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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.

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.

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.

Based on rare original letters and documents, the Boleyns will tell this

from their own perspectives.

The court could produce no proof of my incestuous guilt, other than that I

had spent hours in the presence of my own sister.

I will not say your sentence, Sunchunt.

My savior has taught me how to die, and he will strengthen my resolve.

The family played a dangerous game and paid the ultimate price.

But they left a remarkable legacy, changing the course of British history

taking their name from obscurity to the apex of power.

In 1508, the first Tudor king, Henry VII, is on the throne.

Anne Boleyn and her siblings, George and Mary, are growing up in wealth and

privilege, watched over by their mother, Elizabeth.

Anne and George are thick as thieves.

They have the same temperament. They have the same personality.

They are vibrant children.

They're precocious. They really do take after their father.

Thomas Boleyn is a career man who has high hopes for his children.

Thomas Boleyn is highly educated.

He speaks French fluently.

He is also someone who reads.

and understands Latin, and he's interested in intellectual matters.

Thomas Boleyn is a third -generation gentleman.

His grandfather really came from nothing. Very much, if you like, nouveau

that respect.

Thomas Boleyn's grandfather, Geoffrey, had climbed the greasy pole of 15th

-century society.

all the way from a lowly apprentice hatter to Lord Mayor of London.

His son William made a good marriage and acquired further wealth and land.

But Thomas wanted more.

He wanted to become a powerful player at the King's Court.

Thomas Boleyn inherits this Boleyn legacy.

He is determined to improve as well upon his own generation and pass down to his

children. He's ambitious for his family.

What's the point of life if not to rise above your standing?

But when he started his political career in the 1490s, he had a problem.

Clearly mapped out in one of the most influential books of the day.

The go -to handbook, if you were a young hopeful who wanted to become a

courtier, was Baldassare Castiglione's The Courtier, El Cortejano.

This is a book that had been printed and translated across Europe. It's hugely

popular, and it sets out rules and expectations of what a courtier should

like. The perfect courtier should be nobly born, for nobleness of birth is

a clear lamp.

that shows forth and brings into light, makes visible good and bad, and inflames

and provokes virtue.

Thomas understood that success at the royal court was much easier for those of

noble birth.

Yet the Boleyn family at this time belonged to the lower rank of gentry.

And class was everything in Tudor society.

Numerous gentry families vied with the Boleyns for positions of influence, such

as the Herberts, the Dudleys, and the Pahs.

But noble dynasties of dukes and earls were firmly above them in the pecking

order.

The answer for Thomas Boleyn was to align his family with someone of noble

who could vastly increase his chances of career success

and that's why in around 1495

he made the smart strategic decision to marry elizabeth howard

they bring each other in this marriage?

Well, for the Boleyns, it really did establish the gentry status.

What about the Howards? After all, they came from this prestigious ancient

lineage. What were they getting out of it? Well, the most important thing they

were getting out of it was wealth. The Boleyns were very wealthy.

So it was really a match that was very advantageous to both of them.

but it was not a match Thomas's new wife had much say in.

Like all Tudor women, she was simply a pawn traded by the men around her.

Marriage was a contract, and to seal the deal, Elizabeth's wedding night had to

be played out in public, surrounded by members of both families.

For us, looking back, there is a potentially quite grotesque element to

consummation ceremony.

These consummation ceremonies are alien to us because they are a public

celebration around an inherently intimate act between two people.

And these ceremonies can be very awkward.

Get on with it!

Come on, lad!

This was a connection which was going to benefit Thomas greatly.

The Howards are such a powerful and influential family.

They would provide those all -important connections.

From that point, Thomas Boleyn knew his future would be entwined with that of

his new brother -in -law, Thomas Howard.

He is one of the highest -ranking peers in England. He comes from a lot of

money. He is related to anybody who matters and quite a few who don't. He

been described as one of the most unpleasant men in the 16th century,

quite the horse race to win.

Thomas Boleyn, of course, knew that by marrying a Howard, he could expect

preferment at court. He could expect... Elizabeth's brother maybe to speak up

for him, to have a word in the king's ear to maybe help get that role at court

that he wanted.

By the early 1500s, as the marriage progresses and three children are born,

Thomas Boleyn is happy to ride on the Howard family's coattails, waiting for

opportunity.

