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- Majesty.

- I will have no married priests.

- Your Majesty. My Lord Hertford desires an audience.

- Hertford.

- Your Majesty. We have received news from France.

The Earl of Surrey, while rashly attacking

French supply forces at Saint- Etienne, just beyond Boulogne,

has lost over 600 men,

as well as all the captains and gentlemen,

who, for some reason, he had placed in the front line.

- My lords, I have heard from several sources

of the calamitous events in Boulogne.

It seems my Lord Surrey

gave battle to a large convoy of French,

and was soundly defeated.

With the death of his captains,

and most of his gentlemen. And all of this,

despite my warnings not to be bold and place Boulogne at risk.

Therefore,

I have commanded my Lord Surrey to return here,

to be examined as to his conduct by Your Lordships.

In the meantime,

I will appoint you, my Lord Hertford, as his replacement.

You leave at once for Boulogne.

I have also decided

for his many great works and talents,

to appoint my secretary,

Mr. Risley, Lord Chancellor,

and to create him Baron Risley.

- I am touched...

and deeply honored by Your Majesty's trust.

- My Lord Suffolk? - Majesty,

there are rumors of a large French fleet

being assembled and fitted out for war.

So... the Emperor has ordered

all English ships and properties in the Low Countries to be seized.

How shall we respond?

- The Emperor...

my God.

When I think of my fidelity to my friends

and all of their betrayals?

- Fleet being amassed... - My Lord.

- My Lord Hertford.

- My Lord Hertford. - Excellency.

- May we speak a moment, privately?

- Well?

- It seems, alas, that many things are amiss

in His Majesty's kingdom. - What things?

- The bad harvest and the burden of His Majesty's debts.

The plague among the sailors of His Majesty's fleet

with their swollen heads and decayed ships.

- Pray, Excellency, what is your point?

- The poisoning and the poverty

of the King's realm is in every way due to his rash

and unsustainable occupation of Boulogne...

As Your Lordship would want.

- It is true that I argued against the war.

But I lost the argument.

- You lost the argument for war, my Lord. But you can win it for peace.

Persuade the King of his folly in hanging on to Boulogne

against all reason.

You and I may come to some agreement.

- My Lord. - Mr. Risley.

- You are to be congratulated.

- Thank you, Your Grace.

I confess I find this sudden elevation

beyond my imagining. - No!

But you must imagine it,

and take great pleasure in it, as we do.

For surely, this must mean that our cause is in the ascendancy,

and that His Majesty tends ever more firmly

towards the Orthodox and Catholic persuasion and against Reform.

- Well, I trust Your Grace is right.

But for my own part, I still find the King so changeable,

I wonder if he knows his own Md.

- Henry! - Father!

- Come here! Oh, it's good to see you back at Court.

I missed you.

You remember Brigitte?

- Yes, of course! Bonjour, Mademoiselle.

- Bonjour, Henry. I'm very happy to see you again.

- Mademoiselle Roussello is now my official mistress.

I am sorry to hear that

her presence at Court makes your mother, the Duchess,

unhappy. But there is no help for it,

for your mother has made me unhappy for a long time.

- Poor Henry... - No. He's old enough to know the truth.

And guess other things about love.

- Mademoiselle,

if you make my father happy, then you have also made me happy.

- See?

- He's older and wiser than he looks.

- So are you. - Right.

Drinks.

- How is Your Majesty? - I'll tell you this, Kate.

I felt ten times better in France

than I have these past years since.

What I hate above everything

are the interpretations.

It doesn't seem to matter who I talk to at Court.

Ambassadors, clerics,

courtiers... They all interpret the facts

to suit themselves. For myself, God knows

I've always spoken with candour and honesty.

But all about me now is guile,

hypocrisy, and dishonesty.

- Your Majesty, I have written a book.

May I show it to you?

- A book? What kind of book?

- It's called Lamentations of a Sinner.

- Majesty. - Do read the dedication.

