Documentary, Six Wives with Lucy Worsley S01E01 - Catherine and Anne #SixWives #Documentary #British #BritishHistory
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00:00Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. The story of Henry VIII and his six
00:18wives is one of the best known in history. There's Catherine of Aragon, the bitter,
00:24abandoned first wife. Anne Boleyn, the original other woman. Jane Seymour, bit of a doormat.
00:32Then we've got Anne of Cleves. She was the ugly one. Catherine Howard, the one who slept around.
00:38And Catherine Parr, the saintly nurse. But I'm going to tell you a very different story.
00:47I'm going to take you back in time and into the private lives of Henry's six wives.
00:54I'm going to see the story from their point of view. And I'll watch as events unfold.
01:01The fate of my soul is no longer your concern. It will always be my concern.
01:07These events all really happened and were recorded in historical documents or reported by eyewitnesses.
01:14They asked for his head, not his coat.
01:17They reveal six complex women who lived in a dangerous age as they struggled to survive being married to Henry VIII.
01:26Six wives whose names were tarnished by Henry's propaganda machine.
01:37Six queens whose stories I want to re-examine.
01:42Is she here?
01:43I'll observe their life at court.
01:48I'll watch them romanced by a charismatic king.
01:52Tell me you're the same.
01:54Always.
01:55Who craves the company of women.
01:58The king is a very sociable man.
02:01I'll show you how they fall from favor.
02:03I am your loyal wife, my lord.
02:06Please, or I shall have you dragged from here.
02:10I have here a warrant for the arrest of Queen Catherine.
02:13I'll see how their reputations are destroyed.
02:16I beg of you to tell the king that my heart is filled with sorrow and assure him of my repentance.
02:21And lives cut short at the hands of a ruthless, brutal man.
02:26Six children born.
02:28Five of them dead.
02:31This is the ultimate true story of love, loss and betrayal.
02:37Remember what happened to my last wife and queen.
02:59It's the 18th of January, 1510.
03:02Catherine of Aragon has been married to Henry VIII for seven months.
03:21Excellently played, Maria.
03:23Luck, my lady, nothing more.
03:25Mod?
03:36Mod?
03:39All right.
03:41All right.
03:49Mod?
03:53All right.
03:53Who is it?
04:01Nobody.
04:04My darling lady, have you frightened you?
04:30After death.
04:31I'm sorry.
04:37We thought you ladies far too clever to be fooled.
04:44What does the king think of my new robe?
04:47Beautiful.
04:48Every inch of it.
04:52What does the queen think of the king's costume?
04:54What?
04:55The rogue.
04:56Friends, such a pity you have to leave us.
05:13Henry VIII is a loving husband to his Spanish queen, Catherine of Aragon.
05:26Those two truly believe that theirs is a match made in heaven.
05:31A few hours and I miss you with all my heart.
05:35I feel delirious.
05:37What's wrong with me?
05:41Perhaps you're coming down with a fever.
05:44Tell me you're the same.
05:45Always.
05:46Henry has been king of England for nine months and Catherine is already pregnant.
06:01We don't think of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon ever being in love.
06:10Catherine was his first wife and as the rhyme tells us, the one he divorced.
06:17The bitter ending of her marriage has come to define her as an angry woman, obsessed with religion.
06:23But I'm going to show you a different, Catherine.
06:26In reality, she was a steadfast and a popular queen.
06:31And for most of the 24 years of her marriage, she really was rather good at handling an increasingly
06:37difficult man.
06:44In an age of arranged marriages, that between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon was unusual
06:50because it was a love match.
06:52He could have had his pick of all the ladies of the court.
06:56And he later said that of all the ladies in the world, he would again have chosen her.
07:01She was a bit older than him.
07:03When they married, she was 23 and he was about to turn 18.
07:07But they did have quite a lot in common.
07:10They were both the children of dynasties that had recently come to power through
07:14conflict.
07:15And they were both ambitious.
07:18They wanted to create a bigger role for themselves and for England on the European stage.
07:25ambition was something Catherine had had instilled in her from a very early age.
07:37This is the extraordinary Alhambra Palace in Granada.
07:41This is the closest thing that Catherine had to a home.
07:44It was just one of many palaces of her parents, Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand
07:50of Aragon.
07:54The Alhambra was Catherine's favourite and by far the grandest palace in the whole of Spain,
07:59with its beautiful gardens.
08:00But it was also a fortress that witnessed battles, sieges and slaughter.
08:08Catherine's parents were fearsome rulers.
08:10They'd forged alliances and united kingdoms.
