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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, Dunjunt.

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.

and taking their name from obscurity to the apex of power.

Henry VIII has been on the throne for 17 years.

The Boleyns are one of many ambitious families jostling for power at the Tudor

court.

Led by Thomas Boleyn, this is a dynasty on the make.

The Boleyns may not have begun as a family born into wealth and privilege,

they were certainly among those who achieved it.

By the mid -1520s, Thomas Boleyn has an impressive property portfolio of over 30

manors.

Some of his properties end up being some of the most beautiful in Tudor England.

They're coveted even by Henry VIII himself.

Thomas is a career courtier, climbing the greasy pole by exploiting the

influence of powerful patrons.

Like his brother -in -law.

Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk.

And the king's right -hand man, Cardinal Wolsey.

I think we can see from Thomas Boleyn's career up to this point that he

is an opportunist, but he plays on his strengths, and his strengths are getting

on with people, charming them.

His children have vital roles to play.

His son George is forging his own career as a courtier.

His daughter Mary has been the king's mistress, though Henry's interest has

waned and she has been cast aside.

But Anne remains a valuable asset to the family.

Her star is on the rise.

she has escaped the threat of marriage to her irish cousin and her father has

secured her the coveted position of maid of honor to queen catherine this puts

her in close contact not just with the queen but with the king

the

tudor court is a complex web

henry sits at the center surrounded by his council of ambitious, power -hungry

men, all jockeying for position.

But there is another shadow court, controlled by the queen.

The Tudor court is actually a very strange phenomenon.

You have these two households, the king and the queen.

the queen's household full of her ladies in waiting it becomes a magnet for all

the young men of the court fueled up with romance seeking the company of

i think to modernize we might look at this

sort of beauty parade slightly problematic um

But this was a sort of standard feature of the court. Women were there to be

admired.

For Anne, it's an opportunity for her to mark herself out.

We know that from her time at the French court, Anne very much embodies the

spirit of France.

It becomes part of her identity and what made her different.

She is bright. She is intelligent.

She is beautiful.

There are a lot of reports about the beauty of Anne, but also her eyes.

Everything goes through her eyes.

She charms through her eyes.

Anne Boleyn is seen as being a bit different and exotic. It gave her this

kind of exotism.

She's like...

No one else at Henry VIII's court.

Anne was sophisticated in terms of her style, in terms of her knowledge of

flirtation, which the French court was decades ahead of the English with.

So, you know, she could flirt. She could present herself as an alluring woman.

We have to remember that. Henry himself.

lived in a bubble in which there were probably only 30 women.

So to have Anne there, bringing in this sophistication from outside, I suspect

would have looked remarkably attractive.

And indeed, Anne does catch the eye of the king.

Little clues begin appearing that suggest the start of a budding romance

Anne and Henry.

How do you communicate with a lady in your wife's household?

So secret note, these are one of the few ways in which courtly love can express

itself.

There are real pieces of concrete evidence that link Anne with Henry. One

book of hours in which he had written a love note to her.

Now, if you think about that, that's a remarkable thing to do, to deface a

religious book with erotic messages.

They choose specific illuminated images in which to write their

messages to each other.

Henry chooses an image of the wounded Christ to write to Anne of his pains

of love towards her.

Anne writes a rather clever little couplet to Henry.

By daily proof you shall me find to be to you both loving and kind.

It's a very eloquent message. The image that she chooses to convey to Henry

alongside is an image of the Annunciation.

So here Anne is saying, I will provide you with an heir.

Because it's very unlikely that Queen Catherine of Aragon will.

I think he certainly, at this point, is obsessed with her.

He wants to possess her.

He's physically attracted to her.

As for Anne, I would be surprised if she was really in love with Henry VIII.

That's mainly because I can't imagine anyone being in love with Henry VIII.

But she could see a very bright future ahead of her if she became Queen of

England and the mother of the next king.

I think we can sense that Henry is the one that falls in love first. He is

attracted to her.

But Anne does what aubergines do and make use of a good

opportunity.