- "In praise of my most sovereign lord and husband,

"King Henry VIII,

"who is not only godly and learned,

"but who is also our Moses,

"since he has delivered us out of the captivity and bondage

"of the Pharaoh." You mean Rome.

You call the Pope's clergy riffraff,

which he planted in his tyranny?

"And in eternal gratitude to my Lord and husband,

"who has shown me by his works a holier path,

"and delivered me from the ignorance of my blind faith."

Kate. Do you mean this?

- I do, Your Majesty. And not just for myself.

I mean it for all your subjects.

- My lady.

Lady Herbert.

- Your Majesty. Bishop Gardner is here.

- Majesty.

I ask permission...

To arrest and interrogate a known...

Heretic and Protestant called Anne Askew,

for fear that she has...

friends here at Court.

- You have my permission, Your Grace.

- Good English people.

They tell us

that some of us are not fit to read the words

of our Saviour and Lord. I say to you,

I would rather read five lines in the Bible

than hear five masses in the temple!

- The priest claims to turn

the wine into God's blood,

and the bread into God's body!

But where is the proof? Go and find

the proof yourself!

Let the bread lie in the box for three months, and it will be

mouldy, and so turn to nothing that is good.

- Make way! - Wherefore, I am persuaded

that it cannot be God!

- Arrest that woman! - Faith

is my shield. I now rejoice at heart,

and hope bid me do so,

for Thou shall take my part and ease me of my woe!

For Thou art my delight.

No face, Lord, to those who look...

- My Lord Surrey,

it has been put to us that your defeat at Saint-Etienne

was not, as you claimed,

due to the unwillingness of your soldiers,

but to your own folly.

And an empty confidence in your own

unreasoning bravery.

How do you answer such a charge? - I would answer

it was not such a defeat. There was loss

and victory on both sides, and as a matter of fact,

the enemy took more losses than we.

- Even so, my Lord, our loss was the more grievous,

since we lost all our captains, who you,

regardless of the danger, sent

into the front line. - Your Grace, I think you were never in battle.

Those officers wanted

to be in the front line.

They charged with a cry and with greater courage

and in as good an order as anyone would wait for.

They were outnumbered, but they broke through the enemy lines.

They destroyed four-fifths of the convoy.

At that moment, the French were in disarray,

and if the few men that this council

had sent me had not panicked and bolted,

then His Majesty would now

be celebrating a great victory.

- But alas, my Lord, he is not.

You took a risk in attacking an enemy far superior in numbers,

and you lost. You were personally forced

to flee the battlefield, which is reprehensible.

And one of only three ways by which a knight companion

can be degraded from the Order of the Garter.

- My Lord Surrey,

my brother, Lord Hertford, has

already announced allegations against you

for corrupt misuse of office while

you were Lieutenant General of Boulogne.

He has announced an immediate purge on many of those

that you appointed to positions of authority.

- Sir, believe me.

There are just too many witnesses that will tell you

that Henry Howard was never corrupted

by personal considerations.

Nor did his hand ever close upon a bribe. - Nevertheless,

this council must confirm your removal as Lieutenant General,

as well as revoke your former title, Captain of Boulogne.

You are ordered not to return to France.

- I'm sure His Majesty will see fit

to countermand these orders

after I have talked with him. - My Lord,

His Majesty has refused to grant you an audience.

- Has he?

- My Lady.

Sir Richard Rich.

- Sir Richard.

- Lady Mary. - You have some news?

- I regret to inform you that Eustace Chapuys,

once Imperial Ambassador here, has died,

soon after returning to Spain.

- He was a remarkable man

and a true friend.

And... now I have nobody.

- Lady Mary...

Let me assure you

that you still have many true friends here at Court.

Not least, Bishop Gardner.

And Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, as well as many others

who share the Catholic faith.

Who continue to believe as you believe.

- And you?

- Yes.

- My poor brother is being brought up a Protestant and a heretic.

And the King does nothing to stop it.

- Be assured,

there is work afoot to stop it.

But my Lord Gardner needs to know

that in these works, he has your support...

Even though they may touch people close to you.

- Send my love to His Grace.

Tell him I will pray fervently for his success.

