All language subtitles for S01E01 The Unexpected King.EN

Tracy Borman:
Divorced, beheaded, died,

Divorced, beheaded, survived.

That familiar saying
for remembering

The six wives of Henry VIII

Makes us believe that it was
only the women in his life

Who have defined him.

The fact that Henry VIII
married more times

Than any other monarch
in British history

Has overshadowed
his larger-than-life character

And turbulent reign.

But remarkable
though his marital history is,

It's not what defines him.

Just as influential were the men
with whom he was surrounded.

My name is dr. Tracy Borman,

And I'm chief curator
at historic royal palaces.

This series will tell the story
of England's most famous monarch

Not through the king's wives,
but through the king's men

Who influenced him
throughout his life...

Some well-known, others
mere footnotes in history.

But their hidden history
lay behind the Tudor throne,

Shaping the character,
opinions, and image

Of one of the most famous kings
in history, Henry VIII.

I spend my life researching
and writing about Henry VIII,

But more recently,

I focused on the men
around Henry

Who shaped his life and reign

To an extent that is
all too easily overlooked.

In 1509, four days
before his 18th birthday,

Henry VIII was crowned
King of England.

Gone was the frugal,
cautious reign of Henry VII,

To be superseded
by equal measures

Of decadent opulence
and gruesome brutality.

His father's attempts
to mold him

Into a king in his own image
had failed,

Overcome by the influences
of the men around him.

The seeds had been sown
over 20 years earlier.

By 1485, the Wars of the Roses
had been raging for 30 years.

Two rival factions,
the Yorkists,

Under King Richard III

And the Lancastrians,
who backed Henry Tudor,

Fought for control
of the throne of England,

Culminating
in the Battle of Bosworth.

John murphy: Henry VII
wins an unexpected victory,

And the victory is complete

Because he has Richard III's
bloody body on the battlefield.

Borman: After the victory,
Henry Tudor seized

The throne of England
as King Henry VII,

And by marrying
Elizabeth of York,

United the two factions
in the Tudor dynasty.

Murphy:
The history of the fight,

Which has lasted
the better part of a century,

Is that just as everything
seems settled,

Everything
has tumbled down again.

Lauren mackay: The Wars
of the Roses, the drama,

The political intrigue
that had engulfed the country

For so many years, was still
fresh in everyone's minds.

That hung over his reign.

He was surrounded by riots.
He had rebellions from Scotland.

I think I'd be paranoid
if I'd have been Henry.

Borman:
As an usurper of the throne,

Henry VII was plagued
by rival claimants to his crown.

What he needed most
to secure his new Tudor dynasty

Was a male heir,
and it wasn't long

Before his new wife
found herself with child.

On the 24th of September 1486,

The streets here in Winchester
were lined with crowds

All desperate to catch a glimpse

Of the most important baby
in England.

Winchester Cathedral
had already hosted

The coronations,
funerals, and marriages

Of several English
kings and queens,

But today it was to witness its
first baptism of a future king

For nearly a thousand years.

The infant in question was
the heir to Henry VII's throne.

The birth of a son had,
at a stroke,

Rendered Henry VII significantly
more secure on his throne.

A priest anointed him
here in this font

And announced his name
to the assembled congregation,

And that name was Arthur.

His father had plucked his
name from the midst of legend

By creating
a questionable family tree

That linked his new dynasty
back to Camelot

And the Knights
of the Round Table.

Nigel jones: The legend
of King Arthur was published

At the time
of the Wars of the Roses,

So this would have been known
to a wide number of people,

All these legends of Camelot,
the Round Table,

The Quest for the Holy Grail.

Mackay: This myth of Camelot
permeated the court,

And he decided to name
his first son and heir Arthur.

He was going to bring about

The glorious age of Camelot
once more.

Borman: And as if
it wasn't clear enough,

At the time,
Winchester was believed to be

One of the original locations
of Camelot,

Further cementing the link.

