0:00:02 > 0:00:07On the 19th May 1536, one of the most infamous
0:00:07 > 0:00:12episodes in English history moved towards its gruesome conclusion.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21Anne Boleyn, Queen and second wife of King Henry VIII,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25was taken from her quarters in the Tower of London,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28and with the single blow of a sword became the first
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Queen in Britain's history to be executed.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41To Jesus Christ I commend my spirit. Lord God, have pity on my soul.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Anne Boleyn's rise to power had been highly controversial.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50She was the commoner who so captivated the King
0:00:50 > 0:00:52he was prepared to tear the Christian Church apart
0:00:52 > 0:00:54in order to have her.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59People like to think of Anne Boleyn as sexually out of control,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02ravenously ambitious, a she-wolf.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06But when it came, her downfall was spectacular.
0:01:06 > 0:01:12It was a bear pit. Primeval, primordial drama,
0:01:12 > 0:01:17red in tooth and claw and horror and passion.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22It's a highly political story, unique to its time and place,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25but it's also a universal story
0:01:25 > 0:01:30because, in the end, it's a story about a man and a woman.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Today, the saga of Anne Boleyn's downfall has entered into legend.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40It was a blood-soaked ending to a love story
0:01:40 > 0:01:43that began with inflamed passions and high intrigue
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and has lost none of its power to fascinate.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And 500 years on, the reasons for her downfall
0:01:52 > 0:01:54continue to stir strong argument.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57I think this is one of the most shocking
0:01:57 > 0:01:59and audacious plots in English history.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03I mean, I think all the conspiracy theories are suspect.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05The problem is that there is no evidence.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10Maybe we should pause and ask whether Anne Boleyn was wholly innocent
0:02:10 > 0:02:14of the charges of adultery, treason, that were brought against her,
0:02:14 > 0:02:15and ponder whether, perhaps,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19there might have been something in them.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24So who was the real Anne Boleyn and why was she executed?
0:02:39 > 0:02:43On the afternoon of the 2nd May 1536,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46a unit of the King's Guard arrived at Greenwich Palace near London,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49accompanied by members of Henry VIII's Privy Council.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55They carried with them an extraordinary document,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59a warrant for the arrest of the Queen of England.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03The charges against Anne could hardly have been more serious -
0:03:03 > 0:03:08adultery, incest and conspiring to cause the death of the King.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Accused and tried alongside her were five men,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16including some of King Henry's closest companions
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and even Anne's own brother.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24All of them were thrown into the Tower of London.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26In a matter of days, they were dead.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Never before had a Queen been arrested and executed.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39But the reasons behind Anne's destruction remain
0:03:39 > 0:03:42the subject of fierce historical debate.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47The brutal speed of her downfall and the shocking nature
0:03:47 > 0:03:52of the charges against her suggest that she was framed,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55but by whom and for what reason?
0:04:01 > 0:04:05On the face of it, the year 1536 could hardly have begun
0:04:05 > 0:04:07more auspiciously for Anne Boleyn.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14On the 7th January, King Henry's first wife,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Catherine of Aragon, died at Kimbolton Castle near Cambridge.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28At their favourite palace in Greenwich,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30the King and his new wife threw a party.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36To celebrate Catherine's death, Henry and Anne danced,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39and there are accounts of him and Anne coming out
0:04:39 > 0:04:40dressed in yellow.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And this has been interpreted to be a sort of sign
0:04:44 > 0:04:45of unbecoming glee.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48So I think for Anne this is a great moment.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Finally, her old rival, her old enemy, is dead.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02We have to remember that Catherine never ceased to call herself Queen,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and if you didn't give her her full titles,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08she wouldn't answer, she wouldn't negotiate with you.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12So there must be a moment, I suppose,
0:05:12 > 0:05:18when Anne feels, "Now I really am Queen of England."
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Anne had begun her rise to power ten years earlier.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Although her family were commoners,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31they were notorious for their scheming ambitions.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34After a period of training in the French royal household,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Anne made her debut at court
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53She came at the age of about 21 to the English court,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57and she seems to have burst upon it with a certain brilliance.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59And she was very confident,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01very stylish, very French.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05It was said you would have taken her for a French woman born,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and she clearly made an impact.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11She's obviously not a girl that everybody goes, like,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"That's the prettiest girl at court." But I think what she is
0:06:14 > 0:06:16is I think she's probably the sexiest girl at court.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20She's very, very intelligent, she's very quick witted.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23There was a lot of discussion about theology.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25She has a genuine interest in that.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29So you've got a young woman of some substance.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33She was thought to be a bit of a cut above.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37What she was was sophisticated and cosmopolitan,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and she could dance and she could recite poetry.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43And she obviously just had a charisma
0:06:43 > 0:06:45that attracted people to her.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50King Henry was infatuated.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54He bombarded Anne with love letters, begging her to become his mistress.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00But the new girl at court was a shrewd operator.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07We don't know to what extent she loved him,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12if she ever did, or if she operated on a basis of cold ambition.
0:07:13 > 0:07:20But she strikes me as a woman slightly too cool,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25detached and intelligent to stake everything on love.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32In a move of astonishing boldness,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Anne told Henry she would settle for nothing less than to be his Queen.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40And, of course, for a King,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43this is wildly exciting.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Nobody's ever talked to him like this before.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Nobody has ever, effectively, given him orders.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53So Henry made a momentous decision
0:07:53 > 0:07:56to divorce his Spanish wife of 24 years.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03To do so, Henry was forced to break with the Catholic Church in Rome
0:08:03 > 0:08:07and declare himself head of a new Church of England.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11So there were many who resented Anne Boleyn as a destructive
0:08:11 > 0:08:14and immoral force.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17There's this famous account of her being called a "goggle-eyed whore".
