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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?