All language subtitles for The.Boleyns.A.Scandalous.Family.S01E03.The.Fall.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb_[eng]

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- [bell tolls]
- [bird caws]

FEMALE NARRATOR: She
was our most infamous Queen.

The second wife of Henry VIII.

Tried on his orders for
crimes of adultery and treason.

Anne Boleyn was led from her
rooms at the Tower of London

to her death by an
executioner's sword.

[metal door clangs open]

[dramatic swell]

This Tudor saga is one
of the most familiar tales

in English history.

But to really understand
Anne's rise and fall,

we need to know more about
those who helped shape her.

Her tight-knit, cunning,
and power-hungry family.

The Boleyns are one of the
great stories in British history.

It is an extraordinary
epic of hubris and pain.

The good and the
bad kind of ambition.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Every member
of the family had a part to play.

Thomas Boleyn, the
ambitious patriarch.

George, the fearless son.

His sisters: Mary,
the reluctant mistress;

Anne, the calculating courtier.

And their brutal
uncle, Thomas Howard.

The Tudor public had always
been used to stories of tragic falls,

the stories of falls
of kings and princes.

But even they might not
have imagined a fall as graphic

as the fall of the
Boleyn family.

NARRATOR: Based on rare
original letters and documents,

the Boleyns will tell this story
from their own perspectives.

The Court could produce no
proof of my incestuous guilt.

Other than I had spent hours
in the presence of my own sister.

ANNE BOLEYN: I will not
say your sentence is unjust.

My Savior has
taught me how to die...

and he will
strengthen my resolve.

NARRATOR: The family
played a dangerous game

and paid the ultimate price.

But they left a
remarkable legacy,

changing the course
of British history

and taking their
name from obscurity

to the apex of power.

[eerie, ethereal music]

NARRATOR: The Boleyns
are the most powerful

noble family in England.

But they are under
huge pressure.

Unless they can
convince the Pope

to approve Henry VIII's divorce
from Katherine of Aragon,

their plan to make Anne
Queen will be in ruins.

LAUREN MACKAY: Thomas Boleyn
must still be feeling very apprehensive

because they are in
unchartered waters.

Henry could wake up and decide
that he doesn't want to marry

Anne Boleyn anymore and
where does that place the Boleyns?

In a very dangerous position.

They always have relied on
Wolsey and Wolsey is now gone.

They have to find alternative
routes to an annulment

and that's really where we see
George Boleyn come into his own.

NARRATOR: Since Anne
has been involved with Henry,

her 27-year-old brother
George has had a meteoric rise,

from the lowest rungs
of the Royal Court

to the very heart of
the King's inner circle.

The two siblings
are incredibly close.

[laughing]

Perhaps one day you could
let me get a word in edgeways.

[laughing]

NARRATOR: Their affection
for each other is captured

in a remarkable
text from the time.

George translates a
book of religious writings

and in the front writes
his sister a dedication.

Besides the perpetual
bond of blood that we share,

our friendly dealings,
which have so many

and such diverse benefits,

have bound me to love you
in so many different ways.

In every one of
them I am powerless

and forever in your debt.

George Boleyn talks about
how he hasn't sent Anne jewels

or he hasn't sent her gold,
because she has enough of these.

Instead, he's sent her
something for her mind,

for her soul, for her spirit.

Tis not jewels or gold,
whereof you have plenty.

But I have been so
bold to present unto you

these writings of mine,

which humbly desire of
you to overlook the weakness

of my dull wit,

and instead see the strength
of faith that drives them,

which I know you share.

ELIZABETH NORTON: It speaks
absolute volumes for the relationship

between these siblings who
are so similar to each other

in their interests and
one particular interest

is very, very dear
to both their hearts.

They were both incredibly
interested in religious reform.

NARRATOR: England, like
most of Europe at this time,

is a Catholic country;

the English church
is controlled by Rome.

But George and Anne
think the absolute power

enjoyed by the Pope
should be challenged.

[birds squawking]

It's a belief Anne developed
as a teenager in France,

when she befriended
Margaret of Angouleme,

the sister of the French King.

Anne Boleyn had discussions
with Margaret of Angouleme,

about religion, about
the new reformed ideas,

about the corruption
of the Catholic Church,

about the Pope's authority.

She's never going
to forget these years.

NARRATOR: By 1531, the
concept of questioning the Pope,

though heretical,

is gaining powerful
momentum across Europe.