When Thomas finds out about Henry's interest in Anne, he takes her away from

court to their family seat of Hever Castle in Kent.

So this is a place where the Boleyns often retreat to get away from the court

gossip and to discuss, to plan.

And they can do so in relative privacy.

This is a pivotal moment for the family's fortunes, one they've

before.

The king has already taken and discarded Mary, staining her reputation.

So how does Mary Boleyn react when she sees the king's attentions?

falling on her sister Anne.

She surely felt very worried for her, very fearful, very concerned for Anne's

future. I think everyone was unsure where they were. Anne would have been

anxious, excited, but wary, rightly wary, of what being Henry's mistress

involved. Like all relationships at court, they're fraught with danger.

To have a member of your family as the king's mistress was both a possibility

but also a time -limited issue.

The moment he discards that, does he also discard the whole family?

Thomas would be somewhat more reluctant and reticent at this point.

He knows the natural limitations of such relationships.

Indeed, he has seen it with his own daughter, Mary.

Is Anne different?

Will this opportunity be different?

Or is he recognising that absence makes the heart grow fonder? Is this a

strategy on Thomas's part?

Whilst down in Hever, Anne writes to Henry. Now, we actually don't have her

letters, but we can understand a bit of what she was talking about from Henry's

responses. There is a sense that perhaps... she's being advised by her

I mean, this is a man who is the master of diplomacy.

So if anyone's going to know how to react to Henry, it's Thomas.

His French is impossible.

Some of them are written in French.

Is this Henry showing off his sophistication to the sophisticated

-educated Anne?

Possibly it is.

In turning over in my mind the context of your last letters, I have put myself

into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my

as you show in some places, or to my advantage, as I understand them in

I beseech you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind after the love

between us two.

If you please to do the office of a true friend and mistress, and give yourself

body and heart to me, then I will be your most loyal servant.

If your scruples allow you to become my mistress in this full sense,

I promise not only that you shall be given the name and status befitting you,

but also that I will take you for my only mistress, casting off four lovers

serve you alone.

What Henry is doing is asking for a carnal relationship, a sexual

relationship. He wants her to give herself body to him,

and that in so doing...

he will give her in return the honour and status of being his only and

mistress. It's a form of negotiation in what kind of relationship they're going

to have.

I beseech you to give an entire answer to this, my rude letter, that I may know

on what and how far I may depend, written by the hand of him who would

remain yours, Henry Rex.

He's still married to Catherine of Aragon, but she would be known as the

mistress. He would be faithful to her.

Their children would have status, albeit they'd be illegitimate and couldn't

inherit the throne, but they would have a status.

What's also very clear from the sequence of the letters is that Anne Boleyn says

no, she doesn't want this.

Anne, it seems to me, is holding off.

having a relationship which would be like the one her sister had, where she

would be the mistress of the king and might very well, as Mary was, be cast

We can also get a sense of Thomas Boleyn and what he feels in this. Because, of

course, Hever is his house. If he said, no, you cannot go back there, you must

stay at court, then that would be a sure sign that...

He wants her to become the king's mistress, but he takes her back to

So it's clear that Thomas Boleyn also wants more for Anne.

The entire Boleyn family is being drawn into these delicate negotiations,

including Anne's brother George, who quickly benefits from his sister's

favour with the king.

George Boleyn, he's at court and still in attendance on the king.

And where before he's been a bit of an outlier, not particularly close to

now that Henry is interested in George's sister, he's all over George Boleyn.

It had a massive impact on George Boleyn's standing and on his fortune.

He'd been steadily rising through court for a number of years.

Firstly, he's a royal cup bearer. He's in attendance at every ceremonial event.

He's there with his cup, offering it to the king at banquets, at dances, when he

meets ambassadors.

Through the relationship with his sister, his career is accelerated.

He is able to access patronage from the king in a way that he didn't necessarily

get before.

He's master of the king's buckhounds, which means that he's in control of the

king's hunting dogs. And in fact, we have payments in royal accounts for

being paid to buy the dog food for these dogs.

