rome
and to install himself as King,
@ as the head of his new church.
- As soon as Thomas Cranmer is confirmed
@ as Archbishop of Canterbury,
he disavows his oath of allegiance to the Pope
@ and declares the Englishú church separate from Rome
with the King as it's supreme head
and this is the moment that the English church
goes its own way.
- [Dr. Emmerson] In order to do this,
Henry actually elevates himself beyond kingship
and proclaims that he is an Emperor of his own empire.
This is really the beginnings of the British Empire.
This is where it all begins.
- [Narrator] Anne and Cromwell's shared reformist views
make them indomitable allies.
And so begins to break from Rome,
fueled more by political affair than theological dispute.
(religious music playing)
Having installed himself as the supreme head
of this new church in England,
Henry grants his own divorce
and begins preparations to marry Anne Boleyn.
Catherine is given the title, The Dowager Princess.
Such was Catherine's impression on people
that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her,
"If not for her sex,
she could have defied all the heroes of history".
In the winter of 1532,
Anne and Henry journey to Calais
to gain the approval of King Francis I of France.
In a private conference with Anne,
he gives them his blessing.
And by the time they reach Dover on their ship,
they are lovers.
They wed hurriedly in secret
and again publicly two months later
and Anne is crowned queen.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry had moved heaven and earth
@ to marry Anne Boleyn andú the price for crowning her
@ was the delivery of theú much longed for male heir
that Henry so desired.
@ But the child that Anneú had in 1533 wasn't a son,
it was a daughter, the future Elizabeth I.
- Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace in September, 1533.
She's the first child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn,
the first since the break with Rome.
So her birth was really looked forward to.
Henry certainly was expecting his son.
We know that in fact,
because he prepares the birth announcements
for the birth of a Prince.
Unfortunately for her parents,
of course, she is a girl.
And the birth announcements are
amended to add an S to say Princess.
- Now some historians have suggested that
Henry was furious at Anne
for the delivery of a daughter
and indeed that this was the beginning
of the end of their relationship,
but actually we have good evidence
that Henry consoled Anne and suggested that
the delivery of a healthy daughter
was a good sign for the sons that would follow.
- Elizabeth's birth was disappointing.
He really did want to have a son,
but he knew that both he and Anne
were young enough to have more children
and Anne does quickly become pregnant again
the following year.
Henry VIII loved jousting
and it is an incredibly dangerous sport.
Once in his youth actually,
he came close to being killed
when he forgot to put the visor down on his helmet
and his friend the Duke of Suffolk didn't notice
and jousted at him and actually the lance splintered
and he was very lucky to survive.
(tense music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] In 1536,
Henry suffered a disastrous accident whilst jousting.
(tense music playing)
Some reports state that he was unconscious
whilst others just mentioned the fact
that he was severely injured.
(tense music playing)
- [Dr. Norton] He fell badly
and his horse landed on top of him.
(tense music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] This really changed Henry's lifestyle.
It, in many ways, emasculated him.
- [Dr. Norton] One account suggested
he was unconscious for several hours
and there were also suggestions that perhaps
there was some sort of brain damage.
(tense music playing)
- I think this is a turning point in Henry's life
and not for the better.
- [Narrator] He will never recover from his injuries.
- [Dr. Emmerson] I think this narrowing of his abilities
and I think this continual pain that Henry is in,
really changes his personality.
I think he becomes hotheaded and irrational
and would lash out to a degree that he hadn't previously.
- [Dr. Norton] And it really hammered home
to the King and to his court,
he still did not have a legitimate male heir.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Not long after Henry's jousting accident,
Anne tragically miscarries.
- [Dr. Norton] Anne Boleyn would blame her final miscarriage
on the news of the King's accident.
- And I think this is the
beginning of the end of Anne's life.
(pensive music playing)
- [Dr. Norton] Henry told Anne that he could see that
he would have no more boys by her,
which was particularly ominous.
- [Narrator] The trauma of Henry's injury
and Anne's miscarriage has put the couple at odds.
- Henry by this stage was involved with
Anne's lady in waiting, Jane Seymour,
who had herself declared
that she would not become the King's mistress.