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I think there is a sense that people feel that wrong has been done
0:08:21 > 0:08:23and that Catherine was the true Queen
0:08:23 > 0:08:25and therefore, Anne is a usurper
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and who has wormed her way into the King's bed.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33No woman had ever done what she did before.
0:08:33 > 0:08:40No woman had ever made that step from royal mistress to the throne,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44getting the Queen, a real Queen, out of the way.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48This is something utterly, completely extraordinary.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51It changes all the rules.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00After a six-year legal battle, Henry finally got his divorce
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and Anne Boleyn got her crown.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10And by 1536, she had another reason to be happy.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Anne was pregnant.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17She had already given Henry a daughter, the Princess Elizabeth.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Now all she needed to do was bear Henry a son
0:09:20 > 0:09:24and her position as Queen would be unassailable.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Anne Boleyn was riding high. And Henry was saying,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30"And God be praised, we are free from the fear of war,"
0:09:30 > 0:09:33because it was felt that Catherine's nephew, the Emperor Charles V,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35might invade England on her behalf.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39But no. Anne now felt the way was clear for her to be accepted
0:09:39 > 0:09:41as undisputed Queen.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Yet just three months later, Anne would be dead.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Although she couldn't have known it,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56the road to her ruin began on the very day that her rival was buried.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04On 29th January 1536, three weeks after her death,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Catherine of Aragon was laid to rest in Peterborough Cathedral.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14But on this occasion, there were no celebrations at court.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27On the very same day, Anne suffered a miscarriage.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Even worse, the unborn child was a boy.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Henry was devastated.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58The idea of not having an heir was unthinkable.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04He's had two children, both of them daughters.
0:11:04 > 0:11:11It's... It's... This is failure for a king of a most terrible sort.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The survival of the dynasty is what is at stake.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21Anne had had a miscarriage before, perhaps more than one.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Now there is another.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30And Henry is finding his flesh begins to creep...
0:11:30 > 0:11:34because it looks as if this deathly pattern
0:11:34 > 0:11:37is reasserting itself.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Henry is an intensely religious man.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44This is not assumed. This is not feigned.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46He thinks that, as King,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50he has a direct relationship with God.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55So why? Am I still not on the right side of God?
0:11:55 > 0:11:57What does God want of me now?
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Did Anne Boleyn's failure to give Henry a son
0:12:04 > 0:12:07set in motion the events which led to her downfall?
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Records from the period offer a clue into Henry's thinking.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17The day after the miscarriage, he declared to a courtier
0:12:17 > 0:12:20that he had been charmed into marrying Anne
0:12:20 > 0:12:22by magic spells or sorcery.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28But were these the wild words of a distraught husband
0:12:28 > 0:12:30or something more ominous?
0:12:32 > 0:12:37When Henry talks about enchantments, charms, magic tricks,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Henry is beginning, it seems,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43to think about annulling his marriage to Anne.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47He cannot imagine what he ever saw in Anne Boleyn,
0:12:47 > 0:12:52and he cannot imagine why, for her sake, he broke with Rome,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55turned the politics of Europe upside down.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59So he's thrashing about, trying to find a reason.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01And he's saying,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04"Perhaps my marriage was always null and void
0:13:04 > 0:13:07"for lack of proper consent."
0:13:10 > 0:13:12But some perceive a different, darker tale
0:13:12 > 0:13:15in the story of Anne Boleyn's miscarriage.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21According to some accounts,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Anne's miscarried child was found to have physical deformities.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Clear evidence to 16th-century minds of evildoing.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Anne miscarries a baby,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38and it's inspected by a midwife who says that it was a boy,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but it's malformed.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46Now, that's of enormous importance.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49The belief was, in the medieval world,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53was that if a woman gave birth to a deformed or a malformed foetus,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58then what everybody would genuinely, thoroughly and sincerely believe
0:13:58 > 0:14:01is that she's done a truly awful sin.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05And that would be like adultery, like gross adultery,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09or it would be incest, or it might be witchcraft.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13But when she loses the baby, you know, Henry,
0:14:13 > 0:14:19what he sees is conclusive evidence that his wife is not a good woman,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21and that his marriage is not blessed by God.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26And that's the least of his fears.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28I'm certain that he feels that.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32It may be that he goes further and believes that his wife is a witch.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38There's no indication in the contemporary records
0:14:38 > 0:14:43that this was anything other than a normal pregnancy with a sad end.
0:14:44 > 0:14:51The idea that Anne was delivered of a shapeless mass of flesh
0:14:51 > 0:14:56comes along 40 years later, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01in the work of Nicholas Sanders, who is a Catholic propagandist.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06And a great edifice of speculation has been built up on this,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09so that it's quite hard to remember
0:15:09 > 0:15:13that there is no evidence at the root of it all.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17This hypothesis, let's call it, is so sensational,
0:15:17 > 0:15:23so hair-raising and, of course, it's attractive to novelists.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26But there is really...
0:15:26 > 0:15:28It's just hot air.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34We will never know for sure whether it was Anne's miscarriage
0:15:34 > 0:15:39that sealed her fate, but there is evidence to suggest
0:15:39 > 0:15:44that by the spring of 1536, Henry was in the grip of a new passion.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55On the 30th March, the King sat down to write a letter,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58something he normally avoided.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00But this was a love letter
0:16:00 > 0:16:03for one of Anne Boleyn's own ladies-in-waiting...