George Boleyn begins to act as a messenger between Anne and Henry, taking

letters back and forth between the court and the family's home in Kent.

He's intemperate, he's cocky, he's popular, he's very handsome, he's

He's not quite as smooth as his father. He doesn't quite have that natural

instinct for diplomacy.

He's seen as the messenger. So he becomes closer to Henry, but really only

because at this stage he is Anne Boleyn's brother.

Dearest Anne.

George and Anne Boleyn were an absolute pair together.

So they were perfectly matched and they had this very, very special bond.

I thank you most cordially for the gift of the fine diamond attached to the

little ship within which the solitary damsel rattled about inside. And for the

fine interpretation you sent me to explain its meaning.

Henry thanks her for the image of a maiden tossed in a storm in a boat.

which is a very pointed gift for her to send to him, I think, suggesting the

woman who is at sea, who does not quite yet trust the security of getting to

harbour, getting to land in Henry's promises.

She's saying, look, I don't know how to take what you're saying.

And he again reassures her that his desires are honest and trustworthy.

and for submitting yourself to me with all your goodness.

When we look at the letters, we can actually see the moment when Henry

intentions towards Anne change, and when he makes her an offer that she can't

refuse.

From this point on, my heart shall be dedicated to you alone.

I wish my person was so too.

God can do it, if he pleases.

To whom I pray every day for that end, hoping that at length...

My prayers will be heard.

This is the moment that the relationship changes.

And this is undoubtedly Anne's acceptance of the offer of marriage.

She knows it's going to be a difficult path that they're going to follow.

But marriage is an offer that she is prepared to accept.

As she reaches this new understanding with Henry, The balance of power between

Anne and her father, Thomas, shifts.

I don't think we can see the hand of Thomas Boleyn here.

Anne is a very independent woman, and I think she is probably doing much of the

negotiations.

However... perfectly plausible that she would discuss with her father and

possibly even her mother about the way to go, sound out their opinion.

She's not a weak part or a pawn on the political chessboard. She's sort of

positioning herself as a woman of power who commands respect from the king. And

I think that only furthers to fan that flame of desire in Henry. Henry must

realised that the very precariousness of his own dynasty...

Catherine is considerably older.

There are no offspring in the offing.

Miscarriages have begun to peter out. Once he comes to the conclusion that

Catherine is not going to bear him a legitimate son, he decides to invest all

has in Anne Boleyn.

It appears that Anne has skilfully negotiated her own position in this

relationship.

And by securing a marriage proposal...

has achieved exactly what she wants.

In so doing, she turns the role of Tudor women and royal mistresses upside down.

Anne returns to court, eager to exert her newfound influence.

But one major obstacle stands in her way.

In order to progress, she needs to become Henry's wife.

How is that going to play out? How is she going to resolve the very real and

problematic issue at hand, the fact that Henry is married to Catherine of

Aragon?

To help him end his marriage, Henry turns to Wolsey, the most senior

in England.

His hope is that Wolsey can persuade the Pope to grant an annulment.

Wolsey's first reaction is probably being rather appalled at the prospect,

the king must have what the king wants.

As far as Wolsey is concerned at the outset of all of this, it was a

straightforward case, you know, clergy to clergy, canon law to canon law, we'll

sort it and everything will be all right. Henry isn't asking for something

completely unprecedented.

Kings annul marriages, queens retire into a life of religious chastity and

move on all the time.

This won't be Wolsey's first dealings with the Boleyns.

Thomas has worked closely with him in the past, and the two get on well.

Unlike Wolsey and Thomas Howard, who are old rivals.

But the Cardinal's relationship with Anne is strained.

He was responsible for ending her tryst with the man she considered her first

true love, Henry Percy, leaving her, according to one source, swearing

upon him.

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

has shown me.

But Anne can't afford to let her animosity towards Wolsey show.

Although she is suspicious of Wolsey, thinking he's not going to promote her

interests... She realises that she's got to get him on her side and she will

use him as best she can to get what she wants.

When Wolsey returns from a mission abroad, he suddenly realises quite how

power Anne and the Boleyns now hold.