- [Narrator] Thomas Cromwell and Anne,
who had once been united in the pursuit of the same cause,
are now warring over the King's favor.
In the ensuing weeks, Anne makes one crucial mistake.
She threatens Cromwell's life.
- The end for Anne came very quickly.
(dramatic music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] Very dramatically, on the 2nd of May, 1536,
Anne is arrested at the Palace of Greenwich
and is taken to the Tower of London.
She has no idea why she has been arrested,
but two people do.
Her husband Henry VIII and his minister Thomas Cromwell.
- [Narrator] Cromwell poisons Henry against her
and she is arrested and charged
with adultery, incest, and treason.
(dramatic music playing)
Anne is executed on the 19th of May, 1536,
by the blade of a French swordsman.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry ordered that a cannon was fired
at the moment that Anne was executed.
(sword slicing)
And this was his cue to move on.
Indeed, he proposed to Jane Seymour the next day
and they were married only two weeks later.
Compared to Henry's first two queens,
Jane Seymour was rather less complicated.
She was rather meek and slightly milder
than Catherine and Anne
and was certainly happy to be more pliant to Henry's will.
- [Dr. Norton] It is a marriage
that he hopes will bear sons.
Jane comes from a very fertile family.
She has many brothers and he's hopeful that Jane
will prove a very different wife to Anne Boleyn.
Finally at the start of 1537,
Jane realizes she's pregnant
and when she feels the baby quicken,
so she feels the baby move,
the whole country erupts into celebration.
Henry is incredibly solicitous throughout her pregnancy,
he vows to remain close to her,
so she's not frightened by any rumors.
This is probably a reference to
Anne Boleyn's final miscarriage
and the fact that she blamed it on
Henry's fall from a horse.
- [Dr. Emmerson] After many years of heartache,
Jane Seymour finally gave Henry the son and heir
that he so desperately craved.
- When Jane goes into labor in October, 1537,
the whole country hold their breath
and it's a very long, very arduous labor.
Finally, after two days, Jane gives birth
and it is a healthy prince and everybody celebrates.
(joyous music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry was elated.
There was much celebration throughout the kingdom
and lavish feasts and jousts were prepared.
- [Dr. Norton] This is the moment
that Henry has been waiting for, for nearly 30 years.
(joyous music playing)
- [Narrator] To Henry's great relief, in October, 1537,
a son is born, whom they call Edward.
- [Dr. Norton] And everything seems all right with Jane.
She seems to be recovering well.
She's able to send out the official birth announcement
shortly after the birth.
- But tragically all was not well in the birthing chamber.
- Childbirth was a very, very common form of death
for women in the period
and Jane holds on until the 24th of October,
12 days after the birth of her son,
before sadly dying in the night.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry VIII was absolutely crestfallen
at the death of Jane Seymour.
He really appears to have entered into
a prolonged period of mourning and depression.
Henry at this point had gone through
a huge amount of heart ache.
He had gone to extraordinary lengths
to secure this son and heir
and then tragically his wife
had been snatched away from him.
He really must have felt that
everything was stacked against him at this point.
(melancholy music playing)
- [Narrator] Heartbroken without his third queen,
Henry falls into a deep depression.
Thomas Cromwell, one of the king's closest advisors,
visits the king.
He has a proposal.
- [Dr. Norton] So most kings in the period
chose their wives for diplomatic reasons.
They wanted to make a grand foreign alliance
which would bring friendship between the countries.
Henry had been unsuccessful in finding a French bride
and then an imperial bride.
- Rather like Anne Boleyn,
Thomas Cromwell was something of a religious radical
and he understood that Henry's kingdom
was rather less secure than it should be,
because of his newly founded Church of England.
Therefore, Cromwell's proposal was to
create an alliance with a Protestant country.
- [Narrator] He explains that
Henry should marry Anne of Cleaves,
in a diplomatic move that would ensure
a good relationship with the powerful duchy
in the holy Roman empire.
Intrigued by the proposition,
Henry dispatches his favorite court painter,
Hans Holbein the Younger, to take her likeness.
Months later, the painter returns
with a portrait of a young and healthy woman.