08:13Her mother, Isabelle, was known as the Warrior Queen.
08:19And Isabelle had big ambitions for Catherine.
08:22At the age of three, she was promised in marriage to the heir of the throne of England.
08:27We're not talking about Henry here, but his older brother Arthur.
08:32To Catherine's parents, this was a great opportunity, a new dynastic alliance.
08:37But to Catherine herself, it meant that she'd have to go and live in a very different country,
08:43almost a different world.
08:45And once she'd left Spain, she'd never see her parents again.
08:56Aged just 15, Catherine landed on the shores of England, there to marry Prince Arthur.
09:02He was the same age.
09:04But their marriage would be tragically short-lived.
09:08After just a few months, Arthur sickened and died.
09:11It must have been devastating for Catherine, who was now a teenage widow.
09:18Her father then tried to marry her off to the new heir to the English throne, Arthur s younger brother, Henry.
09:26The Spanish and English kings spent seven years trying to agree on the marriage contract.
09:31Eventually, Henry s father called the marriage off.
09:34But behind the king's back, the young prince had grown rather fond of his Spanish princess.
09:40And when the old king died, the first thing the new King Henry VIII did was to marry Catherine of Aragon.
09:49So Catherine and Henry were the ultimate frosting power couple.
09:55But top of the agenda for their marriage was the continuation of the dynasty.
10:01It was now her job to have children.
10:04And she did manage to get pregnant pretty easily.
10:08It was only a few months later that the problems began.
10:20Catherine s nearly five months pregnant.
10:23But it looks like she s had a miscarriage.
10:27But it was only a few months later that the king had been told.
10:32Not yet, my lady.
10:34Then he must know.
10:36Somebody fetch him.
10:38Wait.
10:39What is it?
10:40Please speak.
10:41I am confident, your highness.
10:45The situation is not as we had feared.
10:49How so?
10:50You are still with child.
10:52It's impossible.
10:53I have taken the utmost care.
10:54A thorough examination has been made and the evidence is there.
10:57My womb is empty.
10:59I have seen the evidence myself.
11:03How do you dismiss that?
11:04I do not, your highness.
11:06My explanation is thus.
11:08A twin pregnancy.
11:10One child lost, the other child continuing to grow.
11:14Your belly is still full.
11:30You are certain?
11:33Quite.
11:39Then I must take your word.
11:43The queen will require meticulous care during her confinement.
11:46Of course.
12:00This is a miracle from Christ, is it not?
12:05The weight of expectation that Catherine is under to produce an heir to the throne is absolutely crushing.
12:13Oh, quickening.
12:16Can you feel it?
12:18I think so.
12:23A miracle.
12:32On the physician's word, relief and excitement flood through the royal household.
12:38And preparations for Catherine's confinement can proceed.
12:43She will spend the last month before the birth locked away with her personal servants, including her ladies-in-waiting.
12:51The Tudors believe that disease travels through the air, so the floors, doors and the windows of her chambers are sealed to prevent her or the baby from getting ill.
13:06The groaning chair is prepared.
13:09The mother sits in this to groan her way through labour and to give birth with the aid of gravity.
13:16And finally, the bed is blessed.
13:27The day has come.
13:29My queen must go.
13:30Only as far as my bed-chamber.
13:32Which might as well be in Spain.
13:34Gentlemen, I trust you look after the king in my absence.
13:40In my absence.
13:42I'll be in good hands.
13:44But none as fair or kind as these.
13:50My heart aches at the thought of weeks without you.
13:53Mine too.
13:54But what prize at the end?
13:57Indeed.
13:59Pray for me.
14:02I'll pray for you both.
14:12I'll pray for you both.
14:16Catherine enters confinement in spring 1510.
14:23The head now lies the ordeal of childbirth.
14:33It's terrifying because of the distinct possibility that you might die.
14:38Husbands often have portraits painted of their wives while they're pregnant,
14:43so that a baby will have something to remember its mother by if she doesn't make it.
14:49I would prefer to undress alone.
15:04But there's something Catherine fears more than death.
15:08And that's failing in her royal duty.
15:14We've just weeks to go before the birth.
15:16Should she trust her doctor, who believes there's a surviving twin still inside her?
15:22Or should she trust her instincts?
15:26All she can do is wait and pray that God will deliver the Tudor dynasty a son.
15:33You've loaded them short.
16:00Your Grace.
16:01What is it?
16:02The Queen, my lord.
16:02What's the matter with her?
16:03The matter is not with the Queen herself, but with the Queen's.