And the Boleyns are
determined to capitalize

on this new movement
for their own gain.

ELIZABETH NORTON: We can see
George and Anne becoming increasingly vocal

about this usurped
authority of the Pope

and trying to push Henry into
taking control of his church.

Anne had a copy
of William Tyndale's

Obedience of a Christian Man.

This book is such an important
text in the early Reformation,

incredibly anti-papal, it
speaks about the Pope

usurping the King's authority,

about the King having the power
over the church, not the Pope.

It was a banned book in England.

NARRATOR: George
and Anne's religious beliefs

provide a potential
solution for the family -

but not all their
relatives see it that way.

GARETH RUSSELL: Anne
Boleyn's uncle Thomas Howard

is of another generation,

he's increasingly
ambivalent about the attacks

on the Roman Catholic Church.

For many people at the time,
there is a different moment

at which they get cold feet at
the pace of evangelical change.

Thomas Howard gets
cold feet a lot earlier

than everyone else does.

NARRATOR: But while
the family remain divided,

Anne does persuade the only
man whose opinion really matters.

GREG WAKLER: Anne left
this book by William Tyndale

for Henry to read.

And when he read it, he did
indeed seemingly think exactly,

this is what I've
believed all along.

He wanted the church
to solve the divorce.

The Pope won't let him.

This says Kings can
do what they want.

NARRATOR: But it's
not quite that simple.

To succeed, he needs to
convince the Church in England

to switch allegiance
from Pope to King -

overturning a millennium
of religious tradition.

It's a massive task that
will need skill and diplomacy.

He is looking for someone
who can break the mold

and start again.

And it's interesting that
the man who begins to enter

the political frame at this
point is Thomas Cromwell.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH: It
would have been in the 1520s

that Thomas Cromwell
first met the Boleyns

and probably across
a crowded room,

because they weren't in
the same social class at all.

At that stage, Thomas
Cromwell was a very minor official

of Thomas Wolsey,
Cardinal Wolsey.

Thomas Cromwell's
rise at court at this stage

is remarkably discreet.

In a very shadowy way, he
was a counsellor of the King

and a member of the Royal
Council, but who was he?

An MP with no
particular office at court.

NARRATOR: Since the fall
of his beloved master Wolsey,

Cromwell has quietly been
rising in the King's estimation.

And the Boleyns know a
potential ally when they see one.

SUSAN DORAN: From
Anne's point of view,

Thomas Cromwell might
seem like an answer to a prayer.

He's full of ideas, he is by no
means committed to the papacy,

on the contrary.

He seems dedicated to
the purpose of getting her

an annulment,
and he's no threat.

He comes from a background
which is neither noble nor gentry.

Both sides were people
of the Reformation.

They wanted to see
change in the church.

This is a man they
can do business with.

[soft music]

NARRATOR: In February 1531,

George Boleyn gives a
speech to an assembly

of powerful English
Church leaders,

trying to convince them
to break with Rome.

It's the biggest moment
of his career so far.

And it's Thomas
Cromwell who is by his side.

The King's "supreme
authority" as a ruler in his realm

is grounded in God's word.

And in no case should it be
restrained by any Popish laws

or traditions.

This is a major
appointment for George,

all the leading
churchmen of the day.

They're all there, and
they're all watching him,

he has to make this speech.

And he's there, with the weight
of the fact that they all know

that he's Anne Boleyn's brother.

So it must have
been hugely daunting.

It is the King's duty alone

to execute the office of
spiritual administration

in the church of which
he, not the Pope, is head.

That's the essence of it,
Master Cromwell, is it not?

It is indeed, Sir.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH: I
think churchmen at this stage

really didn't understand
what was happening.

And they could not believe
that the King wanted to break

with the Holy Father
in Rome, the Pope.

NARRATOR: But the speech works.

The very next day,
the Church authorities

take the extraordinary
step of declaring Henry

Supreme Head of
the Church of England.

GREG WALKER: Henry
now has what he wanted,

which is to make
religious policy himself.

This is a revolution.
This is a King

who had always traditionally
had power in the secular realm

now claiming that he had power

in the ecclesiastical
one as well.

And this gives him at
last a machinery by which

he can pronounce the divorce
he wants from Katherine.

NARRATOR: Thomas Boleyn,
part of the older generation,

isn't quite so radical in
his beliefs as his children.