Henry agrees to the union.
- [Dr. Norton] The marriage contract
was signed in September, 1539,
and Anne then made her way towards England.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Henry VIII's first meeting
with Anne of Cleaves couldn't have gone worse.
Anne was supposed to voyage to court to meet Henry,
but like a love sick boy, Henry can't wait to meet her
and decides to visit her in disguise.
- [Dr. Norton] Henry VIII arrived to find
Anne of Cleaves looking out a window
at a bear baiting below.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Now, as part of court etiquette
and as part of the language of courtly love,
@ Henry's courtiers knew that
Henry would often appear in disguise
@ and they in turn wereú supposed to recognize the King
@ no matter what he was wearing.
@ This was to flatter the king.
Now Anne grew up in
a completely different environment to this.
She wasn't conversant in the language of courtly love at all
and when Henry VIII burst into her chamber,
she was completely unimpressed with this man
that stood before her.
- [Dr. Norton] Her visitor then left the room
and returned wearing a purple cloak,
@ which was a cue for everyoneú to recognize the king.
@And as they fell to their knees,
Anne of course realized her mistake
and recognized that this was Henry VIII,
this was her suitor.
But the damage had already been done.
- And I think, actually, in that moment,
Henry VIII saw, perhaps for the first time in his life,
a genuine reaction to how unattractive he had become.
Anne hadn't recognized him
as this all powerful majestic person.
She'd simply seen an obese
and slightly aging man before her.
Henry would leave that chamber and proclaim,
"I like her not" and state that she was nothing like
as was depicted in her painting.
- Actually most people seem to have agreed
that the portrait was a good likeness,
but there was just something about Anne
that didn't appeal to Henry.
- But I think the truth of the matter was
that there was an ugly, aging and smelly person
in that chamber and it wasn't Anne of Cleaves, it was Henry.
- [Narrator] Unable to get out of the marriage
for fear of offending Europe, the couple marries.
Though they divorced soon,
as an alliance with Cleaves is less desirable.
(tense music playing)
Anne is afforded the title, the King's sister,
and gifted a great portfolio of properties.
Henry is now 49 years old and once more without a queen.
- Having served Henry loyally for many years,
Thomas Cromwell was now seen by the king
as the architect of this incredibly awkward marriage
between Anne of Cleaves and himself
and he really blamed Cromwell.
- [Narrator] The Duke of Norfolk,
a noble of conservative views,
and an old rival of the reformist Cromwell,
has another proposal for the king.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Noticing how vulnerable Cromwell now was,
waiting in the wings was the Duke of Norfolk
who had never been fond of Cromwell.
And he had a niece who was in Anne of Cleaves employ,
Catherine Howard.
He saw this as an opportunity,
not only to place his young niece in the King's bed,
but also to bring down Cromwell.
- [Narrator] He offers Henry the hand of his young niece,
Catherine Howard, and convinces him that Cromwell
no longer prioritizes the King's wishes, but his own.
Having fallen far from the King's graces,
on the 28th of July, 1540,
Cromwell is led to the scaffold at Tower Hill,
where the executioner's axe awaits him.
- Cromwell has been sent to the Tower of London in disgrace
and he isn't even afforded a trial.
He is actually condemned to death by an act of attainder.
In his last letter to King Henry VIII,
he writes a post script at the end of the letter
begging three times for "Mercy, mercy, mercy".
But no mercy came and Thomas Cromwell
was taken to the public scaffold site on Tower Hill
and beheaded on the very day
that the king married Catherine Howard.
- [Dr. Norton] Catherine Howard is really
Henry VIII's midlife crisis.
She'd been a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleaves.
She's a teenager.
- Henry VIII is absolutely besotted by Catherine.
He lavishes gifts upon her, jewelry and clothes,
but soon rumors start a court,
that all is not well with Catherine's past.
- [Dr. Norton] She was a woman with a past,
or a girl with a past really,
and she'd had two previous lovers,
one of which had been consummated.
- [Dr. Emmerson] And the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer, leaves a letter for the king to find
which details some troubling facts about Catherine's past.