16:03What is it?
16:04The Queen, my lord.
16:05The Queen, my lord.
16:09What's the matter with her?
16:15Your Grace.
16:21What is it?
16:22The Queen, my Lord.
16:24What's the matter with her?
16:26The matter is not with the Queen herself,
16:29but with the baby.
16:31It's been born.
16:33I'm afraid she has suffered a loss of the child.
16:37The physician has just left the Queen's chamber.
16:40He confirms this much.
16:44Please leave us.
16:45Please leave us.
16:51Get out!
17:00The child.
17:02What was it?
17:04Male or female?
17:06I do not know.
17:08You do not know?
17:10How can that be so?
17:12I came in haste.
17:15The Queen asks if you will pay a visit to her chamber.
17:19She is bereft, my Lord.
17:29Mort, a stillbirth.
17:33No birth.
17:34There was no child.
17:35Catherine's bump has simply disappeared.
17:42It looks like the doctor's got it spectacularly wrong.
17:46Not a second baby, but an infection.
17:49The infection must have made Catherine's belly swell up.
17:56And I believe she was so desperate to have a child that she convinced herself that she was still pregnant.
18:03It was humiliating.
18:04It was humiliating.
18:05All of that time spent in confinement.
18:07All of that ceremony and absolutely nothing to show for it.
18:12Rumours started to circulate that Catherine was unable to conceive.
18:17And people at court began to think that she was maybe unsuitable as a queen.
18:22And what about Henry?
18:27He must have been disappointed too.
18:29After all, he had the future of the dynasty to consider.
18:33We sometimes forget that he was only the second Tudor king after his father, Henry VII.
18:39The dynasty was young.
18:41It was still insecure.
18:43And then there was the security, the peace of the country.
18:47If Henry were to die without an agreed heir, there could be civil war.
18:53Exactly what his father had managed to stop.
18:56So it's difficult to underestimate the pressure that Catherine must have felt, literally, to deliver.
19:05Fortunately for her, her luck was about to change.
19:08A few months later, she did conceive again.
19:11And this time, it was a real pregnancy.
19:18It was also a smooth pregnancy.
19:22On New Year's Day, 1511, Catherine gave birth.
19:27It was a boy and he was christened Henry.
19:30It looked like God was happy at last with Henry VIII, with the Tudor dynasty,
19:36with the whole kingdom of England.
19:39London went wild with celebrations.
19:41There were bonfires and fireworks.
19:44And here in Westminster, there was a joust.
19:46The grandest jousting tournament of Henry VIII's reign was now held in honour of Catherine delivering him a son.
20:00The event was recorded on a spectacular 60-foot-long manuscript.
20:05For the last 500 years, it's been looked after by the College of Arms in London.
20:10His custodian is the York Herald, Peter O'Donoghue.
20:16So, Peter, this is the actual moment of jousting.
20:20What's going on? What's going on here? It looks very exciting.
20:23This is Henry on his horse.
20:25And he has struck his opponent on the head and broken his lance.
20:29It's the most prestigious blow in jousting, to break your lance on your opponent's head.
20:33You can't really tell that he's the king, can you, because he's in disguise.
20:38Yeah, that's right.
20:39There is this disguising, this playful element to it.
20:42He's fighting under an assumed name.
20:44And you can make out what that name is with the heart.
20:48So, Curloyal.
20:49He's called Sir Loyal Heart.
20:51That's it, exactly.
20:53So, tell me a bit about the ladies.
20:56The most important lady here, of course, is the queen.
20:58So, here's Catherine of Aragon watching.
21:01And we have this motif of K's everywhere.
21:05By calling himself Sir Loyal Heart, Henry was declaring his love for Catherine.
21:11She'd done everything right.
21:12She'd given him a son.
21:13This really was the high point of their marriage.
21:17And this is the king on the way home again afterwards.
21:20That's right.
21:22Dés arme, disarmed on the way home.
21:24He's out of his armour in his golden robe, which is very spectacular.
21:29And what I really like is the way you can see his piercing blue gaze.
21:33And he's training it straight on the beautiful queen.
21:38He's looking right at the woman he loves.
21:41Oh, look at this.
21:42All the other ladies are looking at her and they're going, oh, isn't your husband gorgeous?
21:46You know, you see him here painted in this sort of wonderful work of art.
21:52He's just had his son, so the dynasty is established.
21:56The whole kingdom waited with bated breath to see what the outcome of that pregnancy would be.
22:00If you've got a son and heir, everyone can relax.