0:16:04 > 0:16:06..a certain Jane Seymour.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11She was the direct opposite to Anne Boleyn,
0:16:11 > 0:16:16self-effacing, demure, humble, obedient.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19At least, she looked as if she'd be no trouble.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24She is so pale that she virtually doesn't exist.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26She is desperately plain.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31And Henry, like a pendulum, swings from one to the other.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Although the content of Henry's letter to Jane Seymour is not known,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Jane's reaction to the King's overtures
0:16:38 > 0:16:40was witnessed by observers.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48She kisses the letter.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Jane hands it back to the messenger,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55saying, "It would be quite improper for me to take this,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57"but please tell the King
0:16:57 > 0:17:01"that he should send it again
0:17:01 > 0:17:05"when I should happen to make a good marriage."
0:17:06 > 0:17:09But she's teasing Henry,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and after this point,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15he's thinking, "Can I get out of my marriage to Anne?"
0:17:18 > 0:17:20I don't think that Henry had decided he wanted to get rid of Anne.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23There isn't really any evidence of it.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27In practice, I think that he had worked very hard to get her
0:17:27 > 0:17:30and wasn't about to throw her away easily.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Henry does have mistresses, he has about three that we know of,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and the worst case scenario, I think,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39is that Henry is trying to make Jane his mistress.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42And I certainly don't think that there's any way
0:17:42 > 0:17:45that one can spin that out and say that's the beginning of the end.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49In the King's eyes,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52was Jane Seymour a new Queen-in-waiting
0:17:52 > 0:17:54or just a potential royal mistress?
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Whatever Henry's intentions, one thing is beyond doubt.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04By March 1536, his infatuation with Anne Boleyn was over.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12What Henry looked for in a wife was one just like Catherine, please.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Intelligent, for sure, but knowing her place.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19But Anne continued to be Anne.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22What makes Anne interesting and fascinating, I think,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24is precisely that she's not like Catherine of Aragon.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28She is highly intelligent, articulate.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30She'd seen some of the world,
0:18:30 > 0:18:31she knew scholars and she talked to them,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34she was the friend of poets and intellectuals,
0:18:34 > 0:18:39and she involved herself in matters of religion and state politics
0:18:39 > 0:18:43and simply won't accept conventional roles as the wife.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48Because she had become enmeshed in the diplomatic game,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52because she'd acquired her own expertise,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57she saw herself as a player and as an advisor to Henry,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01but Henry didn't want advice from his wife.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05But was Anne's downfall
0:19:05 > 0:19:08simply the result of a breakdown in her marriage to Henry?
0:19:09 > 0:19:12In the highly-charged atmosphere of the Tudor court,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17sexual politics weren't the only dangerous forces at work.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22There were other seething tensions in the form of power politics.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30On the 2nd April, King Henry, Anne and the court
0:19:30 > 0:19:34gathered in the Chapel Royal for the Passion Sunday service.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42The sermon that day was delivered by Anne Boleyn's personal chaplain.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45In nomine Christis.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48His name was John Skip.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53On this day, when we remember the passion of our Saviour,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56we do well to recall his words in the Temple.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01"Which of you can convict me of sin?"
0:20:03 > 0:20:08For his theme, Skip took on the most controversial issue of the day -
0:20:08 > 0:20:12religious reform and the dissolution of the monasteries.
0:20:12 > 0:20:18In these days, many men attack the clergy...
0:20:18 > 0:20:20but is it for noble reasons?
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Or is it because they would have of the clergy their possessions?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29I mean, it's a wonderful piece of political theatre.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It's a court sermon in front of the assembled King
0:20:32 > 0:20:36and nobility and the Council, and Skip lays into them.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39It's a wonderful satirical sermon where
0:20:39 > 0:20:41he essentially criticises everyone.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46But Anne's chaplain appeared to have one particular courtier
0:20:46 > 0:20:47in his sights.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Let us not forget the Book of Esther
0:20:52 > 0:20:57and the sins of the wicked counsellor.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03Skip told the biblical story of an evil royal advisor named Haman.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11But few in the chapel could have doubted who his real target was.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Thomas Cromwell was Henry's chief political counsellor.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20He had risen to power by acting as the King's advisor
0:21:20 > 0:21:24over his divorce from Catherine and the break with Rome.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Although the fortunes of Cromwell and Anne Boleyn
0:21:28 > 0:21:32were closely entwined, some believe that by 1536,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34their relationship had reached a crisis point.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Cromwell, by this stage, is minister of everything.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45There's very little business done in England that doesn't cross his desk.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50Cromwell is astute, he's omnicompetent.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52He's as clever as a bag of snakes.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58He's a supreme master of the political game
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and he was, of course, one of the people
0:22:01 > 0:22:04who made the marriage possible.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07But political divisions have crept in.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Anne is not, as she had hoped,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Henry's front line political advisor.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Cromwell is.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22And the King said, "Who is in the court?"
0:22:22 > 0:22:28And his servants said unto him, "Behold! Haman stands in the court."
0:22:28 > 0:22:32And the King said, "Let him come in."
0:22:32 > 0:22:35I think that sermon is totally extraordinary.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41To invoke Haman has to be directed,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43absolutely full-on, square,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45at Cromwell himself.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47It's throwing a grenade.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53And to do it in front of the King, in the Chapel Royal,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56surely, it's a declaration of war.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01He has begun to complain, way back in 1534,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04that Anne is turning against him.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10He's said that Anne's threatened him, he said Anne wants his head.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16By 1536, the conflict is ready to explode.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22She said unto him, "The enemy is this wicked Haman."