At first, Henry VIII is entirely dismissive of these claims,
but he does order that Thomas Cranmer investigate.
But then things take a turn for the worse.
A letter is discovered in the possession of Thomas Culpeper,
one of Henry VIII's favorites at court.
This is a romantic letter.
It talks of Catherine longing to see him
and this sends Henry into an absolute rage.
He is blinded by this rage and suggests that
he's going to kill Catherine with his own sword.
She is confined to her apartments
and then is imprisoned at Syon Abbey.
But rather unlike Anne,
who is dispatched within 19 days of her arrest,
Catherine languishes in prison.
Henry can't quite believe what has happened.
It is reported at this time
that there is no more room in the Tower of London,
for it is so full of Howard relatives.
And eventually Catherine is taken herself
to the Tower of London.
She is taken to the Queen's Apartment
and is afforded a private execution on Tower Green.
(sword slashing)
(crow cawing)
(relaxing music playing)
Henry VIII's sixth and final queen was Catherine Parr.
Catherine was a relatively young woman
when Henry first took notice of her,
but actually she had already been twice widowed.
- She was very, very reluctant to marry Henry
and actually seems to have been quite horrified
when he declared his interest in her.
Henry, however, would not be refused.
There are claims that Catherine actually said
it was better to be his mistress than his wife.
But if that was the case,
he ignored her and insisted on marriage.
- [Dr. Emmerson] I think at this point in his life,
Henry is looking for peace and stability
and looks to Catherine Parr
to rehabilitate his family life,
to bring his children together,
and to bring harmony once more to the royal family.
- Catherine is incredibly fond of the King's daughters,
Mary and Elizabeth, and indeed persuades Henry
to restore the girls to the line of succession.
- Catherine Parr is an incredibly intelligent woman.
She is very well read,
and has very radical religious ideas too.
She's also the first queen to ever publish a book
and the first woman to publish a book in England
under her own name and in English.
- Henry VIII had been ill on and off
for the latter part of 1546.
And just before Christmas he leaves the queen
and his daughter Mary and goes to Westminster.
(dramatic music playing)
And it's clear very quickly that he's dying.
He spent his last few weeks
cloistered away with his counselor
and particularly his secretary, William Paget,
who is very close to Edward Seymour,
Henry's brother-in-law, the brother of Queen Jane
and the uncle of the heir to the throne.
(sinister whispering)
During this period, Henry asks that a new will is drawn up.
He previously made a will
in the early days of his marriage to Catherine Parr
and he seems to have named her as Regent
in the event of his death,
but this new will completely overturned that.
Instead of naming anyone as Regent,
Henry in fact established
a council of equal ranking executors.
So all of these men have an equal role to play.
And it was hoped that they would guide Edward
through his minority into his adult reign.
(sinister whispering)
- [Narrator] On the 28th of January, 1547,
Henry dies at age 55 at the Palace of Whitehall.
(dramatic music playing)
His son Edward is little more than nine years old
and is now King of England.
- Obviously he came to the throne as a child.
He's nine years old.
He's a shy, uncertain boy at his succession,
to the extent that, at his coronation,
he actually forgets his French
when he's talking to the ambassadors.
(holy music playing)
- [Dr. Emmerson] Edward VI
was a highly intelligent young man.
He was well versed in most subjects
and he was also a radical religious thinker.
This was certainly encouraged by his uncles
who shared the Protestant faith.
In fact, he was something of a religious zealot
and unlike his father, who remained a traditional Catholic,
Edward imposed a fully Protestant reformation on England
for the first time.
(holy music playing)
- [Narrator] Edward enacts many Protestant reformations
during his short reign.
By the time he is 12,
multiple Catholic rebellions have been quelled,
prayer books published in his native English,
and his uncle and protector, Edward Seymour,
the Duke of Somerset has been executed.
- [Dr. Norton] And although his laws are overturned,
in the reign of his half sister,
his is a model that is followed by Elizabeth
in her religious settlement
with her book of common prayer,
which is, of course, Edward's book of common prayer.
He matures as a ruler in his six years.
There are just signs, there are just hints
of the monarch that he could have become.