But he's made his mind
up to support them -

whatever the cost.

LAUREN MACKAY: We do
begin to see a marked shift

in Thomas Boleyn's
personality and his character.

He is becoming more assertive.

He is the father of the
future Queen of England.

But also I think we
see a frustration.

Once Thomas Boleyn is
onboard with his daughter

marrying the King,
he pours himself into

ensuring that's going to happen.

And he expects this of
everyone else at court,

but it's not the case.

There are still quite a lot of
Katherine of Aragon supporters

and this frustrates him.

NARRATOR: Thomas is
painfully aware that his family

is beginning to make
enemies at court.

And much of the vitriol
is directed at Anne.

NANDINI DAS: There's always
mutterings about anyone who's in power,

but it's particularly
noticeable about Anne

and sometimes they take
pretty threatening forms.

So there's one story that
circulates in this period

about Anne finding a
drawing within her prayer book.

Come, Nan, see here
a book of prophecy.

This is the King,
this the Queen,

weeping and wringing her hands,

and this is myself
- with my head off.

It bodes certain destruction

if I'm to marry the King.

NARRATOR: In the story Anne
has no idea who is responsible

for this drawing.

But one thing is clear....

She now knows how unpopular
her family's quest for power

has made her.

It's a mere bauble.

I have hope the nation
will rejoice in the children

I will bear,

and so I am resolved
to have him...

whatever becomes of me.

Let them grumble.

This is how it will be.

ELIZABETH NORTON: We can
see Anne becoming more and more

defiant in this period.

She was pushing for her
queenship and for her marriage,

in spite of really,
really huge opposition

coming from the very,
very highest level in Europe,

not just in England.

And so she must have felt often

as though she was
really pushing alone.

[chuckling]

NARRATOR: The Boleyns
desperately need foreign allies.

And so Anne turns to
her old friend France.

[speaking French]

GREG WALKER: Anne, of course,
has those links with the French court,

her connection to Francis I
and to his courtiers and circle,

that she can offer
Henry as a lure,

as a way of engineering
this relationship.

Here is Anne
saying, yes, of course,

I can speak to the French.
I know their languages.

I know what's doing.

Trust me, we can
bring Francis around.

And once Francis
has recognized me,

then Europe will recognize me.

NARRATOR: A meeting
is organized in Calais

between Francis and Henry.

As his mistress, Anne
isn't formally invited.

But she manages to
steal the show anyway.

According to one report, Anne
and eight other masked women,

including her sister Mary,

sneak into the Royal
Banquet and perform a dance.

[tense rhythmic music]

Only at its climax
does she reveal herself

to the French King.

[male speaker
reciting on-screen text]

SUSAN DORAN: He knows who she
is; she's removed the mask from her face.

And this is seen as
public French approval

for a future marriage
between Anne and Henry,

and Anne is delighted.

This is a clear
message to the world.

That Francis I is
here to support Anne.

Anne is relieved.

She finally has the
support she needs

to become Queen of England.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH:
The meeting at Calais

really needed
careful organization.

Who did it? Thomas Cromwell.

NARRATOR: Henry is
increasingly reliant on Cromwell

to solve his problems.

Not least, how best to sell
his potential new Queen

to the public.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH: The
printing presses back in London

were churning
out a little pamphlet

to show the good folk of
London what was happening

in Calais, and showing how Anne

was dancing with
the King of France.

All this is presented to them
in a really quite innovative way.

Government propaganda
sort of dressed up

like a tabloid newspaper.

That's Thomas Cromwell's idea.

NARRATOR: Anne and
Henry now have the confidence

to marry in secret,
probably in 1533,

certain that Henry's first
marriage will soon be annulled.

And shortly afterwards, the
English Church does just that.

GREG WALKER: This is still,
of course, a deeply contentious

and fraught situation.

The Pope hasn't officially
sanctioned their relationship.

In fact, he's insisted that
Henry separate from Anne

and the court itself
is not wholly unified

in accepting the
Boleyn marriage.

NARRATOR: The
pressure and public scrutiny

are starting to take
their toll on the family.

Even more so, when
Anne falls pregnant.

One source reveals
a heated argument

between father and daughter.

Thomas understands -
perhaps even more than Anne -

how much they are
all relying on this baby.

THOMAS BOLEYN:
You ought to take it away.