22:03And he is the hero of the day.
22:05He's young, he's incredibly rich, he's incredibly glamorous and handsome.
22:09And a beautiful wife as well.
22:11What could possibly go wrong?
22:14Exactly right.
22:14There were endless celebrations for the royal birth, but they were all in vain.
22:26At just seven weeks old, Prince Henry sickened and died.
22:31Three barges, draped with black cloth, brought the baby's body down the river from Richmond to Westminster, where he was buried in the abbey.
22:43For Henry, he could hardly bear to talk about it.
22:47One ambassador going in for a meeting with the king was advised not to mention it, lest it revive his grief.
22:54And we're told that Catherine made much lamentation.
23:01She was inconsolvable.
23:03She'd now lost two babies.
23:10Catherine is struggling to give the king an heir.
23:13But in pretty much every other respect, she's still his perfect queen.
23:19It's two years later.
23:20Henry is away, fighting the French.
23:22This is an on-off war that will go on throughout his reign.
23:26And in his absence, he's made Catherine regent.
23:29She is running the country.
23:31Now, this is quite uncommon.
23:33For me, it's evidence that not only does he still love her, but also that he respects her judgment.
23:43With Henry away, the Scottish king, James IV, has seized an opportunity to invade England.
23:50But he hasn't calculated on the Spanish warrior queen, Catherine of Aragon.
23:57She's deployed an army of 26,000 Englishmen and is awaiting news from the battlefield.
24:04Your Highness, the Scot is dead.
24:17And what proof is this?
24:21The Earl of Surrey thought it more palatable to send his clothing.
24:25More palatable?
24:31For whom?
24:33He was killed on the battlefield in Northumbria yesterday, along with scores of his men.
24:39The queen can be assured that this is his blood.
24:42That may be so.
24:44But where is the body?
24:45I asked for his head, not his coat.
24:52Bodies in London?
24:53Then have it brought to me.
24:54As you wish, Your Highness.
24:56Majesty.
24:58Your Majesty.
25:04This shall be sent to King Henry.
25:06A reputed 10,000 Scots lie dead on the battlefield.
25:18The invasion defeated.
25:21Catherine's popularity as queen soars.
25:24And the dead king's coat is dispatched to Henry in France.
25:28She'd wanted to send something even better.
25:33As she wrote to Henry, I fought to send himself unto you.
25:38By which she means she'd wanted to send the actual corpse at the dead king.
25:43But our Englishmen's hearts would not suffer it.
25:48By which she means her wimpy English servants had thought that this was a bit too much.
25:53Later on in the letter, she says something rather intriguing.
25:56That she is off to see Our Lady at Walsingham.
26:10Walsingham in Norfolk is the site of a religious shrine.
26:15Since the Middle Ages, it's been associated with fertility and childbirth.
26:19It was a hugely popular place in Tudor times.
26:22Caffin came here in 1513 to pray and give thanks.
26:28She had lots to give thanks for.
26:31There was that victory over the Scots.
26:33And, even more significantly, she was once again pregnant.
26:37And Caffin believed that she was in need of God's protection.
26:49This was her third pregnancy in four years of marriage.
26:53And she still had no children.
26:55Caffin of Aragon was now 27 years old.
27:05In Tudor terms, that's middle-aged.
27:08Royal women were giving birth at 16, even 15.
27:12In fact, Henry VIII's own grandmother gave birth to his dad when she was just 13.
27:17So, Caffin was definitely an older mum.
27:23She must have felt like time was running out.
27:33But Caffin's prayers weren't answered.
27:36For the third time, she'd lose the baby.
27:45Tragically, it had been a boy.
27:48Caffin's successor's queen was now being overshadowed by her failure to deliver a healthy son.
27:55She was starting to test the king's patience.
27:58As Caffin struggled to bring babies to term, her husband's fancy started to wander.
28:10There was nothing astonishing about this.
28:13Whenever the queen was expecting, her health came first.
28:16No sex.
28:17But nobody expected Henry to go without.
28:20He looked through his wife's ladies-in-waiting.
28:22Women of good family, chosen as the queen's companions.
28:25And he picked out Bessie Blount.
28:29They started a relationship.
28:32Bessie got pregnant.
28:33She even gave birth to a son.
28:35The only downside was that he was illegitimate.
28:39But Henry was proud of him, recognised him, and gave him the name Henry Fitzroy, meaning son of the king.
28:48But Bessie Blount's son can never be the legitimate heir to the throne of England.
28:53And the king respects his queen enough to send Bessie away from court.