- [Narrator] Edward is now 15 and is gravely ill.
He has not had a chance to marry and sire an heir
and is loath to let his new Protestant England
fall into his sister, Mary's Catholic hands.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Edward is a boy king
and a fiercely Protestant one too.
And his heir, at the time, is his elder sister Mary,
who is a devout Catholic and a Roman Catholic too.
This causes enormous tensions between the two.
Their differences are so great,
that Edward cannot conceive of his sister Mary
succeeding to the throne
and undoing the Protestant reformation
that he has enacted upon the country.
And he goes to great lengths
in order to disinherit his sister
from the line of succession.
- [Narrator] By June, he knows that he is dying.
He redrafts his will, naming his cousin,
the 16 year old, Lady Jane Grey, his successor.
She will only be queen for nine days.
- He unfortunately dies at the age of 15,
but his legacy is certainly the Protestant reformation,
because it is under Edward
that Protestantism becomes established in England.
When we think about Edward,
we often think of him as a boy King,
as a footnote to the reign of his father,
but actually the Protestant reformation
really should set his reign apart
and we should look more closely
at just what Edward achieved.
- In the wake of Edward's death,
Lady Jane Grey is suddenly proclaimed Queen
and is taken to the Tower of London,
which is usually at the center of political power
at the point of a coronation.
(suspenseful music playing)
- [Narrator] Mary arrives in London with an army of men
and seizes the Tower of London.
Lady Jane Gray is arrested and later executed.
And Mary takes her rightful place on the throne of England.
The eldest child of Henry VIII, Mary is a devout Catholic.
She swiftly unravels all of
the Protestant policies of her brother
and declares her parents' marriage valid.
Now age 37, she starts her search for a husband.
She decides to ally herself with Catholic Spain
by marrying her cousin, King Philip II.
Philip would become her co-ruler
and King of England, as well as King of Spain.
- [Dr. Emmerson] When Mary came to the throne,
one of her first actions was to finally marry
and she chose for her husband, King Philip II of Spain.
- [Dr. Norton] And it's a really good match for Mary.
He is the son of the Holy Roman Emperor,
so one of the most powerful princes in Europe.
And Mary has always been very close to her Spanish relatives
and so she is very, very excited by her marriage to Philip.
- Mary was desperate to beget a son and heir
to secure her own succession.
- Unfortunately, it is an incredibly
@ unpopular marriage in England
@ because in the 16th century,
the husband of a Queen, is a King,
@ so whoever Mary marriesú will become King of England
@and nobody wants a Spanish King.
- [Narrator] Such was the dislike for a foreign man
to sit on the throne of England alongside Mary,
rebellion sparks.
- [Dr. Norton] Early in 1554,
there is a great rebellion against Mary.
It is led by Sir Thomas Wyatt and it begins in Kent.
- Thomas Wyatt rebels in favor of
Princess Elizabeth ascending to the throne.
- [Dr. Norton] Wyatt marches his troops up to London
and actually it's really, it's a very, very dangerous
situation for Mary and she's urged
to flee her capital by her advisors.
She refuses and actually makes a speech
at the Guild Hall in London
and it's absolutely the speech of her life
and we can see Elizabeth modeling later speeches on this.
Mary talks about being married to her country
and it really rallies the people of London in her support
so that when Wyatt's troops cross the river into London,
they are met with a substantial army
and they are defeated that day.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Mary believes that Elizabeth
is part of this conspiracy and arrests her sister,
imprisoning her in the tower of London.
Indeed, it is likely she is held in the very same rooms
that her mother was once held in.
@ This must have beenú terrifying for Elizabeth,
however, Mary ultimately knew that
@ Elizabeth was her only heir.
There was no one else to succeed her,
@ so therefore she had no choiceú but to let Elizabeth go.
- [Narrator] She is desperate for an heir of her own.
She learned from her own succession to power
that without an heir all her reformation would be undone.
- Mary believed that she came to the throne
with God's favor, that God had supported her,
so she sees her queenship as divinely inspired.
So it seems only natural
that she will give birth to a Catholic heir to the throne
to keep her half sister away from the crown.