And thank God for the
state you find yourself in.

It's your only
security, so show it off.

I'm in a better condition than
you ever wished me to be.

You cannot and will
not tell me what to do!

ELIZABETH NORTON: Thomas
Boleyn - he's an experienced diplomat.

He knows that although Anne
is married, she's pregnant,

the road ahead is not
necessarily free of bumps.

They still haven't really
dealt with Katherine of Aragon

because although her marriage
has been officially annulled,

it's only been
annulled in England.

And the Pope is still refusing
to grant the annulment.

So Thomas Boleyn, if not Anne,
would have been well aware

of the dangers that they faced.

NARRATOR: For now, they
put their differences aside.

Despite the risks, they
have the most important day

in their family's
history to enjoy.

[lively music]

ELIZABETH NORTON: The defining
moment of 1533 is Anne's coronation.

Anne's parents are in attendance
and watching this moment.

It was absolutely the proof that
everything they had worked for

over the past seven
years had been worth it

as far as the Boleyns
were concerned,

because Anne Boleyn had
gone from being a nobody

to being crowned
Queen of England.

There she is, a star
performer, all attention on her,

dressed in white in a chariot,

showing herself to the people
of England as their Queen,

and being accepted
in a holy place,

as the anointed
wife of the King.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH:
London ran with booze.

And it was full of
music, full of ceremony.

Well, who was
organizing all this?

Surprise, surprise, Thomas
Cromwell in every respect.

The coronation was his work.

Thomas Cromwell recruited
people to write fancy Latin prose

alongside beautiful,
splendid pageants.

It must have been
a little sick-making

to feel that he had
done all this for Anne.

She had been at the
center of the triumph

and he got no credit at all.

NARRATOR: The family
has finally reached the summit

of their ambition.

A Boleyn sits on the throne.

In September 1533,
Queen Anne goes into labor

to deliver the heir
that Henry longs for.

But the baby is a girl.

ELIZABETH NORTON: There's
no doubt that Elizabeth's sex

was disappointing
to both her parents.

Although, Anne is a fond
mother to Elizabeth later on,

and clearly devoted to
her, she's not the prince

that she's promised Henry.

GREG WALKER: But
Henry puts a brave face on it.

He's convinced that
with this new marriage,

God now does favor him.

There's evidence
that Anne is fertile

and that he is
himself still potent.

There will be sons
to come, he says,

and I think at this point,
that is exactly what he thinks.

NARRATOR: Katherine of
Aragon and many of her allies

have been exiled far from court,

replaced by Anne's own
supporters and relatives.

ELIZABETH NORTON: Anne also
takes her sister Mary into the household.

Mary's been a widow now
for more than five years.

She has two children to support,

and it's a big step
up socially for her.

She's now the
sister of the Queen,

and she's expected
to behave in a way

befitting the Queen sister.

NARRATOR: But Mary has a secret.

ELIZABETH NORTON:
It was a shock to Anne

when Mary appeared
at court pregnant

in the summer of 1534.

This is outrageous.

LEANDA de LISLE:
Mary has found love.

She has found a man nine
years younger than she is,

the handsome young
William Stafford,

who was a soldier and
from a mere gentry family,

and a huge scandal erupts.

This is a household in disorder.

And so to restore order, Anne
has her expelled from court.

You can imagine how
hurt Mary's feeling.

She's pregnant and she's
been rejected by her sister.

NARRATOR: The Boleyn family
has become splintered, isolated -

and less able to
exert influence.

Anne is at court
with her brother,

her sister has been exiled,

and her father and mother
have retired to their home in Kent.

GREG WALKER: Thomas
Boleyn withdraws to Hever Castle

and begins to play a
much more local role

as a magnate.

He's perhaps recognizing
the dangers of being at court.

He's done what he needed
to do in dynastic terms.

He's established
his family at court.

It's a losing gamble
to stay there.

Having got what he wanted,

moving to Hever was
a very sensible policy.

Get out of the way.

You've got what you want now.

NARRATOR: By 1534, Anne
is feeling acutely vulnerable.

And she knows that
most of Catholic Europe

still don't recognize her
as the rightful Queen.

Once more, she looks to
France for help in bolstering

her position.

She wants to arrange a betrothal

between her one-year-old
daughter Elizabeth

and the son of the French King.