And he gets one in around 1501, when he begins to appear on the fringes of Henry

VII's court.

It's probably easiest to think about the court like a concentric kind of spiral

of circles of influence.

And at the middle of it is, of course, the king, like the spider at the centre

of its net.

Thomas Boleyn is now in competition with over a thousand fellow courtiers.

Those with titles and status are able to jump ahead.

The rest are involved in a scramble for the top, using every ounce of ingenuity

and cunning to advance.

Thomas will need to get past powerful and dangerous men like the Earl of

and Earl of Shrewsbury, who surround the king.

There's a very, very strong sense that if you want to climb to that centre, you

have to climb over other bodies.

Almost certainly, because of the influence of the Howards, Thomas Boleyn

an Esquire of the body, one of the six Esquires that attended on the king

for personal service.

Exactly what Thomas's new job entails is set out in an extraordinary document

that dates from the time of Henry VII's father -in -law, Edward IV.

These records are the earliest attempt to set out how the royal court

and they describe hundreds of jobs, including Thomas's.

The duties of an Esquire of the Body involve many secrets.

We must watch over the king in his chamber, day or night.

Bring soup or porridge for his sustenance.

Dress and undress him and ensure no other man touches the king's person.

Don't let the king's soup get cold. That's most important.

It's not a fantastic position. It's merely a stepping stone.

The important thing is he's got his foot in the door. Now all he needs to do is

make it through.

Once inside the court.

With so many people jockeying for favour, making the right alliances is

critical.

Thomas Boleyn is very dependent on the extraordinarily volatile personality of

Thomas Howard.

Thomas Howard is still technically senior to Thomas Boleyn. They're both

climbing, they're both ambitious, they're both trying to build their own

reputations. Thomas Howard is building his as a soldier, he's a good military

commander.

He's not well liked at court.

All that matters to Thomas Howard is, are you noble or not? What's your blood?

What's your lineage?

He's also about as diplomatic as a bag of bricks.

If Howard is doing well, Boleyn does well, but the moment Howard gets into

trouble, his whole hierarchy of patronage is vulnerable as well.

So Thomas Boleyn at this period has to have a second option.

That second option is the king's chaplain.

Thomas Wolsey possibly is the son of a butcher, a man who really has

unrivaled abilities.

He's far more intelligent than the other two Thomases.

Wolsey is already beginning what's going to be a meteoric rise to power and

influence.

Thomas Boleyn is keeping a close watch on Howard and Wolsey.

But he's also making clever connections of his own.

He started to build up a relationship with Prince Henry, who is going to

Henry VIII.

He sees in Thomas Boleyn a man who is charming, a man who is athletic. They

certainly shared a love of tournament.

and also intellectual interest.

Henry thought this was a man that I can, you know, I can have around me as a

companion that I might enjoy his company.

This burgeoning friendship happens at the perfect time.

In April 1509, King Henry VII dies, leaving the court in disarray.

As 17 -year -old Henry VIII takes the throne, many courtiers lose their

positions.

But Thomas's friendship with the young king pays off.

He not only survives, but is promoted to become one of the 26 knights of the

bar.

This is an age -old ceremony. It's already an old custom by this point,

big day comes.

for Bolin and the others, they would have bathed and come into the white hall

the tower.

The king then comes in, dips his fingers into the water, makes the sign of the

cross on them and presents them with the oath of allegiance that they have

taken.

I shall honour God above all things.

I shall love and protect your majesty, my sovereign lord.

I shall defend the rights of maidens, widows, and orphans.

I shall never abuse or neglect the honor of this order as any other member

before or after me.

Thomas Boleyn is made a knight of the bath in these coronation festivities,

which is very nice, but it's not... anywhere near as nice as Thomas Howard

getting inducted into the most noble order of the garter, which is the

chivalric order in England at the time.

He is the Premier League knight, and Thomas is down there in the championship

waiting for promotion.

But neither Thomas Boleyn nor Thomas Howard can match the meteoric rise of

third Thomas, Thomas Wolsey.

who has won himself a seat in one of the highest circles of court, the Royal

Council.