The first thing that Wolsey knows when he comes back is that he's used to

walking more or less straight into the king, but he's told to wait at the

insistence of Anne Boleyn, and only when she says so that he's allowed in.

And that certainly telegraphs immediately to Wolsey that things have

She's making it quite clear to Wolsey...

There are two ears that he needed to please now.

This is a very bold move on Anne's part, and it must have been fairly

humbling for Wolsey.

Wolsey is very well aware that Anne and her family are a force to be reckoned

with.

Anne's position of influence is steadily growing.

Now even the king's right -hand man is under her sway.

Behind her, her Berlin relatives are also moving closer to the centre of

The family are in an unprecedented situation.

This is much more complicated than Thomas simply wanting to slip his

into the king's bed for his own betterment.

Henry very much is in control here. He is the one that has singled out Anne.

But that doesn't mean to say that Thomas, ever the strategist, isn't going

make the best of the opportunity in front of him.

For Anne's uncle, Thomas Howard, the situation also brings new possibilities.

The news that Anne Boleyn is on the rise as a potential love interest and then,

incredibly, as a potential queen for Henry VIII certainly offers Thomas

opportunity.

Of course, it's going to offer greater access to the heart of the royal family,

to the heart of patronage, and she increased privileges as the uncle of the

future queen.

But it does also carry great risks. If the love affair runs far between

Henry and Anne, the family are going to be caught in the crosshairs. They are

going to be left to pay a price for this. Her becoming queen might be a

noose around the family's neck.

In 1528, all of the Boleyn family's hopes could have come crashing down.

In Tudor England, there's an illness called the sweating sickness.

It's possibly some type of flu. Nobody quite knows. Clearly very catching and

very, very deadly. It was known for taking out the fittest, the youngest in

society. And it reaches the court.

This is COVID with bells on to the pewter period.

That intimacy between Henry and Anne at court is then suddenly disrupted because

the sweating sickness is unpredictable and it's virulent. You could be happy in

the morning, dead by tea time.

And Henry knows absolutely that his own personal safety is not only prime to

him, but it's the future of the nation as well. He can't get sick.

All the performance of the ardent, desirous lover, that has to go on hold

the sickness is over.

He sends Anne away. He sends her back to Hever.

Unfortunately for the Boleyns, all wasn't well at Hever, and Thomas Boleyn

Anne Boleyn both came down with the sweating sickness themselves.

Henry Yates was hugely anxious. He sent Anne his second best doctor, obviously

keeping the first with him just in case, but it's a mark of his respect for Anne

that he was prepared to get rid of his second best doctor to send him to her.

But he's clearly very, very anxious about Anne Boleyn, and with good reason.

Very, very fortunately for the family, both Thomas Boleyn and Anne survived the

outbreak of sweating sickness.

But the Boleyn family don't escape entirely unscathed.

Mary Boleyn's husband, William Carey, dies during this outbreak.

William Carey was young and healthy with his future ahead of him, but this

disease took him out, leaving her a widow.

There are advantages to being a widow in Tudor England.

Suddenly, you're independent.

You can make your own choices.

You have your own money.

But Mary doesn't seem to have seen many of these advantages.

So we know that Mary Boleyn was left in financial strait.

and that Thomas Boleyn doesn't seem to have been very willing to support her.

fact, one of Henry VIII's letters to Anne Boleyn actually mentions this and

talks about getting her father to pay for Mary Boleyn's upkeep.

For surely whatsoever is said, it cannot so stand with his honour but that he

must needs take her, his natural daughter, now in her extreme necessity.

Does this show a rift between Thomas Boleyn and his daughter Mary at this

Certainly he wasn't willing to put his hand in his pocket to support her as a

widow.

It does rather suggest that maybe he wasn't particularly proud of the

that she had made because Mary Boleyn's husband, William Carey, was a solid man.

He was a courtier, a gentleman.

But Thomas Boleyn is a highly ambitious man and highly ambitious for his

daughters. So...

Perhaps he was disappointed in Mary.