And so Henry's older brother,
Prince Arthur,

Was heir to the throne,
forged in reborn legend.

This was the shadow under which
the future King Henry VIII

Was soon to be born.

There is only one surviving
portrait of Prince Arthur,

And it hangs in Hever Castle
in the English county of Kent.

Well, tellingly,
this is the only known portrait

Of Prince Arthur to survive,

But at the time of his birth,

The eyes of the nation
would have been on him,

And certainly the eyes
of his father, Henry VII.

All of his attention
was on Arthur, on his education,

On raising him
to be a future King

Because it was this boy
who would one day succeed him.

But Henry VII's new dynasty
was still anything but secure,

And rivals were waiting
around every corner,

Anxious to take power.

In this age
of high infant mortality,

What Henry VII needed in order
to send a powerful message

To his enemies was another son.

He was therefore overjoyed
when news arrived that his wife

Had been safely delivered
of a boy

On the 28th of June 1491.

This was the future
King Henry VIII.

In contrast to Arthur, the time
of the birth was not recorded.

It was only deemed necessary
to record the date,

And even that
had to be corrected.

At his baptism, the boy was
named Henry after his father,

Who now had the spare heir
he wanted.

But once the ceremony was over,

Henry VII became
a distant figure

And Prince Henry's upbringing

Was supervised
by his mother, Elizabeth.

He spent much of his childhood
away from the royal court

At Eltham Palace near London.

Today only
this great hall survives.

Although there are few records
of Henry's early years,

We do know that he enjoyed
a comfortable,

Even indulgent, childhood here.

The staff of the royal nursery
were mainly female,

But there was one significant
male influence in his life

From the very beginning,

His mother's illegitimate
half-brother,

Arthur Plantagenet.

Mackay: Arthur had a reputation

For being a man of integrity,
of intelligence and education.

He was a gentle soul
by all accounts.

Elizabeth could trust Arthur
to actually help influence Henry

And nurture him as well.

Borman: Arthur Plantagenet
would shape the prince

Into a very different man
from his father.

One of the pastimes his uncle

Almost certainly introduced him
to was the sport of jousting.

I've come to historic equitation

In the English county
of Northamptonshire

To meet with horse trainer and
jousting expert Dominic Sewell.

So, Dom, where did Henry's love
of jousting begin?

Dom sewell: I think
it was imbued with him

From a very early age.

He'd always been surrounded
by the glamour of jousting

And these kind of
celebrity jousters

Being around him at the time,

So that being a big influence

On what he wanted to do
as a young man.

They were the celebrities
of their time

And very famous in their day.

Some people may never
have seen these knights,

So they were
quite legendary, really.

As a young boy,
he would have been desperate

To be able to join in,
to mount his pony,

Pick up a lance,
and go charging at the list,

Running at the ring.

It's definitely something
that he wanted to do very much.

Borman: As king, Henry VIII
would continue to pursue

The interests he'd picked up
from his illegitimate uncle,

Arthur Plantagenet,

And display
many of his qualities,

Much more so than those
of his own father,

Whom he rarely even saw.

Henry VII led
an itinerant court,

Moving from place to place,

Trying to shore up
his uncertain rule.

What little time
he had for family

He spent with his older son.

Jones: Prince Henry
and Prince Arthur were destined

From a very early age

For different roles in life.

Arthur was the elder son,
he was the heir,

He was being trained
for kingship.

Henry was destined
for the church,

And he was given
a much more scholarly education.

Borman: It's reasonable to
assume that, like any young boy,

Prince Henry would have
wanted to see

And spend time with his father,

But that was something
that rarely happened.

Susan Doran: It's possible
that he felt deprived

Of love and attention

As a spare heir.

It's possible that he felt,

Uh, someone
who lacked confidence.

It was very usual
for royal children

To have little contact
with their parents.

Borman: But Henry and his family
were to be reunited,

And firsthand accounts
of the event

Survive to this day
in the British Library,

And they reveal that it left
a huge impression on him.