28:58This must have been awful for Catherine, her husband's mistress giving him a boy, where she'd failed.
29:10But then, after five pregnancies, four stillbirths, one infant death and six years of marriage, God smiled on Catherine.
29:20She gave birth to a healthy baby who lived.
29:24The only problem was, it was a girl.
29:26Mary!
29:32The princess Mary is now six years old.
29:36Mary?
29:38Mother?
29:41Since her daughter was born, Catherine has tried and tried to give Henry the son that he desperately craves.
29:48But now, her age is against her.
29:52She's 37 years old.
29:55It looks increasingly likely that Mary will be her only surviving child.
30:04Henry is putting on a pageant.
30:06Catherine's ladies-in-waiting are playing virtues, such as perseverance, beauty, kindness.
30:19And they await rescue by knights.
30:23Mary!
30:24But the queen is a spectator.
30:27She hasn't been invited to take part.
30:30Mary!
30:30More apt description, I couldn't imagine.
30:46Although, beauty would be equally fitting.
30:51Beauty belongs to the king's sister, my lord.
30:53And mine?
31:01Ardent desire.
31:03Quite.
31:04Henry's new love interest is one of two sisters who've recently arrived at court as ladies-in-waiting to Catherine.
31:12They're the daughters of a landowner and diplomat, Thomas Boleyn.
31:17This is the beginning of a series of events that will ultimately destroy the royal marriage.
31:27But this isn't Anne Boleyn.
31:30Catherine's husband is kissing Anne's older sister, Mary.
31:34Mary Boleyn grew up here, at Hever Castle in Kent, along with her brother George and her sister Anne.
31:54Mary and Anne were close in age, but they were very different girls.
31:59Of the two sisters, everybody thought that Mary was the more attractive.
32:05She had fair hair and she was super vivacious.
32:08Anne had dark hair and olive-coloured skin.
32:11It's definitely fair to say that Tudor gentlemen preferred blondes.
32:17Mary was married to one of Henry's best friends.
32:21But this didn't stop him from pursuing her.
32:23After all, he was the king.
32:25He could have whoever he wanted.
32:27Now, we don't know an awful lot about Henry VIII's affair with Mary Boleyn.
32:33But there is a clue.
32:35A series of mysterious payments from the crown to her husband, William Carey.
32:40The theory is that that was hush money.
32:43Henry's affair with Mary was explosive, but it was short-lived.
32:48He got bored.
32:49And in any case, his eye had moved on to Mary's sister, Anne.
32:57It was probably in 1525 that Henry first really noticed Anne Boleyn.
33:09At this point, she was actually betrothed to somebody else, Henry Percy.
33:14And they were probably in love.
33:16But when Henry got to hear about it, he had his advisers break the couple up.
33:21Anne was probably pretty annoyed about this, but she had to go along with it.
33:28Now that the king's eye had fallen upon her,
33:32I think that Anne looked at the way Henry had treated Bessie Blount and her own sister, Mary,
33:38and decided that she wasn't going to be just another mistress like them.
33:43And in fact, Anne wasn't like anybody else at all.
33:52Compared to her fellow ladies-in-waiting, she was exotic.
33:56She'd been schooled in the refined world at the French court.
34:00This is Chateau Amboise, in the heart of the Loire Valley.
34:10Unusually for an English courtier,
34:12the teenage Anne had spent seven years in the royal household of Queen Claude,
34:18the young wife of King Francis I.
34:22Court life in France was different from court life in England.
34:26It was more sophisticated, it was sexier, and some of this rubbed off on Anne.
34:34At the French court, Anne learnt how to sing, how to dance,
34:39obviously how to speak French perfectly.
34:42And she learnt about fashion,
34:44that was much more seductive and revealing than the English equivalent.
34:49But most importantly, she learnt a new way of behaving,
34:52flirtatiously and confidently with men.
34:55She picked up this trick of using her eyes.
34:59It was said that she could send them forth as messengers
35:03to carry the secret witness at the heart.
35:07Anne became indistinguishable, people thought,
35:10from a native-born French lady.
35:14And Anne's European sophistication enchanted the cultured English king.
35:20What really put the seal on Anne's attractiveness was her intelligence.
35:25She was sharp and curious and interested in matters of the mind.
35:31So Anne didn't just flirt with Henry.
35:33She also argued with him on everything from politics to religion.
35:38And he loved it.
35:39It's New Year's Eve, 1527, and the king is receiving gifts.
35:47He's been pursuing Anne Boleyn for well over a year.
35:50But so far, she's resisted all of his advances.