Anne Askew.

- Yes, sir. - We hear that you still

openly, and in public, preach heresy.

- I preach the Word of God, sir.

To all who will listen.

- It seems you have friends here at Court.

But then, your brother once served

in the King's household, I think.

- Yes, sir. - We think these friends may include

some ladies-in-waiting to Her Majesty.

The Duchess of Suffolk, for example.

Or Lady Herbert, the Queen's sister.

- We know that you've received

monies, whilst you've been imprisoned, for your relief.

We believe...

That diverse important ladies

sent you that money.

- There was a man in a blue coat

who delivered me ten shillings.

- And what did he say?

- He said, "My Lady Hertford sent it to me."

- With the support and permission of the Queen.

Come, come, Mistress Askew!

We can make you speak.

Have her moved down one level to the chamber.

- Your Grace, I cannot allow... - You will do

as we say...

Sir Edmund.

- No, no! No!

- Please. Please!

- Mistress Askew.

Your Grace has been badly misinformed as to the events in Boulogne.

- I am very prepared to believe it, my Lord.

- Again and again, the Council refused

to send reinforcements that I asked for.

Even the garrison at Calais refused to help,

except to send some flat-footed,

squint-eyed, unshapely men unfit to carry arms.

And now, my command is revoked.

Now I am a man of no service.

No activity.

And I must sit at home within the walls.

- Do not think of this as the end of your life, my Lord.

God has given you grace, courage, liberality.

And after Saint-Etienne, He also gave you good luck.

Luck deserted you for a moment,

but if the rest go on,

then you will soon serve the King's Majesty again.

And have every chance to regain

your honor and reputation.

- I thank your Grace for your words,

but the truth of it is, I was undermined

and attacked from the start of my command in Boulogne.

And now, I swear to you,

Hertford will smart for usurping my place.

- I would counsel Your Lordship

not to raise arms against Hertford.

- I haven't the choice.

Your Grace, it's sure the King will die

before the Prince reaches his maturity.

So who will then govern the Prince...

And the realm?

- Just pinch her, for God's sake. Just pinch her that's all.

Nothing more.

- We ask you again.

Which of the ladies of Her Majesty's chamber sent

you monies or promises of relief?

- We want to know which of the Queen's Ladies share

your beliefs.

Or if the Queen herself does.

- We must stretch her further. - My Lords!

It is absolutely against

the King's Law to rack a woman!

And I will do it no further on my conscience.

- Come, come, Sir Edmund. You know perfectly well we have the authority

of the King himself to examine her. - I do not know at all

that you have His Majesty's permission for this.

Come!

- You foolish woman. Let me ask

you something.

Do you say that priests cannot make the body of Christ?

- I say so, my Lord.

For I have read that God made man.

But that man can make God,

I have never yet read.

- And after the consecration, is it not the body of Christ?

- No. It is but consecrated bread.

- And what if a mouse eats it

after the consecration?

What shall become of that mouse?

Hm?

What say you? Stupid woman.

I say that mouse is damned.

- Poor mouse.

- What is it? - Your Majesty,

I must tell you that the woman Anne Askew

has been put to torture in absolute violation

of Your Majesty's laws.

- You were right to come and see me.

So I may explain to you, and ease your conscience.

In cases of extreme heresy,

the law makes no distinction between a man and a woman.

For as you know, Sir Edmund,

the devil takes many forms.

And yet, it is always the devil.

- Wake up. Wake up!

- We desire to ask you again about the Queen.

Come, now.

Speak, lady.

- His Majesty, the King!

- My well-beloved Commons,

I come here today to speak with you,

to set forth my mind and the secrets of my heart.

There should be perfect love

and concord in this realm. But instead,

there is discord

and dissention in every place.

What love and charity is there amongst the clergy

when one calls the other heretic and Anabaptist?

And the other calls him Papist and hypocrite?

Are these tokens of charity

amongst you? Are these

the signs of fraternal love? The people look

for light. And you bring them darkness.

And as for the laity,

you are not clean of malice and envy,

for you slander

and rebuke priests and bishops.