Well, among the many treasures
here at the British Library

Is this wonderful account
of the young Prince Henry

Being made a Knight of the Bath
and Duke of York.

This happened in 1494,
so he was just three years old.

This magnificent occasion would
stay in Henry's mind forever.

It was a really important moment
in his childhood,

His first major
public appearance,

And we know that he
remembered it

Because many years later,
he came back to this manuscript,

And you can see how
he's altered it, he's edited it.

Clearly, they hadn't got
some of the details right

According to his own memory.

Henry was even given the honor
of holding Henry VII's towel

For him while he ate,

Finally giving him personal
contact time with his father.

It really meant a lot to him.

This prince, who'd been
living in the shadows

For the first part
of his childhood,

Had enjoyed an all too brief
moment in the spotlight.

Glenn Richardson: All the Tudors
seemed to be quite adept

When very young at putting on
public performance,

And Henry VIII
is no exception to that,

So it would have been
very interesting for him to be

Drawn out from, as it were,
the women's side,

The nursery side, into the world
of men and politics.

And, and from the start,
he seems to have, you know,

Cut quite a dash,
even as a three-year-old.

Borman: Although he had relished
his moment in the sun,

For Henry,
it was over all too soon.

Henry was escorted
back to Eltham,

And his father's attention was
once more on his elder brother.

As Arthur grew up,

Henry increasingly tried
to mold him in his own likeness,

As a future king.

Mackay: The very weight
of the Tudor dynasty

Rested on Arthur's shoulders,

And so, of course,
his entire day-to-day living

Was micromanaged by his father.

He began the art of kingship
almost immediately.

Prince Henry, however,
had a very indulged childhood.

He was doted on by his mother
and his grandmother.

I feel that he didn't
really have a purpose

In his early years
because, of course,

He was just destined
for the church.

Borman: But in preparation
for his ecclesiastical future,

There was one thing
Henry was not short of... books.

And the men who wrote them

Would help shape
how he would later rule.

Doran: He was influenced
by the chivalric romances

That he read about, the history
of kings like Henry V.

And in addition to that,
I think what influenced him

Were men like Erasmus.

Borman: Erasmus
was the most famous

International scholar
of the age.

His writings on humanism
and the ability of an individual

To raise themselves
through education

Were a great influence
on renaissance Europe

And the worldview of Henry.

The prince himself met Erasmus
when he visited Eltham Palace.

Doran: The two of them
were supposedly and probably

Impressed with each other,

So there was
that personal relationship

As well as reading
some of the works of Erasmus

That had an influence on Henry.

Borman: Henry would never
forget the meeting,

And the pair would strike up
a lively correspondence

That would shape and stimulate
the prince's intellect

For many years to come.

Arthur, meanwhile,
was shaping up

To be the very image
of his father.

Soon, Henry VII began planning
ahead to find a suitable bride

To provide the next generation
of the Tudor dynasty,

And eventually
a match was found.

To double-check her suitability,
Henry VII met the bride-to-be

On her arrival in England
in October 1501.

They had a pretty awkward
first meeting,

Given that neither of them could
speak the other's language,

But nevertheless,
he was satisfied.

She was just shy
of her 16th birthday,

Exquisitely pretty
with strawberry blond hair

And a smooth, pale complexion.

And her name
was Catherine of Aragon.

Mackay: She was the daughter
of the power couple

Of the Spanish empire,

Isabella of Castile
and Ferdinand of Aragon.

She was an incredible catch,

And the Tudor period
needed a good catch.

Borman:
Nearly eight years later,

Catherine of Aragon would marry
King Henry VIII,

But first she was betrothed
to his brother Arthur.

On their wedding day, thousands
of Londoners turned out to see

One of the most dazzling
processions in royal history.

It was not only the bride
who wore white,

Prince Arthur
was similarly attired,

Perhaps as a symbol
of his youth and purity.