0:23:23 > 0:23:25And thanks to this woman,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Haman was hanged from a gallows, 50 cubits high.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32I think there is a power rivalry.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36I think Cromwell has come up since 1532.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Anne fears her influence is waning,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42and I think there is this power struggle going on.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45So I think that, you know, Anne is feeling threatened by Cromwell,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49but I think he's also feeling threatened by her.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53I think that's rather far-fetched. I don't really see the analogy.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I don't quite see what Cromwell should have been the author of,
0:23:56 > 0:24:01that Anne Boleyn would be so opposed to, and the assumption there is that
0:24:01 > 0:24:06Cromwell is a leading minister, that perhaps he is a controlling minister.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11I see Cromwell as very much the King's servant.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14I'm not convinced that she would campaign
0:24:14 > 0:24:16to get rid of Cromwell in that way.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I don't think that we can necessarily say
0:24:19 > 0:24:23that because her chaplain has said something, he's Anne's mouthpiece.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27We are making all sorts of leaps, in order just to use this piece
0:24:27 > 0:24:32of evidence to suggest that Anne is opposed to Cromwell.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37But sorry, forgive me, why do you have a sermon invoking Haman?
0:24:37 > 0:24:42Why does Cromwell mention it three or four times in conversation?
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Sorry, if this isn't evidence, I don't know what is.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Five centuries on, it's still hard to disentangle
0:24:51 > 0:24:55the troubled relationship between Anne, Henry and Cromwell.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Was Anne brought down by a brutal husband who had tired of his wife,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04or by a power struggle with Henry's scheming counsellor?
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Two weeks after John Skip's extraordinary sermon,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15a second dramatic encounter in the chapel at Greenwich Palace
0:25:15 > 0:25:19provides an insight into the tensions within Henry's court.
0:25:22 > 0:25:23On 18th April,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27the Spanish Ambassador Eustace Chapuys arrived at court.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Chapuys' master, Charles V, was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Charles had refused to recognise Anne Boleyn and even threatened war.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Ambassador Chapuys had come to discuss peace terms with Henry.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53But first, Henry had arranged a little surprise for his guest.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58The King and Queen would sit in the Royal Pew above the Chapel,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01in the body of the Chapel, and then they would come down to offer.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05And there would be like a small staircase coming down,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08so there wasn't much room at the bottom, and Chapuys was there.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11It was such a small space and she had to come face-to-face with him.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19For the past seven years, the Ambassador had refused to meet Anne
0:26:19 > 0:26:23in person, and insisted on calling her "the whore".
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Now his hand had been forced.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Henry essentially stages this manoeuvre whereby Chapuys
0:26:36 > 0:26:40will bow to Anne in the chapel, and this is crucial,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44because this tiny piece of etiquette is a diplomatic coup.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53What Chapuys is doing is, on behalf of the Emperor Charles V,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55he is recognising Anne Boleyn.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00He is conceding, by that gesture, that Henry VIII's break with Rome
0:27:00 > 0:27:02and his marriage and all that,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06that Henry at least had some justification. That is a major step.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12The Ambassador's gesture has been seen by some as a victory for Anne,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and clear evidence that her recent miscarriage
0:27:15 > 0:27:18had been forgiven and forgotten by King Henry.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Anne was quite triumphant, yes, absolutely, and to Cromwell
0:27:23 > 0:27:27it became very clear that Anne had...
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Well, it looked to Cromwell as if Anne had recovered
0:27:29 > 0:27:32her ascendancy over Henry, or was actually recovering it.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Henry's championing her again.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Why would Henry VIII have been
0:27:48 > 0:27:50involved in doing something like this,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54if he knew that, two weeks later, Anne Boleyn would be falling?
0:27:54 > 0:27:58I think it's inconceivable that, at this point, 18th April,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Henry has resolved on getting rid of Anne Boleyn.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06If Henry was still committed to his wife on 18th April,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10just two weeks before her arrest, then the theory that somebody else
0:28:10 > 0:28:14engineered Anne's downfall starts to gain credibility.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22And the finger of suspicion points towards Cromwell.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Shortly after the service in the chapel,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32King Henry and Chapuys met, accompanied by Cromwell.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Their subject was the delicate state of England's alliance
0:28:35 > 0:28:40with Charles V, an alliance that had been broken by Cromwell.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49At some point, Henry appears to turn on Cromwell.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52We don't have a word-to-word account.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57It seems that Cromwell is being accused of making
0:28:57 > 0:29:00his own foreign policy in cahoots
0:29:00 > 0:29:02with the Imperial Ambassador,
0:29:02 > 0:29:07and he's gone too far along the line of conciliation.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10And it's tantalising,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14because here is history eavesdropping,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17but we're not quite close enough.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20But it's quite obvious from their body language
0:29:20 > 0:29:22that a full-scale row is going on here.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29Cromwell walks away, he's in terrible distress, physical distress.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32He looks like a man who's on the brink of a heart attack
0:29:32 > 0:29:33or some other catastrophe.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37It's possible that this was a turning point.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Could his humiliating dressing down from the King
0:29:42 > 0:29:45have been the moment that Cromwell turned on Anne?
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Some historians have argued that there was a great fissure
0:29:49 > 0:29:51between Cromwell and Anne, that they had been close allies
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and now, because of these matters of foreign policy
0:29:54 > 0:29:56and the dissolution of the monasteries, that they are separate.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I don't think that's actually what's going on.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02I think, perhaps one can argue that there might be some struggle
0:30:02 > 0:30:05for a place in Henry's affections.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Henry tends to rely on one pivotal person,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11and they're both trying to be that person,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16but the evidence for their arguments are really very far and few between.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18It's mostly speculation.
0:30:20 > 0:30:21Speculation?