35:54From Queen Catherine.
35:56Your Majesty.
36:08And where might the Queen be?
36:11She's in her chamber,
36:12resting before the celebrations later this evening.
36:15Sent from Anne Boleyn with her kindest regards, Your Majesty.
36:37Is she here?
36:38This is exquisite.
36:58Tell me all that.
37:00The diamond is the North Star.
37:02The ship's protector, guiding her home.
37:05And the maiden?
37:15Well, despite the rough sea, she trusts in God that all will be well.
37:22The lady is right to have faith.
37:25The storm shall pass.
37:28If she has patience enough.
37:30Or the will to see it through.
37:35I will treasure it.
37:42Please offer my sincere thanks to the bearers of these gifts.
37:46Their generosity is greatly appreciated.
37:50Now,
37:51I feel some air is called for before the celebrations commence.
37:57Or walk in the grounds, perhaps.
37:59Anne,
38:02would you care to join me?
38:07With pleasure, Your Grace.
38:08I trust it is your will to walk with me.
38:23Indeed, it's my pleasure.
38:25I'm far happier on the safety of dry land.
38:27This is such an important moment.
38:34For the first time, Anne's shown that she is interested in Henry,
38:37and she's done it in public, too.
38:40Now, Catherine has seen mistresses come and mistresses go,
38:43but this time it's different.
38:45Anne is a real threat.
38:47The best insight that we can get into Henry's growing feelings for Anne Boleyn
39:05comes in the form of 17 love letters from him to her.
39:09It's extraordinary that they still survive.
39:12They're here in Rome, in the Vatican Library.
39:16And amazingly, I'm the first person who's been allowed in to film them.
39:20That's brilliant.
39:25The letters were almost certainly stolen from Anne Boleyn,
39:29perhaps by a supporter of Queen Catherine.
39:33The Vatican paid a handsome sum of money to get hold of them in the 17th century.
39:39My guide to the Vatican archives is Amalia de Lascio.
39:50She's the only one allowed to touch the letters.
39:54Amalia, are these really the letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn?
39:59Yes, they are.
40:00They're nearly 500 years old.
40:03I open for you.
40:07This one is the first page.
40:09The letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
40:16Wow.
40:18This is Henry's own handwriting.
40:21These are all in French, the language of love, the language of chivalry.
40:25I am sending you by this messenger my picture set into a bracelet.
40:31It's a gift, a beautiful gift.
40:32Yeah, a bracelet.
40:33Very intimate.
40:37And this is, ooh.
40:40This one's very romantic and chivalric.
40:45It's like a knight's writing to his lady.
40:48Henceforth, my heart shall be dedicated to you alone and hoping that my body will follow.
40:58This is, this is getting steamy.
41:01He must have really been in love because we know that Henry hated to write letters.
41:06Yeah.
41:06He was, found it difficult.
41:08He was slow.
41:09But here he is, gushing away.
41:12And here there is a...
41:13Oh, this is wonderful.
41:14This is like a little valentine.
41:17He chooses no other than Anne Boleyn.
41:21A, B in the heart.
41:23And then H, R.
41:24They're embracing A, B for Anne Boleyn.
41:27It's beautiful.
41:35Oh, and now it's changed to English.
41:37Wishing myself, especially of an evening.
41:41In my sweetheart's arms, written in the hand of him that was, is, and shall be yours by his will, H.R.
41:57In his desire for Anne, Henry was promising himself to her.
42:03This last letter was nothing short of a marriage proposal.
42:11What's extraordinary about these letters is that Henry is making a promise he couldn't possibly keep.
42:18He was already married.
42:20They also reveal that Henry and Anne hadn't had sex yet.
42:24Anne was doing what nobody had done before.
42:27She was refusing the king.
42:30Historians have sometimes interpreted this as tricksy, girly behaviour on Anne's part.
42:36But I prefer to think that she had a bold strategy here.
42:39Anne is impressive to us because she often acts like a modern person,
42:44like somebody with ambitions who knew where she was going.
42:47And I prefer to think that Anne made Henry wait because she wanted to be Queen of England.
42:53But there already was a hugely popular Queen, who was alive and well, and believed it was God's will that she remain Queen of England.
43:05This is St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, one of the royal residences.
43:20Catherine worshipped here with Henry.
43:23God was at the heart of their marriage, and Catherine had strived to make a success of it.
43:27And God had given her a daughter, Mary.
43:31Henry wanted a son, though.
43:34And after 18 years of marriage to Catherine, he now wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.