- Mary was determined to have a son and heir,
and at one point she believed very much
that she was pregnant.
- So she has all the symptoms of pregnancy.
The doctors agree.
Everyone is very, very excited
and she makes preparations for the birth.
She then retires for her lying in,
which is usually about a month before
a woman believes she'll give birth,
and so she waits, and then she waits,
and she waits some more and nothing happens.
- Tragically, this was a phantom pregnancy
and no children ever came from her marriage to Philip.
(tense music playing)
- [Narrator] Heartbroken and grieving,
Mary considers her false pregnancy to be God's punishment
for her having tolerated heretics in her realm.
With her husband away at war with France,
the queen's persecution of Protestants
becomes more and more violent.
To believe in a different God than that of the monarch
was an act of disloyalty,
so heresy was both a civil and religious offense
which amounted to treason.
As a result, many people were arrested,
imprisoned, and executed,
including the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer, who served both Henry VIII and Edward VI.
The Archbishop would be one of the thousands
burned at the stake for their faith during Mary's reign.
As a result of these burnings,
she gains the name Bloody Mary.
- [Dr. Norton] By the start of 1558,
it is clear that it's only a matter of time
before Elizabeth takes her throne.
Mary is not going to have a child
and her health is declining.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Mary has gone down in history
as Bloody Mary, which I think is particularly unkind.
She was England's first Queen Regnant,
who reigned in her own right,
so I think it's uniquely unfair
and even misogynistic to land Mary
with this really unfortunate title.
- [Narrator] The Bishop of Winchester, John White,
praises Mary at her funeral service.
"She was a King's daughter, she was a King's sister,
she was a King's wife, she was a Queen
and by the same title, a King also".
- [Dr. Emmerson] After only five years on the throne
and having provided no heir, Mary dies in 1558,
leaving her throne begrudgingly
to her Protestant sister, Elizabeth.
- [Dr. Norton] Following her accession at Hatfield,
Elizabeth makes her way to London.
She's met by cheering crowds.
She is Henry VIII's daughter, and in fact,
her coronation portrait
is very much reminiscent of her father.
She's displaying herself as Henry VIII's daughter.
(holy music playing)
- [Narrator] Her coronation is set
for 15th of January, 1559, an auspicious day
selected by the court astrologer, Dr. John D.
- [Dr. Emmerson] And they hoped that the young Elizabeth
would provide more stability, more peace and harmony.
- [Narrator] Elizabeth like her brother before her
is zealous in her commitment to the Protestant cause,
but she knows from witnessing firsthand
the decisions made by her sister, Mary,
pertaining to religion, that forced conversion
can only end in terror and in bloodshed.
- When Elizabeth became Queen,
England was a Catholic country.
And so the question of what the state religion would be
was really on everybody's lips
because she was well known to be a Protestant.
In 1559, she created her religious settlement
where she set the state religion
and it was a Protestant church.
- But when she came to the throne,
she knew that she had to be pragmatic.
She knew that she needed to unify her kingdom.
She stated that she had no desire
to open windows into men's souls
and this must have been something of a relief
to her kingdom.
- Elizabeth tried to take
something of a compromise approach,
something of a middle way.
Some Catholics refused to come to church.
And actually, although Elizabeth
has this reputation for moderacy,
the penalties against Catholics who wouldn't conform
could be very severe and went all the way up to execution.
- Elizabeth unfortunately suffered many illnesses
during her early reign, including catching smallpox.
This created great anxiety throughout the country
and not least in her counsel.
Elizabeth, of course, was unmarried at this point.
She had no children, no heir.
- [Dr. Norton] Under the laws of succession,
the next in line to the throne was Catherine Grey.
However, she was then a prisoner in the tower
because she had made a secret marriage
to the Earl of Hartford,
and Elizabeth in her anger had invalidated the marriage
and imprisoned Catherine and her husband
and Catherine's infant children.
If you look at strict hereditary,
the heir to throne was Mary Queen of Scots,
who was unlikely to appeal to anyone in England.
She's a Catholic, she's educated in France,
she's a foreign ruler.
So it's a real constitutional crisis
and the Privy Council meet to decide who will be the heir.