You could say that her father did not technically have any responsibility,

financial responsibility, for his adult widowed daughter.

But I think we'd all agree that a loving father would want to help his daughter

to give her emotional as well as financial support. We just know

that she was unhappy.

Desperate. Alone.

Her sister is becoming more important. And she is

being kept in the shadows.

Possibly because of her previous relationship with the king.

Reputation means everything to families at the Tudor court.

Perhaps to the more ambitious members of the Berlin clan.

Mary is regarded as no longer worth helping.

However these two sisters may have felt when they were young, they certainly go

very different ways as they become older.

Anne is interested in power and influence in a way that Mary

does not appear to be.

After recuperating from her illness in Kent, Anne returns to court, keen to

regain her position at the centre of power.

Of course, the great matter, the annulment, is the great issue at hand

things are rumbling on at a slow pace.

I think we can actually gain a sense of acute frustration on Anne's part that

the divorce proceedings or the attempt to even get close to them by Wolsey are

taking quite as long as they are.

It is good to return to this place.

Now the Cardinal is trying to secure lodgings for me miles away.

Let him try.

My Lord Henry has let his counsel my patience in our great matter.

It is all in hand, I am told.

We shall see about that.

Despite the urgency, Wolsey finds it harder than expected to secure the

annulment.

The Pope keeps stalling due to family allegiances with Catherine of Aragon.

But from Anne's perspective, Woolsey still looks like her safest bet.

There's no necessary reason why they need to fall out, provided Woolsey has

the necessary means to get the Pope to do what's required.

And that's when we get a series of letters.

in which it's clear that Anne is prepared to recognise Wolsey's skills

talents, provided she can be sure and he can assure her that he's going to work

to the ultimate goal, which is the annulment.

My lord, in the humblest way my heart can imagine, please pardon me for being

bold as to trouble you with my simple writing.

I assure you it comes from the desire to know that your grace does well.

And also, my lord, I do so long to hear from you news that the legate who has

come from Rome to grant the king, our master, his divorce.

For I trust this man will be most good and successful in resolving our great

matter as he has been chosen by you.

For I feel sure you desire this divorce every bit as much as I do.

your humble servant, Anne Boleyn.

She writes in her own hand.

That is a sign of intimacy rather than if she had left a secretary to write.

the reality is this is very much a sign towards thee that she is

wooing him and wanting him to work for her. She wants to know the news. What is

happening on the King's divorce?

And then there is a postscript to the letter.

The writer of this letter would not cease, though she had caused me likewise

add my hand, desiring you to take it in good part.

I ensure you, both of us greatly desire to see you.

By your loving sovereign and friend, Henry.

So the fact that Anne Boleyn... forced him to write this brief postscript

volumes of how important it was to her but she's making a very clear statement

of her power because Henry VIII is doing what she said.

He is writing to Wolsey because she has told him to do so.

My hunch is that Anne begins to suspect that things aren't developing as they

should and I think Anne's intuition is kicking in here.

Whereas Henry, I think, is still very much hoping that Wolsey will deliver, I

think Anne has her suspicions.

You do start to see, through the end of 1528 and early into 1529, an awful lot

of court commentators, ambassadors and people writing letters back and forth,

are starting to note that Wolsey is failing to get the king what he wants,

is never a wise move.

The Lady Anne is the cause of all disorder at court.

Now she finds her marriage plans delayed, she's becoming suspicious that

Cardinal Wesley is putting impediments in her way.

Because when she's queen, his power will decline.

Her father, Thomas Boleyn, shares this view, as does her uncle, Thomas Howard.

People say power is increasingly in their hands and they have conspired to

overthrow Worsley, but there seems no evidence they have persuaded the king

Though I have observed at courts, Henry is not so friendly towards his cardinal.

There's a clear sense at court that you're either on Wolsey's side.

or you're on the side of the Boleyn -Howard faction.

And there's a certain degree of pressure on choosing those sides.