43:39This meant getting rid of Catherine.
43:42You might wonder why he didn't just get a divorce.
43:44But it wasn't that simple, because England was still a Catholic country.
43:51Marriage was the vital glue that stuck society together.
43:56Only the church could sanctify marriage, and ending marriage was also the church's preserve.
44:02It was possible to get divorced as a 16th century person, but it was difficult,
44:07and the problem was that you could not then marry anybody else, because marriage was for life.
44:14What Henry needed was an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, as if it had never existed.
44:21But an annulment was granted only in the rarest of circumstances,
44:26and only by the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope.
44:30In the summer of 1527, Henry ordered a group of his most trusted advisers
44:36to look into the possibility of getting him an annulment.
44:40They'd have to put together the best possible case to the Pope.
44:43The whole business became known as the King's Great Matter.
44:53To try to get the Vatican's agreement, Henry started to build his case.
44:59There was no mention of Anne Boleyn.
45:02Instead, he would use his wife's previous marriage to his dead brother Arthur against her.
45:08Henry discovered this passage in the Bible.
45:12It's Leviticus 20, 21.
45:15If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing.
45:22He has uncovered his brother's nakedness.
45:25And this is the key bit.
45:27They shall be childless.
45:30Henry used this to argue that his marriage had been invalid.
45:33It was a kind of incest.
45:35And this was the reason he probably still didn't have a son.
45:40But Catherine had got wind of the great matter
45:44and was stealing herself to take on the king.
45:48Because despite their difficulties and his dalliances,
45:53Catherine is determined to oppose Henry,
45:56to stay married and to remain Queen of England.
46:04My lord.
46:11What is it?
46:12My conscience troubles me greatly.
46:15I need to speak with you.
46:16You need to absolve yourself for something?
46:18I wish to find a way forward.
46:20I wish to find a way forward.
46:26Be still, please.
46:35Speak to me.
46:38For some time now, there's been a vast distance between us.
46:41And what do you believe the cause to be?
46:44Causes.
46:46A number?
46:47As far as I understand it, there is only one.
46:50It's a complicated matter.
46:52We cannot continue to ignore it.
46:54I agree.
46:56Following much consideration, the conclusion is this.
47:00I wish for us to live apart.
47:03No longer is King and Queen.
47:06A separation.
47:07We cannot be separated.
47:10We knelt before Christ and took vows.
47:12That can't be undone.
47:14It's possible.
47:15I've taken advice on the matter.
47:17My lord.
47:24Look me in the eyes and tell me our marriage has not been a happy one.
47:28We must be honest with ourselves.
47:31It's been cursed from the start.
47:33In the eyes of the church, you are my sister.
47:34Then the church is blind.
47:37My marriage to Arthur was never binding because we did not lie together.
47:42You are my one true husband.
47:46Grant me the respect I deserve and please don't dismiss me.
47:49I would never dismiss you.
47:51No.
47:52But you prepare to cast me aside in order to marry another woman.
47:57You wish to talk about honesty?
47:59I'm not a fool.
48:01Speak the plain truth and do not use our church for your own games.
48:05Catherine, why do you choose to make this harder than it need be?
48:08You think this should be easy?
48:12Six children born.
48:14Five of them dead.
48:17A life lived in loyal and unswerving devotion.
48:21All for nothing.
48:22Do you really imagine I might bid you farewell with a smile on my face?
48:26What do you expect from me?
48:27Respect!
48:29For your king's wishes.
48:31What about respect for your queen and daughter?
48:35You're one for nothing.
48:37I promise.
48:38How can you say that?
48:40I want you.
48:44Catherine, I beg.
48:46Keep your dignity.
48:52Christ, forgive you.
48:59Catherine believed her marriage to Henry was a union preordained by God.
49:05But even with his cunning plan, his cherry-picked biblical arguments, it would be harder to end his marriage than Henry could ever have imagined.
49:19The Pope may have been head of the church, but he wasn't the most powerful man in Europe.
49:24That man was the leader of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, who was busy conquering Europe.
49:35In 1527, Charles invaded Rome.
49:40The Pope was holed up here in the Castel Sant'Angelo.
49:45Now, obviously, this was highly inconvenient for the Pope, but it was a diplomatic nightmare for Henry, because Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, who now had the Pope in his power, was Catherine of Aragon's nephew.
50:00This was the perfect opportunity for Catherine to use her family connections and to build a few alliances of her own.
50:09First off, she wrote to her nephew, the Emperor Charles V, asking for his support, and she got it.