You take it upon yourself to judge the clergy

by the sole light of your fantastical opinions

and vain expositions.

Although you are permitted to read Holy Scripture,

you must understand that it is

under license and only to inform your conscience.

Not to dispute and make scripture.

I gave you the Bible in your own tongue, but I am sorry to see

that most precious jewel, the Word of God,

has been disputed, rhymed,

sung and jangled in every alehouse and every tavern in this realm.

I, whom God has appointed his Vicar here,

will see these divisions extinct,

and those enormities corrected.

Or God shall

account me an unprofitable servant.

Therefore...

Be of charity with one another,

like brother and brother.

Love,

dread, and serve God, to which I,

as your supreme head, and sovereign Lord

exhort and require you.

And I doubt not, but that love

and affinity which I spoke of at the beginning

shall never be dissolved

or broken between us.

- What did the King say, Sir Thomas?

- He was angry with the religious divisions in his realm.

He said that he gave people the Bible to read,

but not so that they could dispute its meanings.

- It seems to me like His Majesty is like one

who would throw a man headlong off the top of a high tower

and ask him to stop when he is halfway down.

But surely, our delivery

from the tyranny of Rome and blind faith

is not the end of the Reform

and the renewal of our Christian life, but it is only the beginning.

- The King does suppose that only he knows

the Will of Kod, and so whatever he thinks

should therefore be the new Orthodoxy, however fantastical.

It is like his own private religion.

And yet, he asks for an end to division for charity and love.

- Sir Thomas, he is still the King.

And if he asks for charity and love,

then he is doing no more than Christ did.

- Madam, the King has opened a Pandora's Box.

And whether he will or not,

he simply cannot close it now, whatever his complaints.

You look troubled. What is it?

- I fear now, more than ever, the machinations of men.

How their plots and plans swirl about the Court and the King.

I can sense it, but I have no knowledge anymore.

No one, it seems, least of all the King, confides in me.

- But is it not better so? - In some ways,

since it leaves me free to love you at my leisure.

But in other ways, it condemns my high station

to neglect affairs of the realm, especially now.

Men conspire to secure his future,

and their own profit.

- But I don't understand.

How can they secure the future?

- By controlling the Prince.

It's widely supposed that the King's infirmities grow worse.

And he will not live to see

the Prince come to maturity.

- Do you still love the King?

- My Lord Hertford. - Majesty.

- So. There is peace with France.

- Only if Your Majesty accepts the terms.

- What are the terms?

- In 8 years' time,

Your Majesty will hand back Boulogne.

In return...

for a payment of 2 million crowns.

- 2 million? - Yes, Your Majesty.

The Admiral of France, Claude d'Annibault,

will come here to Your Majesty's court to sign the peace treaty.

If Your Majesty so desires.

- Your Majesty?

- You've done well, my Lord Hertford.

- Majesty.

- My Lord. - Majesty.

His Grace, Bishop Gardner,

having examined the heretic Anne Askew,

requests Your Majesty's permission

to order the arrests of three of Her Majesty's ladies.

Including Her Majesty's sister,

Lady Herbert.

His Grace would like to question them

as to their knowledge and keeping of forbidden materials

- What?

- Stay at the door. - Yes, my Lord.

- Gentlemen.

- My Lord. - My Lord.

- Here is a very great undertaking,

upon which our lives will depend.

But what we must first decide is

how best to approach Windsor...

and in what manner to overcome the guards

that surround the Prince.

And so, remove him.

For, be in no doubt, gentlemen,

that he who possesses the heir to the throne will

very soon possess the throne itself.

- Her Majesty, the Queen!

- My Lord Risley. - Your Majesty.

- Your Grace. - Your Majesty.

- May I dance? - Of course you may, my Lady.

- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

- Your Majesty. - My Lord Hertford.

I am most glad to see you returned from France.

- Thank you, Your Majesty.

- Bishop Gardner has arrested my sister

and two of my ladies on suspicion of heresy.

- Your Grace. - Lady Mary.