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Maybe.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25The facts are these.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31The next day, Cromwell absented himself from court,
0:30:31 > 0:30:32claiming illness.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40While he was away, a series of scandalous rumours about Anne Boleyn
0:30:40 > 0:30:42began to spread through the court.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45According to some accounts,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49the stories were started by Anne's own ladies-in-waiting.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54One of Anne's ladies, Lady Worcester,
0:30:54 > 0:30:59was being told off by her brother for her loose living.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02She says, "Huh! Don't blame me."
0:31:02 > 0:31:06"It's nothing to what the Queen gets up to,"
0:31:06 > 0:31:08or words to that effect.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10And to cut a long story short she said,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12"If you think I'm bad, you should see the Queen.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15"She entertains men late at night, including Mark Smeaton,"
0:31:15 > 0:31:17who's a musician at the Queen's court.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23And this was pyrotechnic intelligence.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26The situation then explodes.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30Everything accelerates, and the game changes.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32On 30th April,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36the court musician Mark Smeaton was taken in for questioning.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44His interrogator was none other than Thomas Cromwell,
0:31:44 > 0:31:46now fully restored to health.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Nobody knows what happened behind closed doors,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58but the outcome of their little chat would have fatal consequences.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03So he takes him back to his house, and questions him.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05We're not sure whether torture was used.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Some people say there was torture, other people say there wasn't,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11but he remarkably confesses.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14He says, "I had sex with the Queen on three occasions."
0:32:15 > 0:32:17That could have been fantasy, it could have been,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20if there was torture, you know, who knows?
0:32:20 > 0:32:23I probably would confess to having sex with the Queen
0:32:23 > 0:32:25if I was tortured and I wanted it to stop, wouldn't you?
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Just a few days earlier, Anne's position as Queen had seemed secure.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Now Cromwell had in his hands
0:32:37 > 0:32:40apparently damning evidence of her adultery.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Later that day, he informed King Henry of his findings.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Henry is genuinely staggered by this.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57You know, he has just engineered the rapprochement with Chapuys,
0:32:57 > 0:33:01he's sorted out the diplomatic situation to make his marriage
0:33:01 > 0:33:05to Anne acceptable in European eyes, everything is fine.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08And then very suddenly, he has this bombshell dropped on him.
0:33:10 > 0:33:11It's his worst fears.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16This is the woman that he moved hell and high water to be with,
0:33:16 > 0:33:18waited seven long years to marry,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21put aside his wife of nearly 24 years to be with,
0:33:21 > 0:33:26changed the very religion of England to have, and she's betrayed him.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Oh, dear, people don't understand Henry, do they?
0:33:32 > 0:33:37The best and the most convincing liars believe their own lies.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Henry has an amazing gift for persuading himself
0:33:41 > 0:33:44that whatever is convenient is true.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Henry believes it because it's convenient...
0:33:49 > 0:33:51..and then he persuades others.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53But isn't this politics throughout the ages?
0:33:58 > 0:34:01The King gave orders for Anne to be arrested,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and instructed Cromwell to launch a full investigation.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09An atmosphere of paranoia and panic swept through the court,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11as Cromwell drew up his list of suspects.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15As soon as this begins to happen,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19people start to rush to distance themselves from Anne.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22They're all looking over their shoulder.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24This is a court of terror.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26Everybody is playing with fire.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Everybody at Henry's court
0:34:30 > 0:34:34is and knows they are a whisker away from execution.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37Confused and terrified,
0:34:37 > 0:34:42the Queen now found herself a prisoner in the Tower of London.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50She alternates between a sense that the law will save her,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53she's innocent, that will come out, won't it?
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Henry's just testing her, isn't he?
0:34:55 > 0:34:59And gradually she then realises that Henry isn't testing her,
0:34:59 > 0:35:00and her innocence won't save her,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and the law won't help her if Henry doesn't want it to.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06And she's desperately trying to think what it is she's done,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08I think, you know, if she's been accused of having sex
0:35:08 > 0:35:10with men about her, who could they be?
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Within days, no fewer than seven men were under arrest
0:35:16 > 0:35:20for allegedly having illegal intercourse with the Queen.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Among them was Anne's own brother, George Boleyn.
0:35:25 > 0:35:26In the indictment which we have,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28we don't have all the trial documents,
0:35:28 > 0:35:33but in the indictment, we have these accounts of Anne being accused
0:35:33 > 0:35:35of "having traitorously procuring and inciting
0:35:35 > 0:35:37"her own natural brother George Boleyn to violate her,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40"and alluring him with her tongue in the said George's mouth,
0:35:40 > 0:35:41"and the said George's tongue in hers."
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And so it goes on,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and it plays to this idea that women are naturally lustful.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49And, of course, this is actually not just lustful,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52but it's almost of the devil.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Sex with five people, one of them your brother!
0:35:56 > 0:35:58This is deliberately pornographic.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03On the other hand, remember, Anne has broken every rule
0:36:03 > 0:36:07in the political, religious and moral universe.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12As she's inverted the moral and religious universe,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15why shouldn't she have slept with every man she came across?
0:36:15 > 0:36:22It's precisely the magnitude of the charges that makes them convincing.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27But amidst the torrent of lurid allegations,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Anne stood accused of one particularly monstrous crime.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36According to rumours at court,
0:36:36 > 0:36:40she had been overheard talking with Sir Henry Norris a few days earlier.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Norris was not only a leading member of Henry's Privy Chamber,
0:36:45 > 0:36:49he was also one of the King's closest companions.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54And the content of their discussion was to prove highly inflammatory.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59So they've been in her chamber
0:36:59 > 0:37:01and she's asked him why he hasn't got married yet,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and he says that he'd like to tarry a time,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06and she responds, and this is the crucial line,
0:37:06 > 0:37:08"You look for dead men's shoes,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12"for if ought came to the King but good, you would look to have me."