What Henry needs, of course, is people who will get things done for him. Kings

need pictures in this period because they don't have a massive bureaucracy to

and do their bidding. They just need a few people who are bloody good at their

job and worthy of that kind of person.

The young Henry VIII is hungry for glory.

and he hopes that Wolsey is the man to help him achieve it.

His new queen, Catherine of Aragon, has already secured him a valuable alliance

with the Spanish Empire.

But true glory means triumph in war, and for that, Henry needs an enemy.

What that usually wants, an aggressive policy, the obvious thing to do is

France. So Wolsey is prepared.

to back him and to make that war possible.

So he becomes this rather paradoxical figure of the warlike priest.

To win a war with France, the English need to forge an alliance with another

European court.

The best option is the powerful Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the famously

difficult emperor Maximilian I.

Wolsey needs an envoy with charm and charisma to take part in the

And there is someone waiting in the wings to grab his chance.

He's about 35 at the time.

He has no diplomatic experience.

He is clearly gifted in French, and I think that's what makes him very

important. But I get the sense that war is taking a chance on this young man.

Thomas Boleyn's task is to win Margaret of Austria's support for the war with

France in the hope that she can persuade her father, Emperor Maximilian.

What they didn't really count on was the fact that Maximilian was going to stall

his way through negotiations for months on end.

It takes almost a year, but eventually...

Margaret is persuaded to convince her father to support Henry.

Since my last dispatch, we received news that our agreement was soon to be

finalised.

Lady Margaret sent a commission to her father and estimated it would take 20

days to conclude.

She asked me if I would care to lay a wager on it.

I said it would take only ten.

She promised me her Spanish Corsa for her part of the wager, and my horse

be hers if she won.

We shall cancel it.

And today, I am the victor.

Our mission is complete.

My lady can keep her horse.

I have another request of her.

With his mission finally over, Thomas makes a move designed to benefit not the

king, but his own family.

He recognises that this court is far more magnificent than anything that he

experienced in England.

And so he asks Margaret whether his daughter can come to her court as

a fille d 'honneur, as a maid of honour. And Margaret, rather surprisingly,

agreed.

Anne Boleyn, a 12 -year -old girl, being sent to serve Margaret of Austria. It's

a huge honour.

But she must have been nervous.

She's still a young girl in a foreign court. We know that she doesn't fully

speak French at this point. She's far from fluent. And we know this because we

have a letter that Anne wrote to her father from Margaret's court.

Sir. I understand by your letter that you desire that I shall be a worthy

in this court, and you inform me that Her Majesty Lady Margaret will take the

trouble to converse with me, which rejoices me greatly to think of talking

a person so wise and worthy.

This is a very touching letter.

It has very distinctive crease lines in it.

I think this is a letter that was read many times over.

This must have been a very dear letter to her father, Thomas, indeed.

Anne is very much wanting to impress her father.

I beg you to excuse me if my letter is badly written.

And I promise you that my love is based on such great strength that it will

never grow less.

And I'll make an end to my letter after having humbly commended myself to your

good grace.

Written by your humble and obedient daughter, Anna Deboulin.

Votre fille, humble et dévouée.

The survival of that letter is quite astonishing.

Very few documents like it survive.

This is a really good opportunity for Anne to experience an incredibly

cultured court that Margaret of Austria has engendered. She welcomes incredibly

progressive thinkers.

With Anne impressing at Margaret's court and Thomas' new success as a diplomat,

the Boleyn family's prospects are looking bright.

But in the Tudor world of foreign policy and fragile alliances, you can take

nothing for granted.

In 1514, Maximilian pulls his support for Henry and instead strikes a deal

the French king.

Thomas' hard work seems to have been for nothing, and Henry doesn't get the

glorious war he wanted.

But Wolsey has a plan to turn this failure to Henry's advantage.

The argument seems to have been, well, if you can't make magnificent war as you

want to do, then why not make peace magnificently?

Make it almost as spectacular as warfare.

How do you make peace?

in the 16th century? Well, you try to find a way to create a dynastic

and usually it's through marriage.

So Thomas Boleyn and Wolsey were suggesting to King Henry VIII, marry

younger sister, and this old king of France, of a way to make sure that the

peace is going to last.

This new alliance gives Henry VIII a foothold in France, even though it means

offering up his 18 -year -old sister Mary to the 52 -year -old King Louis.