For Henry VII, this was
the perfect union he desired,

Cementing the links
between England and Spain.

And for Prince Henry,

It was another chance
to be at a public event.

Anna whitelock:
Prince Henry was ten

At his brother's marriage
to Catherine of Aragon,

And perhaps like
any little brother at a wedding,

Certainly a ten-year-old

And certainly a precocious
young boy like Henry,

He decided that he wanted
some of the attention,

And he did steal the show.

It was a huge stage, of course.

The eyes of Europe were looking
on England at this point.

Borman: Henry presented a stark
contrast to his brother Arthur,

Who soon tired
of the festivities.

Richardson: Not sure Arthur
would have been, you know,

That delighted having
his younger brother...

Um, the royals and, you know,

Older and younger brothers
we know in our own time

Can sometimes want
to outshine each other,

And that was certainly the case
with Henry as a young prince.

Borman: Arthur's wedding
had temporarily propelled

His younger brother
into the spotlight,

But it would have
a far more lasting impact

On Henry than that.

Not long afterwards, when Arthur
and his new wife Catherine

Had taken up residence
at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire,

The prince fell dangerously ill.

Confined to bed, Arthur
deteriorated within days.

He had most likely
contracted tuberculosis.

There were even suggestions
that Catherine, too, was ill.

But while she would survive,
Prince Arthur would not.

On the 2nd of April 1502,
he died.

He was just 15 years old.

Henry VII
was utterly devastated.

Not only had he lost his son,
but also the heir to the throne.

Mackay: I think this really
reflects the precariousness

Still of their reign.

They hadn't just lost their son;
they had lost their heir.

This was the boy
that Henry had invested in.

Everything had depended
on Arthur.

Now they'd have to start again.

Borman: In life,
his elder brother

Had exerted little influence
over Henry,

But his untimely death

Would have the most profound
impact imaginable.

The ten-year-old Prince Henry
was now heir to the throne.

Borman: Henry VII had
painstakingly brought Arthur up

To be a future king
in his own mold,

But with Arthur gone,
the future of the Tudor dynasty

Now rested with Prince Henry.

Mackay: You have to remember
that Henry VII

Had invested everything
in Arthur.

He had been educated
in the art of kingship.

Now eyes turned to the spare,

Prince Henry,
the indulged Prince Henry.

How was this young boy
ever going to be king?

Borman: Having virtually ignored
his younger son for ten years,

The cold, distant Henry VII
would now attempt to reshape

The carefree prince
into a future king.

Despite their differences,

Things seemed to get off
to a good start.

Upon Arthur's death,

Negotiations almost
immediately started

With Catherine of Aragon's
father

To transfer her to Prince Henry.

Henry himself seemed willing.

The idea of marrying
a beautiful Spanish princess

Held a lot of appeal.

His father's next move
was also a popular one

With the young prince.

He added more men
to Henry's household.

Henry, by this point,
was nearly 11

And gladly welcomed
more male company

And role models to aspire to.

But if his father's
first two actions

Had proved popular with his son,

He was about to reveal
his true colors.

In February 1503, two men
from his father's court

Arrived at Eltham
with devastating news.

Queen Elizabeth,
Prince Henry's mother, had died.

The fact that his father
hadn't even told him in person

Of his mother's death
must have hurt the young prince,

And the pair's relationship
was only going to get worse.

Mackay: The news of his mother's
death was broken to him

In such an impersonal way.

I think this speaks volumes
about the relationship

And just how distant
father and son really were.

Borman: The painting
of this scene is the only image

Of Henry VIII
that shows his vulnerability

As he cries on the bed
at the death of his mother.

Elizabeth's death
also meant that Henry VII

Had lost his chance
of having further children.

His paranoid nature
was heightened

And so, too, was the attention
that he paid to his son.