0:37:12 > 0:37:14In other words, she's saying,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17"You want to marry me when my husband's dead, don't you?"
0:37:17 > 0:37:24Speculating about the King's death is an extremely dangerous matter.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31It's a short step from saying, "One day Henry will die,"
0:37:31 > 0:37:34to saying, "And I hope it's soon."
0:37:34 > 0:37:38And it's a short step from saying, "I hope it's soon",
0:37:38 > 0:37:40to saying, "Let's accelerate it."
0:37:41 > 0:37:46So Norris and Anne are coming very close to treason.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52On top of multiple charges of adultery and incest,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Anne now stood accused of an even more serious crime.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Plotting the death of the King.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09Henry's not going to say innocent until proved guilty.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13The breath of suspicion is enough.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17Rumours are already leaking out all over Europe.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23Whatever there is out of this, Henry has lost face terribly,
0:38:23 > 0:38:29if it can even be hinted that his wife might be unfaithful to him.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32So Henry's going quietly mad.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35In the 16th century, a wife's adultery
0:38:35 > 0:38:39is thought to suggest her husband's lack of sexual dominance,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42and this obviously doesn't play very well on Henry,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45but it plays even worse when you realise that, actually,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47it's about being able to govern the household.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50If you can't govern a household,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53how can you choose to suggest you can rule a realm?
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Henry now hid himself away in his palace
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and authorised Cromwell to organise a trial.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Anne never saw her husband again.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11If a power struggle had broken out between Anne and Cromwell,
0:39:11 > 0:39:16then Henry's advisor now had Anne exactly where he wanted her.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Now, where is Cromwell in this?
0:39:21 > 0:39:25He will say later to the Imperial Ambassador,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27"I went back to my house..."
0:39:28 > 0:39:30"..and I dreamt it up."
0:39:31 > 0:39:38But I don't suppose for one moment that Cromwell had dreamt up
0:39:38 > 0:39:43a stage-by-stage, perfectly controlled process
0:39:43 > 0:39:47which would end in Anne's destruction.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55What he could do was put people under a bit of pressure,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58by asking questions,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02and then sit back and see what they do,
0:40:02 > 0:40:09and he may himself be surprised at the readiness of the courtiers
0:40:09 > 0:40:13to say incriminating things about her.
0:40:13 > 0:40:19I don't think there was a pre-arranged,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23highly intricate conspiracy.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27What I think happened was a series of events,
0:40:27 > 0:40:33which spiralled out of control, took everyone by surprise.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Cromwell was the one who saw how to play them.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39I don't think that works as an argument,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41I mean, anyone could have done this.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43I mean, you have to sort of look for real evidence
0:40:43 > 0:40:45that someone did do this, and there's much more holding Anne
0:40:45 > 0:40:48and Cromwell together than there is forcing them apart.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50The idea that they suddenly become enemies, I think,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53is not based on the evidence.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57You know, he had been handed, if I can change metaphors,
0:40:57 > 0:41:02a really hot potato, and he wasn't happy to be investigating adultery
0:41:02 > 0:41:03in the Queen's Privy Chamber.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06You know, that is such a difficult thing to do.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09He's in a minefield and every step he could take could lead
0:41:09 > 0:41:12to his own disaster, his own ruin, so, I guess,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15in a sense, he would have hoped Smeaton hadn't confessed,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18but Smeaton did confess.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20And after that, he had to follow it up.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25It was Cromwell. He's the guilty party in this.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28I think this is one of the most shocking and audacious plots
0:41:28 > 0:41:29in English history.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31Cromwell masterminded it.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35He got the evidence and the evidence was laid before the King,
0:41:35 > 0:41:36and it was compelling.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Cromwell later tells Chapuys that he thought up and plotted
0:41:42 > 0:41:46the affair of the Queen, in which he had taken a great deal of trouble.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50But, I mean, I'm tempted to say, "He would say that, wouldn't he?"
0:41:50 > 0:41:51The alternative is to say,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54"No, I had absolutely no idea what was going on until someone told me."
0:41:54 > 0:41:56But if you look at the evidence,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59he just wasn't involved until Henry brought him in.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02The only piece of evidence that's used to say that it was a coup,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06is a line in a letter from Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Cromwell has said to him, and it's written in French, the original,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13that he's set himself to conspire and think up the said affair.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16But the problem is, historians don't always tell you
0:42:16 > 0:42:18everything you need to know, and what you need to know
0:42:18 > 0:42:21in this instance is the line before, the context.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24The crucial line before, is that he himself, Cromwell,
0:42:24 > 0:42:29had been commissioned by the King to put to an end the mistress's trial.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33So it actually means that the context is very much
0:42:33 > 0:42:38that Cromwell himself admits that Henry has told him to do it.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Almost 500 years later, the full extent of Thomas Cromwell's role
0:42:44 > 0:42:48in Anne's downfall is still hard to pin down.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Was he the author of a plot against Anne,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53or was he simply following orders?
0:42:55 > 0:43:00The final driver of everything under Henry, is Henry.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02And it is very clear indeed,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05it's driven by the fact that Henry wants to get rid of her.
0:43:12 > 0:43:18She's undercut, very seriously, by that miscarriage.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21But if she'd carried that child to term,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25she would have been absolutely secure.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27It wouldn't have mattered about Jane Seymour,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31it wouldn't have mattered about what the King felt about her.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35It's also that she was creating serious trouble at court.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40Her arrogance, the way that she bad-mouths, to their faces,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42leading members of the court.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46It breaks etiquette, it treads on toes.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52As relations between Anne, Henry and Cromwell
0:43:52 > 0:43:57all become increasingly fraught, the signal must come from Henry.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01"I am fed up. We want this woman out of the way."