And Thomas recognises that the marriage could benefit his family too.

He wants his daughters, Mary and Anne, to get the best education, but he also

wants them to forge networks, political networks.

political alliances thomas is something of an opportunist he knows which way the

wind is blowing and anne is best placed in france

thomas secures his 13 year old daughter

a position at the french court as an attendant to the new queen mary

the court in france set the tone in terms of

courtly culture how a monarch and his retinue behave, this display of

magnificence, essentially.

And no -one does it better than those courts in France, as far as the English

are concerned.

Thomas is riding pretty high.

You know, his daughter will be able to build up a place for herself at the

French court, learn the wonderful skills of being a woman of the court.

It's like being a geisha girl without the sex.

As Anne settles into her new life in France, back in England, the man who

suggested the French alliance is riding high.

Thomas Wolsey, by 1514, he's Archbishop of York. By 1515, he's

made a cardinal at Henry VIII's insistence. So he's a very...

the highest -ranking person in Henry's administration, effectively, after the

king, and he wants everybody to know that.

People think he's an overreacher. He's the classic example of someone who's

risen too fast and too far, which is why, quite often, there's murmurs and

-calling of Wolsey as the butcher's dog.

He's the greasy cur, some of them whisper.

who has followed his master and now wants the bone all to himself.

Basically, what we'll see is doing is rubbing their face in it and the

don't like it.

Particularly, Thomas Boleyn's hot -headed brother -in -law.

The first reported moment of desired attention.

between Thomas Howard and Wolsey is when Thomas Howard allegedly pulls a knife

on him. According to Polydor Virgil, Thomas Howard took a dagger and tried to

stab Wolsey in the middle of a heated argument.

We're not sure if this is true or not. Virgil is the only source for it. If

true, this is an extraordinary event.

You know, Thomas Wolsey being stabbed by an aristocrat does not happen every

day. Many of them might have liked to try to stab him. Few of them got the

chance. It demonstrates that there's no love lost between them.

Whatever happened between Thomas Howard and Thomas Woolsey at this time marks a

tumble for Howard's career. He seems arrogant, he seems aggressive, and he's

increasingly being outshone by the more talented and the more level -headed

Woolsey.

Thomas Boleyn needs to be extremely careful about who he's seen to support.

Thomas Boleyn, he's aware that Howard and Thomas Wolsey are almost sworn

enemies. And Thomas Boleyn quite cleverly distanced himself from his

brother -in -law.

He aligns himself with Wolsey. Wolsey is his road to power and to patronage and

to favour.

Being a diplomat away for long periods in Europe might sound impressive, but

if your aim is to get closer to the king.

Thomas Boleyn's angling for a position at court. He's angling for a position

within the king's household, and he sets his sights on the treasury ship.

The position he covets is to become treasurer of the household.

It would be a major promotion, putting him in charge of the court's purse

strings. and bringing him one step closer to the centre of power.

It will give him a secure place in the royal household, but perhaps much more

important, it will give him a place on the royal council.

And that's the place where political decisions are made.

Unfortunately, Thomas Boleyn discovers that Wolsey has blocked the appointment,

that somebody else is going to get the office instead of him.

And I think he feels humiliated. This is unfair.

And he writes a letter towards me that expresses this disappointment.

For some time, I have hoped to serve the king at court rather than from

overseas.

I did entreat him to appoint me as treasurer of his household, and he did

faithfully promise me the position when it became vacant.

I hear now the king will appoint someone else.

If you would show me favour in this matter, I assure you will not regret it.

In this letter to Cardinal Wolsey, suddenly we see an insecurity in Thomas

Boleyn that we've never really had before.

He trusts that Wolsey has his back. Wolsey's really one of the few people

court that can speak for Thomas Boleyn. So he feels betrayed.

But just as it looks as though Thomas may never reach the king's inner circle,

Fate intervenes.

An Irish relative on his mother's side has died, and Thomas is one of several

claimants to his title, the Earl of Ormond.

All he has to do now is win the prize.

At the moment, it's merely a knight. It's much higher up the social hierarchy

become... An earl.

The earldom, of course, really would make Thomas stand out in a way that none

his previous Boleyn ancestors had been able to do.