It would be a sign
to the outside world

that Francis considered
Elizabeth to be legitimate,

and the marriage to be valid.

And Anne is obviously hopeful
that Francis will agree to this.

After all, it was through
his recognition of her

that she went ahead with
the relationship with Henry.

NARRATOR: Anne attempts to
charm the French ambassadors

as she has always done before.

But she misjudges the situation.

The King of France
gets cold feet.

ESTELLE PARANQUE: He doesn't
recognize the union because let's face it,

at that time in Europe, the
Catholics didn't recognize

the union of Henry
VIII with Anne Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn is the mistress.

The Queen remains
Katherine of Aragon.

Anne is completely devastated.

She realizes that
she's now left alone,

like she has no one else
in Europe to support her.

She's rejected.

ELIZABETH NORTON: The
French visit comes at the end

of a really awful
year for Anne Boleyn.

You can't dress it
up any other way.

She falls out with her sister
and exiles her from court.

Support for her is falling away.

She hasn't given the King a son.

And we can see this
in Anne's psychology.

She seems to get more anxious,

more difficult to
live with, if you like.

And then she falls out with
her uncle Thomas Howard.

NARRATOR: Thomas
Howard and his niece

have never fully
seen eye to eye.

Now in her desperation,
Anne lashes out at him -

and in reports from the time,

it's clear he isn't prepared
to accept her rebukes.

[door opens]

Queen Anne heaps more
injuries on me than on a dog,

so much so that I was obliged
to quit the royal chamber

before I beat her head until
it resembled a baked apple!

The Great Whore!

La Grande Putain blames me
for the perfidies of the French.

Her own father has
always counseled her thus,

even her incompetent
brother could see

they have played us for fools.

But it's me that must be
scolded for her blindness.

Thomas Howard had
always been cognizant,

he had always been
vocal about the risks

of Anne marrying
into the royal family.

He had said that there
were going to be trials

and tribulations ahead

and now it looks as if Anne
is stunned and surprised

that these tribulations
are coming to her

from the form of a
notoriously unreliable ally

in the form of France.

The relationship between
Thomas Howard and Queen Anne

is reaching a nadir.

It is defined by
mutual loathing,

an equally vibrant
mistrust between the two.

NARRATOR: Anne has
alienated her influential uncle

and been abandoned
by her closest allies.

But just as she reaches rock
bottom, fortunes seem to change.

She learns of the death
of her greatest rival,

Katherine of Aragon.

ELIZABETH NORTON: Anne views
Katherine's death as fantastic news.

Finally, she's the
only Queen in England.

She's the only person
who's Henry's wife.

Nobody else can claim this.

This is a real
high in Anne's life,

because not only has
her rival finally died,

but she's also pregnant.

But just a few weeks later,

on the day of Katherine
of Aragon's funeral,

everything goes wrong and
Anne Boleyn miscarries her baby.

OWEN EMMERSON:
We know that it's a boy,

that it's probably
around 13 weeks.

It must have been
horrendous for her.

OWEN EMMERSON: Anne feels not
only that her child has slipped away,

but that things are
slipping away for her, too.

The son that she could
have delivered to Henry

and vindicated her whole career

and her role as
Queen was taken away.

Again, psychologically
very damaging.

SUSAN DORAN: Henry is not
very good when people fail him.

Her failure leads Henry
to question the marriage.

If God had thought
that it was legitimate,

why was he denying Henry
and Anne the male child

that they both
wanted and needed.

So Henry was distressed, he
was having arguments with Anne.

And it was at that point that
Anne's enemies begin to move in.

OWEN EMMERSON: Anne has
been through a lot at this stage.

Um, I don't think perhaps
she has recovered

from the very traumatic
miscarriage that she has had

and she is increasingly
concerned by the fact

that the King isn't paying
her as much attention

in the marriage bed.

[uptempo tense music]

NANDINI DAS: The person that
Henry is distracted by at that point

is that demure, quiet, blonde,

light haired, light eyed,
shy girl, Jane Seymour.

Jane has been
very carefully trained.

She's come to the court
with her two brothers

and they are very much
the people calling the shots

behind her.

They're yet another Tudor family

of hopeful, aristocratic lineage

who have come to
court to make their mark.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH: The
Seymours were a family whom

Cromwell had known since
the days of Thomas Wolsey

and Thomas Cromwell
was their friend.