0:44:05 > 0:44:08We will probably never know precisely how far Anne's downfall
0:44:08 > 0:44:11was orchestrated by Henry or Cromwell.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18But could there be a simpler explanation for the events of 1536,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21rooted in the relationship between sex and politics
0:44:21 > 0:44:23in the highly charged world of the Tudor court?
0:44:25 > 0:44:28I think that Henry really believes these rumours.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30I don't think Henry tired of her,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33and I don't think it was a court coup by Cromwell.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36What I think it is, is a game of courtly love gone wrong.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41In the 16th century, women had to be very chaste
0:44:41 > 0:44:43in order to maintain their honour,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47but at the same time, for women of the court, for someone like Anne,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51it was necessary that she be attractive and alluring
0:44:51 > 0:44:52and talk of love.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59And she was surrounded by men who were paying court to her,
0:44:59 > 0:45:04essentially, who would sing her songs, who would write her poetry.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12And so there is this tightrope that they're trying to walk
0:45:12 > 0:45:16between appearing entirely chaste,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19but appearing entirely available at the same time.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21Queens have a difficult task.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24You know, they tell her that she is their mistress, that they love
0:45:24 > 0:45:28her above all other women and that their hearts ache for her presence.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34She's in a world where she has to behave flirtatiously.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40That's that line that you can cross so easily, and what Anne does
0:45:40 > 0:45:44in that conversation with Norris is cross that line definitively
0:45:44 > 0:45:47and at the wrong moment and in the wrong terms.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50And that's the moment that destroys her, I think.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53There's no grand conspiracy theory that they're hatching.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55To imagine the death of the King is technically a crime,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and is politically a disastrous thing to do.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01So it's not a cynical destruction of an innocent woman,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04it's a destruction of an innocent woman
0:46:04 > 0:46:07who appeared to conform to various patterns of guilt.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10And if you happen to be an egotistical monster,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14as Henry VIII was, you want to act decisively.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16And he does act decisively.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18He destroys the people he thinks have betrayed him.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Less than two weeks after their arrest, five men,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25including Mark Smeaton...
0:46:28 > 0:46:32..Henry Norris, and Anne's brother George Boleyn,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36were tried and convicted of adultery and treason and sentenced to death.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43With the single exception of Mark Smeaton,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45all of them protested their innocence.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53On 15th May, it was Anne's turn.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01'My Lords, I am willing to believe you have reasons
0:47:01 > 0:47:03'for what you have done,'
0:47:03 > 0:47:08but they must be other than those which have been produced in court.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13For I am innocent of all the charges you lay against me.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17I have been a faithful wife to the King...
0:47:19 > 0:47:21..and as for my brother...
0:47:23 > 0:47:26..and those others who are unjustly condemned...
0:47:28 > 0:47:30..since it so please the King...
0:47:33 > 0:47:36..I am willing to accompany them to death...
0:47:39 > 0:47:40..with this assurance...
0:47:44 > 0:47:47..that I shall lead an endless life with them of peace and joy.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52For I shall pray to God for the King...
0:47:54 > 0:47:56..and for you, my Lords.
0:47:58 > 0:48:04Before a panel of 26 peers of the realm, Anne defended herself ably.
0:48:04 > 0:48:05But it was no use.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09The decision was a foregone conclusion.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Her courage throughout all this ordeal is just remarkable,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19and at her trial, her composure, her dignity were admirable,
0:48:19 > 0:48:22and when this dreadful sentence is passed,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25they said her face didn't change.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29And she said, "Oh, Father, oh, Creator,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31"thou who art the way, the life and the truth
0:48:31 > 0:48:34"knowest whether I have deserved this death."
0:48:35 > 0:48:39I think she was already reconciled by then to the fact she would die.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45Anne Boleyn's fall had been so sudden and so spectacular,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49that today, many believe she was the victim of a terrible injustice.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53But there is one other possible explanation
0:48:53 > 0:48:56for the extraordinary events of 1536.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Why do we all assume that Anne Boleyn must have been innocent?
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Maybe we should pause and ask whether Anne Boleyn
0:49:06 > 0:49:10was wholly innocent of the charges of adultery, treason,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11that were brought against her,
0:49:11 > 0:49:15and ponder whether perhaps there might have been something in them.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18In the absence of any hard evidence of a conspiracy,
0:49:18 > 0:49:23one scholar at least believes Anne could have been guilty as charged.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Henry, I think, is committed to his marriage.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Then something happens to call his marriage into question,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32and it happens suddenly.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39And this is where the accusations made by the Countess of Worcester,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Anne's lady, seem to acquire a greater degree of plausibility.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46It makes sense. After all, she would be in a position
0:49:46 > 0:49:48to know what she was talking about.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51It's difficult to see what motive she would have for making it up,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55because she must have realised it's a serious charge.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59With Smeaton, the difficulty is to explain
0:49:59 > 0:50:01why he should have confessed.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Now, he may have been tortured.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08The sources are divided about that, torture is not something
0:50:08 > 0:50:11which is commonly in use in Henry VIII's England,
0:50:11 > 0:50:17but there it is, he did confess and he never withdraws his confession.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20He never denies or says that he's made it under pressure.
0:50:20 > 0:50:26Anne Boleyn, her comments hint again at a rather intimate relationship,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28she teasing him.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31It's unusual.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34And even the Duke of Norfolk, a relative,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37describes her as a great whore at one point.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39So it is just possible.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43And in the end, my hunch would be that Anne Boleyn
0:50:43 > 0:50:46did sleep with Mark Smeaton and Henry Norris.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Whether or not Anne Boleyn was guilty of adultery
0:50:51 > 0:50:54with her courtiers, some believe she could have committed
0:50:54 > 0:50:56an even more shocking offence.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Not in the pursuit of personal pleasure,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02but for reasons of political expediency.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05To have an incestuous relationship with her brother seems,
0:51:05 > 0:51:10to most modern minds, really most unlikely and very troubling.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15They weren't brought up as brother and sister at all.