It really would help him up that ladder to greatness.

But before he can grab this chance, a cousin lays claim to the title.

Thomas Boleyn does not like to be thwarted in this matter.

He brings Henry VIII into the dispute.

Unfortunately for Thomas Boleyn, Henry VIII cannot afford to alienate his Irish

nobles, and so the earldom goes to neither Thomas Boleyn nor the butler

But Thomas Boleyn covets that title. He sees it as rightfully his, and he's not

going to let it go.

Meanwhile, the court in France, where Thomas' daughter Anne is still living,

been thrown into chaos.

The old French king has died.

Henry's sister Mary has been displaced.

Francis I and his wife, Queen Claude, are now on the throne, bringing with

their own retinue of courtiers.

Thomas Boleyn is thinking, oh gosh, what's going to happen for my daughter?

Anne was going to be laid in waiting at the French court.

She was going to secure important political networks for me.

So he's thinking, I need to request for Anne to stay.

Thomas Boleyn manages to persuade the new queen to keep Anne on as one of her

attendants.

It's a pivotal intervention.

This is where she stays for the formative years of her life.

During seven years of the French court, Anne Boleyn learned about the customs of

the country, the language, obviously.

She became French in her attitude. She became French in her manners.

One source we have is Lancelot de Carles, who wrote a poem about Anne, and

was present at the French embassy.

He says that she actively studied the women around her at court so that she

herself could appear.

as French, and very soon nobody would know that she was English.

She grew in wisdom, knew how to banish sad thoughts, enlarging her

talents and many exquisite graces.

She was beautiful and had the most attractive eyes, which she knew well how

use.

She's flirtatious.

She's beautiful.

She knows how to handle men. She is seen as a woman who has made a big

impression. We can imagine that, obviously, for her to stay seven years

service of the queen, that Francis I himself must have liked this girl.

Francis I, he's dashing. He loves pretty women.

He loves having mistresses.

And he loves, loves being the centre of attention.

Does that remind you of someone else?

You're the ape, baby.

Henry and Francis decide to meet to form a new alliance and underscore the peace

between their nations.

And Thomas Boleyn is given the daunting task of brokering the meeting.

He's stuck in a position.

of trying to bring those two powerful and dashing young prince together.

Having a daughter who is in the good books of everyone is exactly what Thomas

Boleyn wanted.

So when Thomas is there, he's obviously using his daughter in a way. When I say

using, it's not in a bad way. It's just, yes, I'm Anne's father.

Nice to meet you. And it's remarkable.

Yes, I know.

You can't be a king in the early 16th century without having an ego the size

a planet. And now you have two young men, rival monarchs, who are brothers in

arms, although they really hate each other. And there's a kind of constant

friction.

I mean, these are not intellectual giants in terms of their kind of

So there's a bit of nudging and shuffling going on between them.

And there's a famous story of Henry showing an ambassador his calf and

Francis I hasn't got a leg like that, has he?

It's not just Europe's peace hanging in the balance.

It's Thomas' reputation at the English court.

In a letter to Wolsey, Thomas reports the petty rivalry between the two kings

that he is struggling to mediate.

The friendship between my master and the French king Francis has taken a

rivalrous turn.

They agreed to grow their beards.

in competition for their planned meeting.

Then I was told recently that Henry had put off his beard.

It's not an easy task to relate this to the French king.

I told him, as I supposed, it must have been Queen Catherine's doing.

For whenever His Majesty has worn his beard long, she has scolded him to put

off.

The French king was well appeased by this, and did say to me,

Our love is not in our beards, but in our hearts.

Thomas's clever intervention saves the two kings from a serious disagreement.

And on the 7th of June, 1520, Henry and Francis rendezvous at a spectacular 17

-day festival, the Field of Cloth of Gold.

It was the...

big event of the year, of the decade, in both England and in France.

Instead of going to war, Henry VIII and Francis decided to show off how

peaceful they could be.

Somewhat, I suspect, Thomas Boleyn's chagrin, he was withdrawn before the

details were organised for this great meeting. And he wasn't French

when the Field of Cloth of Gold took place.