As it became apparent that the
King wanted to be close to Jane,

well, Cromwell vacated his
rooms at court for that to happen.

And Jane was instructed
how to act in front of the King,

which was basically to
repeat the Anne Boleyn trick

of refusing to allow the
King to sleep with her

until she had a
promise of marriage.

SUSAN DORAN: What really
tips the balance against Anne

is the decision of Thomas
Cromwell to work against her.

Thomas Cromwell seems to
have been determined to bring down

the whole of the Boleyn crew.

Maybe he was anxious that
Anne would make a faction

that could disturb
him or threaten him.

He needed as it were to cut
out the Boleyns like poison.

[birds chirping]

NARRATOR: Perhaps Anne
senses the impending danger to her

and her family.

Her father Thomas is now
rarely at court to advise her.

Certainly court is something
of a young man's game

and I think that Thomas Boleyn
had begun to tire of the endless

factional battles
and the intrigues.

Perhaps he was feeling
his age and he just chose

to move away from
court and focus on his role

as Lord Privy Seal and, of
course, on the county of Kent

and all of the land-owners
who so relied on him.

NARRATOR: But back at
court, records provide evidence

that around this time,

Anne's behavior
starts to become erratic.

Why do you look so sad?

OWEN EMMERSON: There is
a very real sense to Anne here

that everything
is slipping away.

There's a strangeness to
her behavior at this time.

She has these flirtations

and then admonishments
of men in her chamber.

What is it? Why are you moping?

ELIZABETH NORTON: We can
see rumors of the flirtatiousness

of Anne Boleyn's
household starting to leak out

and it being commented upon.

She is friendly with a young
musician, Mark Smeaton,

who is very much
beneath her in status.

He is perhaps in love with her.

And also she is friendly
with Henry Norris,

who has always been
a good Boleyn friend

and is close to the King.

You've been keeping Madge
in suspense far too long.

Surely, its time now
to ask for her hand?

I think I shall wait
a while longer.

You're looking for
dead man's shoes then?

For if anything were
to befall the King,

you would look to
replace him and have me?

You can almost feel the
tension at court in April 1536.

The sources are crackling
with this, this tension

and we can imagine what
Anne's mental state is like.

She goes between such
great highs and great lows.

She's clearly anxious,

trying to put on a brave face,

trying to put on a show of
confidence and queenship

and she's still fighting.

She certainly isn't down.

But she's no longer
secure in Henry's affection

and Henry's love.

And she knows full well
he can bring her down

as quickly as he has raised her.

NARRATOR: On
the 2nd of May, 1536,

Anne's worst
fears are realized -

and it's a member of her own
family who delivers the blow.

Thomas Howard is the
one who arrests his niece.

That responsibility
is technically his.

Yes, he is asked to do it

because he's the
Duke of Norfolk,

because he's Earl Marshal,

because it falls in the
purview of the roles he holds.

Yet, it's still a shuddering,
unnatural moment

to see an uncle arrest a niece.

[clicks tongue]

He makes sure to
ostentatiously tut, tut, tut at her,

and this rings as the actions of
someone petty, grandstanding;

it's the actions
really of a bully.

[uptempo dramatic music]

We can only imagine
Anne's mental state

when she arrives at the Tower.

She's so confused

and she's clearly looking
around to try and find a reason

for why she might be held.

She refers to
members of her family,

she talks about her
mother dying of grief,

and most poignantly she asks,
"Where is my sweet brother?"

And she wants to know
what is happening to George.

And is he all right?

And George Boleyn is
very much not all right.

[bell tolls]

[scraping]

NARRATOR: George
has also been arrested

and brought to the
Tower of London -

along with several
other male courtiers.

They, and Anne, are set to
be tried publicly at Westminster,

with a very familiar face
presiding over the trial.

[heavy door slams]

Queen Anne has been the
wife of Henry VIII for three years.

She has despised her marriage

and entertained malice
against the King in that time.

In following her carnal
lust, she did procure various

of the King's servants
to be her adulterers,

by base conversations
and kisses,

touching, gifts, and
other vile provocations.

Anne Boleyn is charged
with having an adulterous affair

with Henry Norris;

Francis Weston, another
of the King's gentlemen,

William Brereton,

and finally, Mark Smeaton,
the young musician

that she'd found
standing looking longingly

in her chamber window.

There was now evidence,
very, very dubious evidence,

that Anne had been
committing adultery.