How go your investigations?

- They go well.

For we have discovered certain books

in the closets of the Queen's ladies,

about which they will be questioned further.

- And the heretic, Anne Askew?

- Ah, well I'm happy to tell, good lady,

that on His Majesty's orders, she is condemned

to be burned at Smithfield.

- SEIZE HIM!

My Lord Surrey, you are under arrest for treason.

Sweetmeats. Fresh meats!

Come on in, everyone!

- Sir. Sir. - What does he want, my Lady?

Here.

Tie this around her neck.

It will end her suffering quickly.

Take it.

Not just for the money,

But also for the love of God.

- My Lady Hertford.

- What do you want?

- Just to let you know that Bishop Gardner would like to see you.

Very soon.

- What's this?

- Gunpowder.

Gift from a friend.

- My Lord Surrey.

If the King should die,

leaving the Lord Prince at his tender age, have you either

devised or suggested who should govern him in this realm?

- Whether that is,

you have ever said that in such a case,

you would have the rule and governance of him?

Or words to that effect?

- Yes, yes, cousin Knyvit. I understood the question.

- Also, is it true that you willfully bear the Royal Arms

of King Edward the Confessor?

And claim to be the next heir or kin to him?

- I only put in my coat of arms what I am entitled to put there,

Sir Richard.

- I'll tell you this, my Lord Surrey,

if ever you got power here,

in this realm, I would go abroad and stay there.

Because I would be so afraid of your malice.

- Cousin Knyvit, I am maliced not so low as you.

My malice goes much higher.

He said his malice went even higher?

- Yes, Your Majesty.

My informants tell me that it was the intention

of Surrey and his associates

to usurp authority by means of the murder

of all members of the Council,

and the control of the Prince by them alone.

- God forbid they should have succeeded

in their abominable enterprise! - Yes, Your Majesty.

Thank God the whole was found out.

- I used to love him.

Yes, I've always known he was proud

and foolish. But I loved him for all that.

Now he has forfeited my love.

- Martin. - My Lord.

- Did you get the dagger? - Yes, my Lord.

- Good man.

Come over here.

That's the river.

It comes right up at high tide.

I can just about fit down the shaft, I'm certain.

Go now, to St. Catherine's dock,

get a boat. Wait for me there.

I should be with you by midnight.

For the love of God, Martin, do as I ask,

for if I do not escape from this place... - Yes, my Lord.

- Sister. There, there!

Weep no more.

You were released! Nothing has been found.

Everything is going to be all right.

Believe me.

Everything is going to be all right.

Darling Anne, you're safe.

You're safe.

Close the door!

- He's escaping! Help me!

- My Lords, members of the jury.

For either of the offenses the Earl has committed,

he deserves death.

First, for usurping the Royal Arms,

which gives rise to the suspicion

that he hoped to become King. The other,

for escaping from prison, whereby

he proved his guilt. - You are false!

And to earn a piece of gold, would condemn your own father!

I never sought to usurp the King's Arms.

For everyone knows

my ancestors bore them!

Go to the church in Norfolk. You will see them there.

For they have been ours for 500 years.

- Hold your peace, my Lord!

Your idea

was to commit treason and become King! - And you!

You cats pole!

What have you to do with it?

You had better hold your tongue!

For this kingdom has never been well since the King put

mean creatures like you into this government!

- Silence in court!

Silence!

- If, as you say, the accusations are false,

can you explain to us why you tried to escape the Tower?

- I tried to escape to prevent myself from coming

to the pass in which I am now.

And you, my Lord, well know

that no matter how right a man may be,

they always find the fallen one guilty.

- You have only yourself to blame, my Lord,

for the pass you're in. - No.

It was a friendly foe.

My shadow of good will.

My old companion

and dear friend that trapped me.

- Henry Howard.

How do you plead? - Not guilty.

- How will you be tried?

- By God, and the country.

I knew that I hated the Earl.

But I am surprised, Sir Richard, that you share my antipathy. - My Lord Hertford,

you should not be so surprised, since the Earl hates us both the same.