Murphy: Everything now
rests on this one person,

The dynasty rests
on this one person,

The security of everything
that Henry VII has fought for

Rests on this one person,

And he probably
feels more vulnerable

At this stage of his life
than any time since Bosworth

Because the world
is slipping away from him,

And Prince Henry,
the future Henry VIII,

Represents everything.

Borman: And soon Prince Henry
was to have little escape

From his father's attention.

When he came of age at 13,

Henry was ordered by his father
to leave Eltham

And join his court
at Richmond Palace.

Today only
the gatehouse survives

Of this once magnificent palace
built by Henry VII.

But it was here
that the pair lived together

For the first time.

This could have been the point
where father and son's

Shared grief at the death
of the woman they both loved

Brought them closer.

But instead of giving his son
warmth and comfort,

Henry VII focused
on the cold reality

Of the survival
of the Tudor dynasty.

And increasingly
in each other's presence,

Their differences became
all the more apparent.

Whitelock: Henry VII
was a quite scrupulous,

Very much an administrator.

He was a rigorous, diligent king

Who had great attention
to detail.

I mean, we know
that he personally

Signed chamber accounts.

His son Henry was in many ways
completely different.

He was a show-off.
He was attention-seeking.

He had a short attention span.

He found the rigorous work
of administration boring.

Murphy: The personality
of Prince Henry, as he is,

Um, and his father
are so different...

Chalk and cheese...

They couldn't be more different.

I honestly would wonder
whether you could ever say

That they would have
liked each other.

Borman: It wasn't only his
father he had to contend with,

But also his father's men.

Among them were Richard Empson
and Edmund Dudley,

Prominent councilors
of Henry VII,

Who enforced taxation.

Needless to say,
they didn't hit it off.

Murphy: Historically, they're
regarded as dark characters.

One is a lawyer,
and the other one

Really is connected
to the City of London.

They are both remarkably able
at wringing money

Out of the City of London
and its citizenry

And the greater nobility.

Jones: They'd made themselves
extremely unpopular

As tax gatherers,
as enforcers of royal rule,

Screwing every last groat
and penny

Out of a long-suffering
population.

There was quite a long tradition
in English history

Of tax gatherers,
enforcers of the royal will,

Making themselves
extremely unpopular

With the population at large.

Murphy: Prince Henry
knows enough of them

To know how important they are,
but also he knows enough of them

To know that they've upset
a lot of people.

Borman: Putting him together
with Empson and Dudley

Was giving Prince Henry
new insight into the worst sides

Of his father's reign.

But Henry VII would also
inadvertently introduce him

To someone who would make a more
positive impression on his son.

One of the men his father
appointed to look after him

Was Charles Brandon.

He was seven years older
than Henry,

But so closely resembled him
that some people referred to him

As the prince's bastard brother.

He rapidly became
one of Henry's favorites.

Doran: Charles Brandon's father
had been the standard-bearer

At the Battle of Bosworth,

And he had lost his life
in service to Henry VII,

So Henry was in the belief
that Charles was loyal

And deserved also to receive
his patronage.

And it was for that reason
that he provided Charles

Almost as a role model
for, for Henry.

Borman: But Charles Brandon
was not the man

That Henry VII
thought him to be.

Jones: Perhaps the monarch
did not realize

What sort of character
Charles Brandon was.

He was a bit of a roisterer,
he was a drinker,

He was a womanizer,

And he probably had,
in medieval terms,

An unwholesome influence
on the young Henry

Because he was, if you like,
his bosom buddy.

Borman: Henry VII did not know
the true character

Of Charles Brandon,

But far from being shocked
by his scandalous new companion,

Prince Henry seems
to have idolized him.

Whitelock: Like any son
with a controlling parent,

Henry wanted
to push back against it.

It's also, you know, reasonable
to assume that the young Henry

Was a little bit frustrated
that suddenly he was now

Having to be man-managed
by his father

And by those around his father

Just because
his brother had died

And now he was next in line
to the throne.