50:23Then, she challenged Henry's argument that their marriage had been invalid under church law.
50:29That's the whole don't marry your dead brother's wife thing.
50:33Catherine said that when she'd married Prince Arthur, they'd never had sex.
50:38The marriage was unconsummated, therefore invalid, therefore Henry's case was invalid.
50:44And what about the Pope? What did he say?
50:47Well, he just kept stalling. He didn't say one thing or the other.
50:52It looked like Catherine had won the battle.
50:55But Henry hadn't given up hope of winning the war.
50:59For three years, Catherine has successfully blocked Henry's attempts to end their marriage.
51:12In May 1528, Henry tries a different tactic.
51:19Provocatively, Ansby moved into her own apartments inside the Palace of Greenwich.
51:24It's becoming clear that there are three people in this marriage.
51:28It's getting pretty crowded.
51:31It's as if there are two queens under one roof.
51:36There's Anne, who has Henry's heart and his hopes.
51:39And Catherine, his faithful wife, who thinks that she has the ultimate power,
51:44the power of the church on her side.
51:47Henry was still claiming that in the eyes of God, Catherine was technically his sister, not his wife.
52:04On the 21st of June, 1529, after two years of deadlock,
52:09he launched what he hoped would be a fatal blow to Catherine.
52:13He convened a special public court to hear his case,
52:18and he invited senior clerics from England and Rome.
52:22It took place here, in Blackfriars, London.
52:26Anne Boleyn had been sent off to the countryside to get her out of the way,
52:30because Henry needed to convince everybody that his reasons for wanting to end his marriage
52:35were nothing to do with her at all.
52:37Catherine knew otherwise, and the Queen insisted on giving evidence in person, in open court.
52:52Henry expects the clerics to grant him his annulment.
52:57But Catherine's about to take a huge gamble
52:59and publicly put her case to the Pope's representative and to the King himself.
53:07My Lord,
53:12I appeal to your conscience to show me the compassion and justice I deserve as your one true wife,
53:24to honour the years I have dedicated to you and you alone,
53:28the loyalty I have shown,
53:30and above all else,
53:32the love I have,
53:35which will never die.
53:42For the love of God,
53:44in your heart you must know there is no other
53:47in whom you can pledge your trust with such confidence.
53:51Our long history has proved that to you, surely.
53:54I have been a true, humble, and obedient wife.
54:01I came to you as a true maid,
54:06untouched by man.
54:09And whether it is true or not,
54:12I put it to your conscience
54:13that if there is any just cause by law that you can put against me
54:17of either dishonesty or any other impediment,
54:21then I am content to depart to my shame and dishonour.
54:26But if there is none,
54:29then I beg of you,
54:31let me remain in this estate.
54:34I implore you
54:42to consider your actions today,
54:46but also to know
54:47that regardless of the decision you make,
54:50I remain
54:51your devoted servant.
54:55And you
54:56remain my one
54:59true husband.
55:00To God
55:12I commit
55:13my cause.
55:14Catherine,
55:29Queen of England,
55:30return to this court.
55:35The Pope's emissary went back to Rome
55:38without granting an annulment to the marriage.
55:41People sometimes forget
55:43what a setback this was for Henry.
55:45He'd achieved absolutely nothing
55:47apart from being publicly humiliated by his wife.
55:52And I think that this was Catherine's defining moment.
55:56She used her passion
55:58and her intelligence
55:59to defend her marriage.
56:02She'd won the fight to hold on to her crown.
56:05At least for now.
56:08Am I too late?
56:09Please tell me I am not too late.
56:12Catherine of Aragon
56:13will be cruelly punished
56:15for challenging the king
56:16and sent into exile
56:18to die.
56:20Henry will defy the church
56:21to marry Anne Boleyn.
56:24The entire kingdom
56:25has a hatred towards me.
56:27But it won't be long
56:28before his eyes again
56:30begin to wander.
56:33Surely I deserve your respect,
56:35my lord.
56:36And Anne is not a woman
56:37to turn a blind eye.
56:40I'm going to show you
56:41a driven,
56:41highly intelligent queen
56:43who thought that she could take on
56:45the king of England.
56:46What I mean to say is this,
56:49that if something were to happen to the king,
56:51you'd look to marry me.
56:53But who miscalculated
56:54with dreadful consequences.
56:56Oh, this for so little, Anne.
56:58Anne.
57:04See that next week
57:06as Six Wives with Lucy Worsley
57:08continues Wednesday night
57:10at nine
57:10here on BBC One.
57:12The End
57:26You
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