That's the sort of thing which
Thomas Cromwell would realize

could be fed into the ear of the
King to see what would happen.

He had the chance to
start poisoning the King's

already shaky
confidence in his wife.

GREG WALKER: So,
where a mature sensible King

in full control of his
faculties would have said,

oh don't be stupid,
it's just gossip,

now, Henry, in his
paranoid schizophrenic rage

looks at those men who've
knelt before the Queen

and told her they love her

and thought,
yeah, I just missed--

How did I miss that?
She is obviously a whore.

"I bet she had sex
with 100 men," he said.

So it's his insane
fury that drives this.

NARRATOR: But it's not just
Anne who must be brought down.

George Boleyn,
brother of the Queen,

uh, must also be eliminated.

No question of
leaving him around.

They were so close; they
were brother and sister.

So, how can you destroy
George so utterly and completely

alongside Anne?

Also, several times
at Westminster,

the Queen incited her own
natural brother George Boleyn,

Lord Rocheford, gentleman
of the Privy Chamber,

to violate her,

alluring him with her
tongue in his mouth,

and his tongue inside hers,

whereby he carnally knew
the said Queen, his own sister.

It's such an
outrageous accusation.

At one level, one should
think, well, it's just laughable,

but on another it's...
it's so deeply hurtful

to her and to him.

ELIZABETH NORTON: Nobody
really believes the charges

against George Boleyn.

He put up such a
good defense at his trial

that people are actually
wagering while it was going on

that he would be acquitted.

The court could produce no
proof of my incestuous guilt...

other than I spent hours in
the presence of my own sister.

Then a further charge
was shown to me

in writing with warning
to read it and not speak it.

There's one moment where
he's given a piece of paper,

which lists some of the
accusations against him

and Cromwell explicitly tells
him not to read them out aloud,

because they're
insults to the King.

George doesn't care.

He reads them out in front of
the thousand-plus audience.

I addressed it to the assembly.

That the King was
not adept at copulation.

That he had not the
virtue nor the power to--

[laughs]

There you are!

They said I knew
of it from my sister -

that it was our joke
we shared around court.

This is what really
seals George's fate.

The fact that he has read

this hugely embarrassing
accusation out

so that everyone can hear.

He's embarrassed the King.

NARRATOR: But
embarrassment isn't a capital crime.

And neither, in most
cases, is adultery.

In order to eliminate
the Boleyns permanently,

Cromwell needs a
clear cut treason charge.

You're looking for
dead man's shoes then?

For if anything were
to befall the King,

you would look to
replace him and have me?

Essentially what
Anne had said here is,

when the King dies,
you'd look to have me,

you want to, to marry me.

Anne here has admitted to
imagining the King's death.

Now, there is no doubt in my
mind that Anne is not plotting

the King's death here.

She is engaging in
that art of chivalry,

but she's overstepped the mark.

She's been reckless.

[bell tolls]

[leaves rustle]

Because you have
offended our sovereign

and the King's grace,

in committing treason
against his person,

you have deserved death

and death is your judgement.

[bird caws]

NARRATOR: It has taken
four decades for the Boleyns

to reach the height
of their ambitions.

And all but two weeks
to bring them down.

Anne, George and
her supposed lovers

are all sentenced to death.

George will be the first to
die on the 17th of May, 1536.

LAUREN MACKAY: There is a
falcon carving in the Tower of London

and it is, of course,
Anne Boleyn's falcon,

it's the Butler falcon,

it's her grandfather's falcon

and it has been carved into
the stone and it has no crown.

It's more than likely
that George Boleyn

carved this falcon.

It feels to me that it's a
poignant mark of respect

to the family to whom
he had been so dedicated.

[low, dramatic music]

NARRATOR: George is beheaded
only a few yards from where

his sister is imprisoned
in the Tower,

awaiting for her own fate.

Anne's execution is
scheduled for two days later.

But she maintains her
innocence until the very end..

I have ever been a
faithful wife to the King,

though I do not say I have
always shown him that humility

which his goodness
to me merited,

or appreciated the honors
to which he raised me.

I have had jealous
suspicions of him,

which I did not have discretion
or wisdom enough to conceal.

But I have not sinned
against him in any other way.

Don't imagine I say this in
hope of prolonging my life.

My savior has
taught me how to die,

and He will
strengthen my resolve.