- What would happen to the Tudor dynasty
if she were to die without one?
- No one is quite clear what will happen
and it really hammers home the uncertainties,
the fact that the stability in England
hangs on the life of just one woman.
- [Narrator] The monarch must secure
the succession of the house of Tudor.
She knows that she is the last of her siblings.
She is the third and final
of Henry VIII's surviving children.
Her advisors think she needs a husband to support her
and an heir to succeed her.
- Elizabeth actually receives a deputation
from the House of Commons
not long after she becomes Queen,
where they petition her to marry.
She takes it in very good grace,
but she says to them, you know,
"Since I've been a child,
I have decided that I'm going to remain unmarried
and I'm going to be a virgin.
I'm gonna reign as a virgin queen".
And it doesn't really cause any stir,
which is surprising, but really,
it's because nobody believed her.
It was a ridiculous suggestion that this young girl of 25
would hope to reign as Queen.
Of course, she had to marry.
Of course, she had to give England a King.
Her role was to produce heirs to continue the dynasty.
- [Dr. Emmerson] I think Elizabeth chose not to marry
for a number of different reasons.
I think it began at an early age.
I think she knew from the example set
by firstly her mother,
and then her stepmother, Catherine Howard,
how vulnerable a Queen could be at the hands of a King.
I think this left a psychological imprint
on Elizabeth's mind.
I think the thought of marrying
terrified her, quite frankly.
But also Elizabeth was determined,
perhaps for the first time in her life,
to have control over herself and of her kingdom.
She had been left incredibly vulnerable
by the downfall of her mother,
and she had been de-legitimized,
she had been removed from the succession.
And I think, in a way,
Elizabeth wanted to rule without a husband.
She knew that if she had married,
her husband would automatically have become a King Regnant.
And Elizabeth wanted control not only of her own destiny,
but that of her kingdom too.
- Mary Queen of Scots is undoubtedly Elizabeth's rival.
Mary was born in 1542 and when she was six days old,
she became reigning queen of Scotland.
Mary is undoubtedly the biggest threat to Elizabeth,
and this is because of her place in the English succession.
So Mary is effectively her heir.
She is the next hereditary heir to the throne.
- Mary Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's first cousin
and she had something of a tempestuous rule in Scotland.
Indeed, she was forced to abdicate her throne
because of her actions.
- [Dr. Norton] After she realized
she couldn't stay in Scotland any longer,
Mary fled to England
and it was the absolute worst decision she could have taken
because Elizabeth was the one person
who could never allow Mary to have her freedom.
Because Mary is such a threat to her rule.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Elizabeth knew that Mary as a Catholic
would become a figurehead
for those who opposed Elizabeth's rule.
Indeed, people already thought that
Mary had a more legitimate claim to the English throne.
- And this really matters to Elizabeth
because Elizabeth is still legally illegitimate.
So legally she has no title to her throne
other than by act of parliament and by her father's will.
When Elizabeth hears that
Mary has landed in the north of England,
she orders that she be placed under house arrest
and Mary remains imprisoned by Elizabeth, for 20 years.
(suspenseful music playing)
The two women never meet.
Mary's desperate come to court
to plead her case with Elizabeth
and Elizabeth will not see her.
Instead, Mary slowly begins to lose hope
and she starts plotting against Elizabeth
and there are several plots, at least,
that her name is mentioned in
or that she seems to have had direct involvement in.
- Mary did conspire to overthrow Elizabeth
and to place herself on the English throne.
- [Dr. Norton] Lastly, of course,
she's involved in the Babington plot
where she gives her consent to murder Elizabeth.
In many respects, this is a really sensible policy for Mary,
because actually were Elizabeth to die
at any point during Mary's imprisonment,
it's really likely that
Mary would be declared Queen of England.
- [Narrator] She knows that there's just one heartbeat
between her and the English throne.
As her endless imprisonment continues,
Mary's support for the murder of Elizabeth is evident,
if that would lead to her own liberty
and Catholic domination of England.
Then correspondence is intercepted by Elizabeth's men
that will lead to Mary's demise.
The letter reads,
"Let the great plot commence", signed Mary.