So I am sure...

All of us will prosper better without him.

- I agree.

My Lords, forgive me.

But as foreman of the jury, I have to tell your Lordships

that we are not impressed with the evidence against my Lord Surrey.

It is very clear to us

that my Lord Surrey has the right to bear the arms

of Edward the Confessor. And as to the plot against His Majesty,

we can find no credible evidence to support it.

Sirs...

We do not think it right and proper that the Earl should

be condemned for such... trifles.

- Sir Christopher, whenever has

innocence been cause to save a man's life

when the King deems him unfit to live in the Commonwealth?

- My Lord.

This is a trial under law.

- Master Hayden,

if you did not know it before, then you know it now.

The law is whatever His Majesty says it is.

And if you provoke His Majesty,

then you, too, will feel the full force of it.

- What is wrong, Lady Mary?

Are you unwell? - No, Madam.

- Then?

- I have heard some rumors.

- Rumors about what, Lady Mary?

- The new Imperial Ambassador has told me

that in Antwerp and in other foreign places,

that they are saying the King is looking for a new wife.

- Why should they say so?

- Despite the length of your marriage,

you have still not presented His Majesty with a child.

- Lady Mary.

We were such good friends.

You remember that, don't you?

Well, for me, nothing has changed.

And I love you, as I did before.

But something has happened,

and you no longer love me as you did before.

Why?

Gentlemen of the jury,

how do you find the defendant?

- Guilty!

- And he should die for it!

- Of what have you found me guilty?

Surely, there is no law

that justifies you. But I know the King

wants to get rid

of all the noble blood around him.

And employ none but low people.

- Not guilty! - This trial is a sham!

- No chop, chop! - Henry Howard...

- Release him! - You will be taken to the place

from whence you came, and there,

to be dragged through the city of London

unto the place of execution called Tyburn!

There, to be hanged,

cut down while still alive,

your privy parts cut off, and your bowels taken out

of your body and burned before you.

Your head cut off,

and your body divided into four parts.

The head and the quarters to be set at such places

as the King shall assign.

Where's the King? This is a travesty!

The happy life be these:

The quiet mind,

the equal friend,

no grudge, no strife,

wisdom

joined with simplicity,

the night

discharged of all care.

Where's the King?

♪

- Thank you, Lord Risley. - The King is saved from conspirators.

And Anne Askew...

- Sweetheart?

I hear you've been busying yourself with your books. - Yes, Your Majesty.

I have translated works by Erasmus,

as well as buying a beautiful book of psalms

by Thomas Berthelet.

- I wonder, Kate,

at your diligence.

- Well, I regard it as much my duty as my pleasure,

to place such wonderful books

before the good English people who have been a long time

thirsting and hungering for the sincere

and plain knowledge of God's Word.

- Just be cautious.

Not every English person can read or understand the Gospels.

And you are to be careful

of the consequences of encouraging them to try.

- Majesty, I am not afraid of the Gospels,

nor should anyone be afraid.

Your Majesty has begun a great work in banishing

the monstrous idol of Rome.

And now with God's help,

you can finish that work

by purging the Church of England of its dregs.

Majesty... - Forgive me. I am tired.

- Majesty.

Kate.

- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

- Majesty. - Majesty.

- Majesty. - Your Majesty.

- Your Majesty.

- What a thing it is,

when women become such clerks,

and what a comfort it will be to me in my old age

to be lectured to by my wife.

- Your Majesty has no need to be taught by anyone.

Your knowledge of divinity excels that of the princes

and divines throughout the ages.

Forgive me, but I think it unseemly for any

of your subjects to argue with you,

as the Queen has just done. Majesty,

many of the greatest subjects in the land

defending those same arguments that she does

have, by law, deserved death.

- I cannot believe

that you would accuse the Queen of heresy without proof.

- I have the proof. But what I need

is Your Majesty's consent to draw up certain articles

against the Queen, so that she may be put on trial.

- She could be put on trial. And yet,

I am fully resolved to spare her life.

- Certainly.

Whatever Your Majesty desires.