And Henry wrote rather pointedly to Francis, saying, Thomas Boleyn has been

great so far, but I'm now going to send you someone who can convey from my very

heart my feelings towards you. So poor old Thomas trumps back home and gets

ready to go as an English guest rather than the resident French ambassador.

It's a sign that he hadn't quite made it.

He may have married into the aristocracy, but he's still not an

He's not the man that brings the king over and presents him to Francis. He's

there, but he's there as one of the king's attendants and nothing more.

Despite Thomas's personal disappointment, the meeting is hailed as

international triumph.

But in Tudor politics, nothing is as it seems.

Even as Henry and Francis celebrate peace, Thomas Wolsey is secretly

a more powerful alliance with the new leader of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles

V.

Knowing relations with France are soon to sour, Thomas removes Anne from her

position at the French court and brings her home.

There must have been some concern on Thomas's part for Anne's safety and for

future because the tide is turning away from a French line.

And it's something of a warning shot for Francis. He notices Anne's absence

and discerns from this that something is not right.

And he thinks, wait, why would you remove the ladies -in -waiting?

To conclude, if we are at peace, if we are good friends, what are you plotting

against me?

It puts Woolsey in a very difficult position.

It's virtually inconceivable that it wouldn't be seen as a sort of diplomatic

incident to put.

Francis of Descent, Wolsey actually suggests that Anne is being recalled for

marriage proposal.

And there is a grain of truth in Wolsey's response, because a match is

proposed for Anne, not by her father, but by her uncle.

Thomas Howard has been sent to Ireland to quell unrest among the Irish

One of those nobles is Thomas Boleyn's cousin, Piers Butler, who has laid claim

to the title Earl of Ormond.

In a flurry of letters to Wolsey and the King, Howard lays bare a scheme to take

advantage of the situation.

Piers Butler desires to claim the most profitable earldom of Ormond. The title

is also claimed by my kinsman, Thomas Boleyn.

To that end, I have devised a marriage plan between my niece Anne Boleyn and

Butler's son, James.

This union will give Butler the earldom and his help in bringing Ireland under

our control.

This arrangement will require my presence, naturally, and I do so long to

to England.

Thomas Howard shows that when he is in a difficult position, family loyalty to

the Boleyns counts for absolutely nothing to him.

Thomas Boleyn has coveted the prestigious Irish earldom of Ormond, and

him to no end that of all people, his brother -in -law, Thomas Howard, who has

nothing to do with the situation, tries to actually broker a match between Anne

Boleyn and a butler cousin.

She was quite horrified when she was told about the match.

Ireland in that time was generally seen by the English as a wild, fairly

inhospitable place, and the idea that the courtier, Anne Boleyn, would go and

live there must have been horrifying for her.

This puts Thomas Boleyn in a very difficult position because Thomas Howard

to get Cardinal Wolsey's support for the plan.

Anne Boleyn is her father's legal property. She can't be married without

father's permission.

So Thomas is under pressure to give his blessing to a marriage that will

effectively disinherit him.

Around this time, Wolsey finally offers Thomas Boleyn the job he so desperately

wants. And perhaps the timing is no coincidence.

We know that Thomas is promoted to the treasurership at this point. I think

actually is happening here is he is being placated with this coveted

I am made treasurer of the household, second in charge of running this

honourable court.

The treasurer must set an example to all others.

of good governance and modest expenditure.

He is granted to take supper daily in the King's Hall, or anywhere else he

pleases. This was an absolute vital stepping stone in his career. It paved

way for much more lucrative and important positions at court.

Thomas Boleyn, who began as a wealthy Norfolk gentleman beyond the fringes of

the Tudor court, has finally gained a seat on the Royal Council.

Slowly but surely, he is advancing towards the king's inner circle.

For Thomas Boleyn to achieve this in 1522 is such a mark of where he had

But it also is important for his family.

George Boleyn was finally given a court position, which means he has day -to

-day access to Henry VIII.

Not only is George doing well, but Thomas's elder daughter Mary is now

to a senior courtier, William Carey.

But the ace in Thomas's hand is Anne.

With the prospect of an Irish marriage still hanging over her, Anne takes

stage with her sister Mary at her lavish court pageant hosted by Thomas Wolsey,

known as the Chateau Vert.

This pageant is going to change the fortunes of the Boleyn family, for

and also for worse.