Borman: Before long, Henry
was staying up late with Brandon

And the other men of his
household, drinking and dancing.

Unfortunately, his father
soon got wind of this,

So he and his ministers decreed
that the prince's activities

With his male favorites
should be repressed.

Borman: Prince Henry's affinity
with the finer things in life

Has enraged his father.

Brandon would go on
to play a key role

In the future king's reign,

But for now the prince was back
under Henry VII's watchful eye.

The suffocating protectiveness
of his father reached its peak

When he decreed
that Prince Henry

Could no longer take part in his
favorite pastime, jousting.

Murphy: People
who are rather good at it

Tend to be risk-takers,

And Henry is a risk-taker,

So much so that his father
bans him from jousting.

Arthur would have done
as he was told

And seen the reason for it.

The young Henry is a much more
tempestuous character

Than his brother
would have been.

Borman: Henry VII
even considered marrying

Catherine of Aragon himself
to get his hands on her dowry,

As Prince Henry
was still too young.

The king was becoming
increasingly unpopular

With his people,
as well as his son,

And they were looking forward
to a future without him.

By the time Prince Henry was 16,
his father's subjects

Increasingly looked to him
as the hope of the kingdom.

He presented a majestic
and appealing alternative

To his dour father

And his grasping advisors,
Empson and Dudley,

Who continued to strip money
from the population.

Richardson: As Henry gets
into his middle teen years,

So about the age of 16,

He's increasingly
physically confident,

He's ebullient,

He's got that outgoing,
charismatic characteristic

Which he'll show
throughout his reign.

His father, who's not by our
standards particularly old,

But has sort of been worn out
by the wearisome process

Of trying to get England, you
know, back under royal control.

He's thought of
as miserly and suspicious.

Borman: With the relationship
between Henry VII and his son

Becoming increasingly fraught,

Perhaps Prince Henry
was also looking ahead.

But at 11:00 at night
on the 21st of April 1509,

Henry became free of
his controlling father forever.

Henry VII died.

It soon became clear
that the old king's attempts

To mold his son
had come too late.

They may have shared a name, but
there the similarities ended.

17-year-old Prince Henry
was now King Henry VIII.

Over the next 37 years,

The gentle prince
would gradually evolve

Into a tyrannical king.

He would bring back
the pageantry and splendor

Of absolute monarchy,
marry six times,

Break the English church
from Rome,

And order countless executions.

But what will become clear

Is how crucial the king's men
were in what was to unfold.

They would not only
carry out his will,

They'd mold his views,
shape his destiny,

And steer his turbulent reign.

He would promote them,
trust them,

Honor and reward them.

But when they'd outlasted
their purpose,

He would utterly destroy them.

It would not take long
for the gruesome side

Of his personality
to reveal itself,

And, once unleashed,
it would gather pace,

Leaving him the brutal tyrant
he's remembered as today.

From the outset, it became clear
that this new king

Was not his father's man.

Empson and Dudley were thrown
into the Tower of London.

And a month
after his father's burial,

He married Catherine of Aragon.

Murphy: The speed with which
he marries the princess dowager

Is astounding.

All the hesitations
are cast aside.

He just plunges straight ahead,
marries her,

Um, what is, at the time,
a universally popular act.

This sort of illustrates
almost immediately

That a new world order
has been called into being.

Borman: The regime established
by Henry VIII

Would soon extend
into the privy council,

The group of men
who could advise the king,

But more often than not,
simply carried out his will.

Henry replaced some
of his father's councilors

With men that were
more closely aligned with him,

Such as the Duke of Norfolk,

Who was also the uncle of
a young girl called Anne Boleyn,

His best friend Charles Brandon,

Who shared
his enthusiasm for war,

And the Duke of Buckingham,

Who had served Henry's father

But would now have to adapt
to the new regime.

Doran: Gradually the council
starts to change.

These are men
who are in sympathy

With Henry's style of kingship

As a war-like, magnificent
renaissance monarch,

In a way that the older figures
on Henry VII's council were not.