NANDINI DAS: The Tudor
public had always been used

to stories of tragic falls,

the stories of falls
of kings and princes.

But even they might not
have imagined a fall as graphic

as the fall of the
Boleyn family.

[metal door clangs]

NARRATOR: Anne Boleyn is
beheaded on the 19th of May, 1536.

Her parents, Thomas
and Elizabeth,

don't attend the executions
of their son and daughter.

They remain out of sight
at the family home in Kent.

SUSAN DORAN: I don't
think that Thomas Boleyn

is a martyr by temperament.

And I think he realizes

that there is no way
of saving the children.

And so it would be an
act of suicide, martyrdom,

if he went down with them.

[birds chirping]

OWEN EMMERSON:
Thomas does return to court.

Indeed, we know he's
present at the christening

of Jane Seymour's son, Edward.

This is usually used as evidence
of Thomas being ruthless,

as moving on, um,

and, uh, clambering
up the ladder again.

But he doesn't really
have a choice at this point.

Um, this is Thomas's world,

and he has to get on with it.

[wind blusters]

NARRATOR: The Boleyn family
has been shattered into pieces.

So has the alliance between
the Boleyns and the Howards.

GARETH RUSSELL:
Understandably, there isn't a particularly

close relationship after 1536.

The sheer horror of what
Thomas Howard had presided over

precludes any chance of a
meaningful rapprochement.

Thomas Howard in the future does
what Thomas Howard does best,

he carries out the
government's heavy work.

There's an extraordinary
letter he writes, saying that

every fault of the last 20 years
were the result of his enemies

and the relatives who
didn't appreciate him enough.

So until the very end,
this is a man who is

almost allergic to the concept
of personal responsibility

for his faults.

[birds chirping]

NARRATOR: Thomas Boleyn
will never forgive his brother-in-law,

but he does extend forgiveness

to another member
of the family -

his only surviving child, Mary.

LEANDA de LISLE: Whatever
quarrels or differences

she'd had with George

or with Anne, they must now
all surely have been forgotten.

The good thing was that
she became reconciled

with her father.

And so, it seems things
have turned full circle

for Mary Boleyn.

Although, unlike Anne, she was
never one of the greatest Queens

in Christendom.

She was a survivor.

She had not only
children, but grandchildren

and great grandchildren
and great great grandchildren.

This long, long line
stretching into the future.

She also has a queen,

our current Queen Elizabeth II,

who is Mary Boleyn's
direct descendant.

NARRATOR: Anne
also has a daughter

who will go on to shape
the future of England.

Queen Elizabeth I
takes England's throne

22 years after the
execution of her mother Anne

and her uncle George.

In 1578, the Queen
visits Norwich Cathedral,

near the home of
her Boleyn ancestors.

There she has a throne placed

directly opposite the
Boleyn family tomb.

[inaudible]

LAUREN MACKAY: It's a
poignant visit in the sense that

Elizabeth had always
closely aligned herself

with her father Henry
VIII and her Tudor lineage.

She had shied away from
her mother Anne Boleyn

and her Boleyn heritage.

And yet here she is
in Norwich Cathedral,

which looms so
large in the lives

of her, of her Boleyn relatives.

She couldn't really
talk about them openly.

She couldn't talk
about her mother

because of the disgrace
on her mother's name.

Her mother had died a traitor.

But by sitting there,
facing her ancestors,

she was daring people to say
any more ill of the dead - her dead.

DIARMAID MacCULLOCH:
What does the Boleyn story mean

when you stand back from it?

It's the story of how any
landed family in Plantagenet

and then Tudor England
might rise to the top.

This story would
have gone nowhere

if it had not been for Anne.

And she left an heir
to the Tudor Dynasty,

who happened also
to be quite exceptional,

with her mother's intelligence,

and her father's personality.

The Boleyns definitely
changed the course

of English history,

through love, through
passion, through talent.

NANDINI DAS: The poet
Thomas Wyatt writes a poem

about how there
is always thunder

rolling around the throne.

And that's a fantastic image,

that the most troubled space is
the space nearest to the throne.

And that's the circle in which
the Boleyns had made the mistake

of stepping into.

"These bloody days
have broken my heart

My youth, my lust,
they both depart

And all my blind ambition's gone

The fall is grievous

Those who turn from
fortune's peak will quickly learn,

As thunder rolls
around the throne"

[dramatic music]