All the young women on show take the parts of feminine virtues.

Mary's kindness and perseverance.

It's the kind of pageant to which the Tudor court is by then well accustomed,

with women, married, single, all playing their part to big up the king.

Woolsey is the host. He wants it to go well.

He's a man who enjoys spectacle, entertainment, who knows that you've got

on a show.

It was a lavish entertainment.

It involved a mock castle being built in the hall.

Ladies defended this castle from a group of knights who attempted to attack it.

Essentially, this battle between the men outside the castle and the women inside

the castle is about culture, it's about wooing.

Women fall into two categories. They have to resist men and be virtuous and

chaste, but ultimately they have to give in when they find the right man who's

usually the king.

Because of her seven years in France.

Anne Boleyn is seen as being a bit different and exotic.

She's stylish, fashionable, graceful, and she really causes a stir. She's like

no -one else at Henry VIII's court.

This is really the first time that we know with absolute certainty that Henry

VIII and Anne Boleyn are in the same room together.

But Anne isn't interested in the king.

Her sights are set on a young nobleman.

Although there was still talk of her marrying her Irish cousin and one day

becoming Countess of Ormond, Henry Percy was heir to one of the oldest earldoms

in the country.

Hugely wealthy, very, very high status, and a match that was far outside

anything that Anne Boleyn could hope for.

It's clear that she encouraged Henry Percy.

Thomas Boleyn was certainly approved.

It's a far better prospect for his daughter than the Ormond marriage.

Partly because, of course, Thomas Boleyn has designs on the earldom himself.

But Henry Percy, it was a stellar match.

The king, of course, has the pick of the women at court.

And he has his eye on one in particular.

the wife of one of his inner circle.

People tend to look at the Chateau Vert as the first time Henry would have seen

Anne, who's playing Perseverance.

But what's more interesting is who plays Kindness, and that's Mary Boleyn.

And so when Henry is besieging the castle, it's Mary he's besieging.

Now, why is she Kindness?

It's not a role she would have chosen herself. It would have been chosen for

her.

Wolsey had already been called the king's board, that is his pimp, a man

finds the most wholesome women and those of the best complexion for Henry.

Henry had usually a single mistress alongside the queen at any one point.

Mary Boleyn was definitely the royal mistress, and it's not in her power to

resist the king.

Unlike Mary, a decade in Europe has taught Anne how to fend for herself.

Now in her early 20s, she knows her own mind.

does not want to marry James Butler.

Her sights are on a romantic marriage. Marriage to Henry Percy.

She sees, loves and he seems to feel exactly the same about her.

Henry VIII heard about the relationship and was shocked by it because of course

it was not a suitable marriage for Henry Percy at all.

He instructs Cardinal Wolsey to bring the relationship to an end.

She doesn't necessarily know of the King's involvement, but she knows that

Cardinal Wolsey has played a major role in dashing her hopes.

The Cardinal called my Lord Percy into his presence and reviled him for

himself with a foolish girl at court.

Wolsey has since set about dissolving our match, saying it is disagreeable and

determining another woman as a more appropriate marriage prospect.

If it ever lies in my power, I will work as much displeasure for Wolsey as he

has shown me.

And as Anne laments the frustration of her ambitions, her sister Mary

must endure emotional turmoil of her own.

Around the same time...

Mary's husband, starts getting all these rather generous royal grants, as if to

make up for the fact the king is sleeping with his wife.

I think for Mary, it must have all been incredibly difficult and painful.

Oh, Lord, let me not have a proud look.

But turn away all voluptuousness from me.

Take me from the loft of the body.

Let not the desire for uncleanness take hold upon me.

Often.

Thomas Boleyn's feelings are likely mixed about Mary Boleyn's relationship

Henry VIII.

On the one hand, it's shameful in that his daughter, a married woman, is

sleeping with... another man a married man at that but her lover is the king

generally the benefits outweigh the disadvantage i do think

getting your daughters into the king's bed is probably a good idea if you want

political influence mary boleyn's affair

might be what yields the biggest reward yet for her father thomas

Henry makes him Viscount Rochford.

His rise through the Tudor court has been remarkable.

But in his daughter Anne, he has raised a woman whose ambitions will soon

outstrip even her father's.