Borman: With the privy council
shaped in his image,

The privy chamber,
where the men took care

Of the monarch's personal needs
and well-being,

Also underwent a transformation,

And as the reign wore on,

It would reach new levels
of importance.

Whitelock: Henry VIII
literally turned

The privy chamber on its head

Because it became a place that
the king wanted to hang out.

It became
the king's kind of den.

It was his man cave.

He wanted to fill it
with young guys

Who were similar in age to him

And liked the same kind
of things that he liked,

Like tennis, jousting.

Borman: While Henry VII
kept the men who served him

In his chamber at a distance
from his duties as king,

With Henry VIII,
this all changed.

Men like Charles Brandon,

Who found himself in the council

And the chamber,

Gained unprecedented influence.

Whitelock: So, we see emerging
what's been described

As the politics of intimacy,
this power that these guys had,

Not because they had
official positions,

But because
they had the king's favor

And they had the king's ear,

So suddenly political intimacy
and the politics of intimacy

Really did define the court,

And really where it was at
was really the privy chamber,

Not the formal privy council
as it had been under Henry VII.

Borman: It was a revolution.

Though what Henry
would not yet know

Is that as he made these men

The most powerful
in the country,

They would soon start
to take advantage.

Meanwhile, as his council
and chamber took shape,

It was time for the first
casualties of the new reign.

Empson and Dudley had been
languishing in a cell

In the Tower of London for
over a year awaiting their fate.

Dudley had even sought
to gain favor with Henry

By writing a treatise
in support of absolute monarchy

Called "The tree
of commonwealth."

But it may never
have reached the king.

In August 1510, Henry gave
his first clear demonstration

That this charismatic
and generous young king

Had an altogether darker side.

His father's closest advisors,
Empson and Dudley,

Were executed,

And those new men around him
should have taken note.

Just as Henry had the power
to make them,

So he also had the power
to destroy.

But for Henry, it would take far
more than two swipes of the ax

To escape the shadow
of his father.

Jones: I think the execution
of Empson and Dudley

Marked a watershed
in the regime.

This change,
this was Henry saying publicly

In the most dramatic
and bloody fashion,

That this was going to be
a new regime,

This was going to be
a free-spending regime.

The meanness, the penny pinching
of the old regime

Was out of the window,
if you like.

The puritanical values
of Henry VII

Was going to be replaced
by a new magnificence.

Borman:
But this new magnificence

Was to be coupled
with new priorities.

That carefree upbringing
away from court had molded Henry

Into a man who prioritized
his own pleasure above all else.

Rather than working
his fingers to the bone

As Henry VII had done,

He was going to enjoy life

And leave the day-to-day
governing of his realm

To the men of the privy council.

The setup in Henry VIII's reign

Was very similar
to his father's,

But there was
one crucial difference.

Henry VII had attended as many
meetings as he physically could

And had approved decisions
on the spot.

Henry VIII,
being more interested

In life's pleasures, didn't.

Mackay: Henry VIII had been
self-indulged his entire life.

He had never really had
real responsibilities.

That had all been left
to Arthur,

So when kingship
was thrust upon him,

I don't think
he was fully prepared.

He wanted to go out and hunt
and hawk and joust and flirt.

He wanted to spend the money.

Borman: But since the council
couldn't act without the king,

Someone had to play
the role of go-between

And secure the king's approval
on state matters.

Enter Thomas Wolsey.

But as we will discover,
Henry would unload

More and more of his
responsibilities to this man.

Wolsey would organize
military campaigns,

Forge alliances,

And shape the thoughts and views
of the king like few other men.

But to keep the king's favor,

He would have to stay
on the right side

Of his notoriously
fickle nature,

Which could see a man executing
the king's will one moment

And being executed the next,

For it would take
more than one man

To make Henry
what he would become,

And there were many men
vying for power

In the brutal world
of the Tudor court.