0:51:15 > 0:51:20She was away to France, so they meet pretty well as strangers.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23We certainly know that Anne is determined enough
0:51:23 > 0:51:25to take extraordinary decisions.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29You're talking about someone very, very ruthless. Very ruthless indeed.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34So I think it's perfectly possible to imagine that they might decide
0:51:34 > 0:51:38to have intercourse in order to conceive a child,
0:51:38 > 0:51:42especially if, as we know, they believe that the King
0:51:42 > 0:51:44was incapable of fathering a child.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48In those circumstances, I think she's capable of it.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53I'd ask you to think of the cure and the illness.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57"My husband is only occasionally potent. I'd better have sex
0:51:57 > 0:51:59"with my own brother in order to produce a son
0:51:59 > 0:52:01"that he can then believe is his."
0:52:01 > 0:52:03It doesn't quite work, I think, as an argument.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05No matter how desperate you are,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08you don't have sex with your own brother!
0:52:08 > 0:52:11All the accusations that are made against Anne
0:52:11 > 0:52:15give various dates and say "Anne and, you know,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19"at Hampton Court on 7th December 1533 did traitorously procure
0:52:19 > 0:52:23"and incite said man to violate her."
0:52:23 > 0:52:27And we can disprove three quarters of them by proving that Anne wasn't
0:52:27 > 0:52:31in that palace at that time, or the man in question wasn't there.
0:52:31 > 0:52:32They are made up.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37But they're made up in order to achieve an end, which is
0:52:37 > 0:52:40to make sure that Anne doesn't come out of this alive.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50On the 17th May 1536,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Anne Boleyn looked on from a window in the Tower, as the five men
0:52:54 > 0:52:58accused with her, including her brother, were put to death.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16It's a very chilling picture of Anne
0:53:16 > 0:53:18that we have in these last days in the Tower.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24She prays a lot, that she cries,
0:53:24 > 0:53:25that she says that she wishes
0:53:25 > 0:53:29the executioner would come sooner, so that her ordeal could be ended.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33She's lost her title, she's lost her marriage,
0:53:33 > 0:53:35she won't see her daughter again.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39It's an extraordinary fall, it's a very, very dramatic fall
0:53:39 > 0:53:41and then they tell her the swordsman's arrived.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47There remains one final piece of evidence.
0:53:48 > 0:53:54At dawn on the 18th May, the day she was due to be executed,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Anne prepared her soul for death.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04- PRIEST:- In nomine patri, et filii, et spiritus sancti.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08In the presence of a number of witnesses,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Anne received the last sacrament.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20Corpus domini nostri, Jesu Christi,
0:54:20 > 0:54:27custodiat corpus tuam et animam tuam in vitam aeternam.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Amen.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36Finally, the Queen made her last solemn confession.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42In the sight of God,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46do you recall any sins you have not yet confessed?
0:54:48 > 0:54:53I swear upon the eternal damnation of my soul...
0:54:55 > 0:54:56..I have been a true wife...
0:54:58 > 0:55:02..and never have I offended with my body against the King.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Crucially, she swears, on peril of her soul's damnation,
0:55:12 > 0:55:17both before and after taking the Eucharist, that she's innocent.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21And this is a very serious act in this religious age.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23If you know that you're going to meet your maker
0:55:23 > 0:55:28in the next day or so, you're not going to take risks.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32For me, her final confession, it's key evidence,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35because she's facing what she believes will be divine judgment,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39it's her final confession, and she made a declaration,
0:55:39 > 0:55:44she had never offended with her body against the King.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48You might think that she's perhaps being a little bit too specific here
0:55:48 > 0:55:51and that she hadn't offended with her body,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54but had she offended with her heart?
0:55:54 > 0:55:55We don't know.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06During the course of her short life,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Anne Boleyn had risen from obscurity to become a Queen.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18She had taken the Tudor court and the King by storm,
0:56:18 > 0:56:20and her marriage to Henry
0:56:20 > 0:56:22changed the course of British history for ever.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29But on 19th May 1536, Anne was taken from her lodging
0:56:29 > 0:56:32in the Tower of London to a scaffold nearby.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Among the onlookers was Thomas Cromwell.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43King Henry stayed away.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51Shortly after 9am, one of history's most remarkable women
0:56:51 > 0:56:57met her brutal end, and 500 years of argument began.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03When it comes to the mystery of Anne Boleyn's fall,
0:57:03 > 0:57:08there's just enough evidence to keep historians guessing,
0:57:08 > 0:57:09but just enough gaps to make sure
0:57:09 > 0:57:12they can never finally get to the solution.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14I think the evidence strongly suggests that Cromwell
0:57:14 > 0:57:19had Anne framed, or framed her himself, and he's the guilty party
0:57:19 > 0:57:21in this, it's judicial murder.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24She's a victim of a husband who decides to kill her.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27It's not suicide in the Tower,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30it's Henry's order that she's taken out and beheaded.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33He doesn't just stop at divorce, it's got to be death for him.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37That's wicked. That's wicked behaviour.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41I don't think it does any favours to Anne
0:57:41 > 0:57:44to cast her as a victim.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46She was not a victim.
0:57:46 > 0:57:55She was a woman who chose to step into the tough political game.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57She made her calculations.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02She played a winning hand.
0:58:04 > 0:58:05Ultimately, she lost.