And very soon people start shifting their allegiances towards the Boleyns.

also obvious by the number of other people that are also now at court who

weren't necessarily at court as regularly before, and Thomas Howard is

those. While his niece is now starting so clearly to rise, while the king needs

something done, Thomas Howard is straight in there.

While not particularly politically sensitive, he's by no means stupid.

And he's disliked Wolsey for so long that any hint that Wolsey is out of

he is going to jump on that.

At the same time, the tables have turned between Thomas and his daughter.

For the moment, Anne is the de facto head of the Boleyn family.

Their fate and future lie in her hands.

I think Thomas Boleyn is having many sleepless nights.

I think he is very uncertain about the future. It could have gone either way

him. He could have had Anne as Queen of England, or he could have had Anne

discarded as the mistress.

He's also terribly concerned about his own position. He's torn.

He has a lingering loyalty towards me. He's being pulled in different

directions, and he has no real agency here.

From May 1529, letters show the cardinal's failure to deliver the

be the talk of the king's inner circle.

Wolsey is in the greatest pain he ever was.

The French ambassador even reports that the Berlin faction are beginning to turn

the king's mind against the cardinal.

With Henry losing patience, Wolsey takes a huge gamble.

He announces a public trial, which he hopes will prove, before a

from Rome, that Henry's marriage to Catherine was never legal in the first

place.

Well, the atmosphere of the Blackfriars trial is likely to have been quite

formal, quite tense.

Henry has asked the papacy to rule on the validity of his

marriage. So a lot is riding on it. Everybody knows about it. Everybody

anybody is there or close by in attendance.

He was always capable of pulling the rabbit out of the clerical hat.

But Catherine spectacularly upstages him on the opening day. She stands up,

crosses the court and kneels at his feet and tells him that he knows in his

heart that they were truly married.

And then she walks out of the courtroom.

and she's called back, I think, two or three times, but with her ladies and her

courtiers of her household around her, she sort of makes this dramatic exit

the court. She completely undercuts from the outset the basis of the trial.

After Catherine's dramatic withdrawal from the trial, Woolby is...

He's just exhausted and trying to give himself some space to think, what can I

do next, you know?

But Henry wants immediate action.

He wants Wolsey to try again to get Catherine to accept the annulment.

And the person he sends to tell Wolsey this is Thomas Boleyn.

The king demands you must repair to Catherine without delay.

As always, I am ready to fulfil the king's pleasure.

If you are now his messenger, tell him I'm readying myself to come.

The split feelings that Thomas has becomes

obvious, particularly at the moment when Thomas Boleyn recognises, of

course, that it isn't going to work.

that Wolsey is going to be in trouble with the king.

He is in as impossible a situation as is Wolsey.

We're not looking at Thomas Boleyn as a man who is in charge and in control and

manipulating Anne onto Catherine's throne. We're looking at a man, I think,

is extremely worried about the future.

If I've taught you any foresight, you know the outcome will be nothing.

You and your party are in no small part to blame for this matter.

You have fed the king fantasies, put new ones into his head. The power you crave

makes you the cause of the trouble in this realm.

And in the end, you'll get no thanks.

In this world or the next.

It is at this moment when Thomas Boleyn begins to see Wolsey is not their route

to this annulment anymore.

It's not that he's turning against Wolsey, it's that he's starting to

has to back his family now, rather than the Cardinal.

The Blackfriars trial is suspended, and with it, all hopes of Wolsey ending the

marriage.

Finally, it's clear this isn't going to produce the verdict that Wolsey wanted.

Henry is furious, ballistically angry.

There is no gentle retirement at the Tudor court. You're either in or you're

out, and suddenly Wolsey is out.

Thomas Howard has a particularly unpleasant trait in how hard he kicks

someone is on the ground.

I told you I would be returning today.

You'll not get the seal.

He enjoys humiliating the politically out of favor. And so as a result, this

almost hunter's instinct is on full display when it comes to Cardinal

Thomas Howard pays the Cardinal a visit to remove his great seal, the thing

which once gave Woolsey the power to authorize state documents on behalf of

king.