- It had been proved without doubt
that Mary had consented to murder Elizabeth.
Elizabeth knew that Mary wanted her dead.
- [Narrator] In 1586, after being convicted of treason,
having been implicated in the Babington plot,
Elizabeth could not let the Scottish Queen live.
Knowing that Mary's execution
could spark a war with Catholic Europe,
she reluctantly signs the death warrant.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Mary was executed at Fotheringhay Castle
and her execution sent shock waves throughout Europe,
not least in Spain.
(dramatic slamming)
- [Narrator] The execution of Mary Queen of Scots
broke international tensions and the Spanish made a move.
Spain invades the English occupied Netherlands,
then turns their enormous fleet of ships
upon the island of Britain.
The Armada anchored off Calais, readying for attack.
- [Dr. Norton] The English were expecting
invasion from Spain, and Philip built a great fleet,
the Spanish Armada.
So Elizabeth goes to her troops at Tilbury
to try and ready her forces.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Elizabeth really showed her mettle
at a speech that she gave at Tilbury.
- [Dr. Norton] She talks about
having the body of a weak and feeble woman,
but having the heart and stomach of a King
and a King of England.
@ She really rallies the troops.
She portrays herself as a war leader.
- The Spanish had a much larger fleet
and the odds were stacked against the Queen.
But then the weather breaks, storms form and winds blow,
scattering the Spanish fleet.
- [Dr. Norton] Her commanders,
Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Drake,
are able to scatter the Spanish fleet,
partly by aid of a Protestant wind
that blows in the English favor.
The Armada is entirely scattered, and in fact,
the ships that remain have to sail
all the way around Scotland and Ireland
to get home to Spain,
because they just cannot go back down the English channel.
- [Narrator] England sends burning fire ships,
which scorch and sink the Armada's galleons.
(triumphant music playing) (fire crackling)
- [Dr. Norton] It is a triumph of Elizabeth's reign.
(peaceful music playing)
- [Narrator] The English
sailed back to Plymouth, victorious.
- [Dr. Emmerson] This is where the mythology
of Elizabeth really starts.
The truth of the matter is,
that it was more the weather
than anything that Elizabeth had done,
that was the downfall of the Armada.
@ But this is where Elizabeth, ú the powerful virgin Queen,
@ really comes into prominence.
It is at this point that the mythology of Elizabeth begins.
- [Narrator] From this point onwards,
she becomes Gloriana, the Virgin Queen,
the semi divine monarch of myth and of magic.
Under her steady and guiding hand,
England grows more and more prosperous.
- [Dr. Norton] If you'd asked Henry VIII
back at his death to rank his children,
Elizabeth would definitely be the least of his children.
And yet, actually, she is the one that we really remember.
She reigns for 44 years.
It's remembered as a time of general prosperity.
- [Dr. Emmerson] Elizabeth's court was really
the center of power in the kingdom.
This is where all of the decisions about policy are made,
but it's also a place of great exuberance.
Elizabeth loved lavish celebrations.
She enjoyed hearty banquets, and above all,
she loved dancing.
- It's the age of Shakespeare, it's the age of exploration.
And Elizabeth's right at the center, reining alone.
- [Narrator] Elizabeth dies in 1603,
and with her dies the Tudor dynasty.
- Elizabeth was destined to be the last of her dynasty,
and of course she knew this.
She had no children, she had no nephews and nieces.
There was no one else to carry on the Tudor line.
So in part, of course, her legacy is dynastic change
and the fact that the King of Scots
became the King of England and united the two kingdoms.
But her legacy is so much more than this.
- Elizabeth died childless and at the end of her reign
came the end of the Tudor dynasty.
Actually, I think one of Elizabeth's greatest legacies
was demonstrating that a queen could rule
in her own right without a man.
She was a queen who did not need a king.
- [Dr. Norton] She was undoubtedly the woman
that proved that women could reign in England.
She reigned for over 40 years and she reigned independently.
She didn't have a king
and she was very much in control of her kingdom.
- [Narrator] James VI of Scotland
becomes James I of England,
and a new era dawns in the battle for the English crown.
(epic music playing)