I came here yesterday to demand that Wolsey surrender into my hands the great

seal and that he ready himself to depart this place and quit London.

The curious cardinal wished to know what authority I had for this command.

I would regard my presence as authority enough in that regard, but no.

As the great seal of England, the symbol of royal power, was delivered to him by

the king himself, Wolsey insisted that only the king's word could relinquish

So, an extra journey.

But there you have it.

This marks really the end of Woolsey's official might.

It looks like a settling of scores between them.

Thomas Howard, who has felt that he has had this stunted career, who has endured

things being taken off him seemingly by Woolsey's initiative.

can now take the greatest symbol of Wolsey's success from him.

The deposing of Wolsey is the Boleyn family's greatest victory so far.

I think ultimately Anne is responsible for Wolsey's downfall.

Thomas Boleyn had had a lasting working relationship with Wolsey. Anne never had

that. He was purely a functionary person who was there to do the King's bidding

and therefore her bidding. And he'd utterly failed to do so.

It's a ruthless downfall. This is the only time that Wolsey isn't able to

deliver. But Anne is unforgiving in that regard.

There's no doubt that Anne Boleyn relished Wolsey's fall.

She goes with Henry to his palace to view his goods and possessions, decide

do they want, what would they like to keep of his goods, because they don't

belong to Wolsey anymore.

They're the king's, and through the king, of course, they're Anne's.

Ultimately, that is the prize of ambition, and Anne seems to be

unashamed by that.

I think... and can be vengeful.

She really is dancing on Wolsey's grave.

The Boleyns and Howards are now the most powerful people in Henry VIII's court.

Thomas Howard takes over the role of President of the Royal Council.

Thomas Boleyn is made Earl of Wiltshire and becomes Lord Privy Seal.

George Boleyn takes on his father's former title, Viscount Rochford.

Who is left to carry out the king's will when Wolsey has gone?

There's Thomas Howard, the most powerful nobleman, who's good at shouting and

bullying people and leading armies, but not a sophisticated operator.

Then there's Thomas Boleyn.

A diplomat, someone with greater skill, someone with a facility with languages,

who can talk to ambassadors in their own language.

And, of course, then there's George Boleyn, who has a certain style and

of his own.

And, of course, above them all is Anne Boleyn herself, directing Henry's

attention one way or another, suggesting strategies, urging him and pushing him

to get on with the job.

of producing the divorce.

All of a sudden, the Berlin ambition has been revealed and exposed.

And of course, with that, there's a lot of judgment.

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

solve the dilemma that they accused Wolsey of not being able to solve.

They are in uncharted waters.

Holding the reins of power makes the Boleyns acutely vulnerable.

Henry is a dangerous and unpredictable master to serve.

Now that Wolsey is gone, there's no one standing between them and the

increasingly unrealistic demands of the king.

Henry... begins to make impulsive decisions, some of which look

-advised. For instance, he sends Thomas Boleyn as the envoy to the Pope himself

to try and persuade him to support the case for a divorce.

He hasn't quite thought through the obvious logic that Thomas Boleyn, Anne's

father, is the last man who's going to persuade the Pope of absolutely

from continental Europe who are observing this from the sidelines are, I

generally all quite puzzled.

Why is Henry taking this step?

Thomas is an experienced diplomat, but he's also an interested party.

It's incredibly awkward for all involved.

I don't think Thomas believes he has any hope of succeeding in this embassy, but

his hands are tied.

He was able to meet the Pope, but he was immediately shot down. His very

presence there was an offence.

What it really shows, Thomas, is that they have to find alternative routes to

annulment.

It would be wrong, I think, to consider this a carefully worked out coup d 'etat

by the Berlins and their allies.

No -one was competent in this period. Everyone was playing an extraordinarily

high -stakes game to try and achieve what Anne and what Henry wanted.

Wolsey is gone, but Catherine of Aragon is still there. She's still Henry VIII's

wife, and Anne Boleyn is as far from being queen as she ever has been.

The Boleyns have power.

They've removed potential enemies.

and they're all stuck.

What are they going to do now?