0:00:03 > 0:00:07For centuries, kings and queens have been set apart
0:00:07 > 0:00:12from the rest of us, depicted as God-like giants
0:00:12 > 0:00:18or virile warriors or fertile mothers of the nation.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22But if you strip away the regal facade
0:00:22 > 0:00:24the reality's very different.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28We've had mad monarchs and bad ones
0:00:28 > 0:00:30and sexually inadequate kings
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and infertile queens.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36In this series, I'm going to reintroduce you
0:00:36 > 0:00:41to our monarchs as human beings, people rather like you and me.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44I'm going to investigate their medical problems,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48study their doctors' reports, read their private letters
0:00:48 > 0:00:51and examine their most intimate possessions.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54I'm going to reveal the chinks in the royal armour,
0:00:54 > 0:01:00because I believe, ironically, that the lives of these kings and queens,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04the survival of the monarchy, the fortunes of the nation
0:01:04 > 0:01:07have been determined not so much by their strengths,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09but their weaknesses.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22In this first episode, I'm looking at the medical histories
0:01:22 > 0:01:26of the Tudors and the Stuarts, and that's cos I believe
0:01:26 > 0:01:30that these intimate details can often explain the moments that came
0:01:30 > 0:01:34to define their reigns - royal wives beheaded and divorced,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Catholics and Protestants slaughtering each other,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41a country embroiled in civil war.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Many of these monarchs had deeply personal flaws of biology and
0:01:46 > 0:01:51psychology, but I'm going to explain how the monarchy withstood them all.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Our story starts in 1509,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04when perhaps the greatest king of them all came to the throne.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Henry VIII seemed to have all of God's gifts.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11He was charismatic and clever and commanding.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14When he became king, one of his new subjects wrote,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18"All the world here is rejoicing in the possession
0:02:18 > 0:02:20"of so great a prince."
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Henry was the perfect product of the hereditary system.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27His inheritance gave him great power,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31but it also placed him under intolerable pressure because,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35to continue the Tudor dynasty, he had to produce an heir,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39a successor who would be just as perfect and potent as Henry was.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45In Holbein's most celebrated portrait of Henry VIII,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49the monarch's shown as both human and divine.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51He's a man in his prime.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56He's enormous, but at the same time he's more than a man.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00He's a little like a god, all-powerful and untouchable.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07And, with the fate of the realm resting on this royal flesh,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09nothing could be left to chance.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12A horde of doctors ministered to the king.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16There was no royal body part too intimate or body fluid
0:03:16 > 0:03:20too unsavoury to evade their professional attention.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24One of the items unearthed here, at Hampton Court Palace, shows
0:03:24 > 0:03:27how Henry was under intense scrutiny.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29That's rather nice.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32And this is my favourite object practically in the whole
0:03:32 > 0:03:33of the collection.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Wow.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40That is what the Tudors called a piss pot - not my word, theirs -
0:03:40 > 0:03:44and this particular one was excavated in the privy garden,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47just outside Henry VIII's private apartment.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50And the brilliant thing about it is that the archaeologists
0:03:50 > 0:03:54who analysed it in there, when their report came back, it was great.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58It said, "Contains traces of genuine Tudor piss," still in there.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04We do know that Henry VIII used, not this one, but a piss pot like this,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08and his doctors closely analysed what it contained, didn't they?
0:04:08 > 0:04:12They would have actually decanted it out of the piss pot into what
0:04:12 > 0:04:15they would call a urinal or a jordan
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and then held it up to the light, and the badge of a physician is
0:04:18 > 0:04:22really the urinal, because in every illumination they're always
0:04:22 > 0:04:26being shown at the bedside holding up the glass to the light.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Henry's pretty closely monitored, isn't he?
0:04:28 > 0:04:32We hear that every time he goes to make water, as they call it,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35he's accompanied by one of the gentlemen of the bed chamber.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37He must have been under constant surveillance.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Inevitably, in such a close-knit community as this,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43with everybody standing around, it was very difficult to hide anything,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47so if the king wasn't well or there was something
0:04:47 > 0:04:51changed in the way his urine looked, then it was likely to get out.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53And that is...you know, it's potentially a political problem,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56isn't it? Because if he's sick, he could die, there could be war.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59If the king was not right, if there was something wrong with
0:04:59 > 0:05:01the king, then there was something wrong with the kingdom,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04so there was this very straightforward equation between
0:05:04 > 0:05:09the health of the king in a personal monarchy and the state of the realm.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And there was one part of the royal anatomy that
0:05:13 > 0:05:15mattered above all others.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19It's no coincidence that, when you come face to face with Henry,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23it's not his gaze that captures your eye, but his codpiece.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27This was the true seat of royal power, and the king knew it,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31but he also knew how uncertain his position was.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Henry was just the second king of the Tudor line,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37a dynasty scarcely a quarter of a century old.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42In 1485, the last Plantagenet king, Richard III,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45had been defeated at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry's father,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Henry VII, who'd seized the Crown.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51On inheriting the throne,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Henry VIII married the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59But after more than a decade together and six pregnancies
0:05:59 > 0:06:04they had only one surviving child, a daughter, Princess Mary.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09The queen was almost 40 and all hope of a son and heir
0:06:09 > 0:06:14to continue this fledgling royal line was fading fast.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Clearly, there's quite a lot of speculation about Henry's health
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and a lot of it must have centred on this issue
0:06:20 > 0:06:21of the succession.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25"When is he going to give us a boy, an heir, a prince?"
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Yes, I think that's right, and we're very much aware that Henry
0:06:29 > 0:06:34himself is thinking about this a lot. And the gossip around the court
0:06:34 > 0:06:37often had to do with the fact that the king was perhaps
0:06:37 > 0:06:40not as great a sexual athlete as he would have wished.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44The notebook of the royal physician, John Argentine,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48includes a treatment for Henry's suspected shortcoming.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Under the heading "coitus" - sex -
0:06:51 > 0:06:54he gives particular remedies for,
0:06:54 > 0:06:59as it were, the problem of not being able to get it up or the problem
0:06:59 > 0:07:03of not being able to have powerful enough generative sperm.
0:07:03 > 0:07:10One of which is made up of goats' testicles mixed with marjoram and
0:07:10 > 0:07:15formed into an apple and then eaten. And he says, "Well, that works very
0:07:15 > 0:07:19"well, but you might also add bulls' testicles to the mix as well."
0:07:19 > 0:07:21The goat being a famously lusty animal,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23so you can see how it might work.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I suppose it looks to us like the Tudor dynasty was inevitable -
0:07:26 > 0:07:28there were loads of Tudors - but at this stage
0:07:28 > 0:07:30it was only the second generation.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33To Henry, it must have looked pretty fragile.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36You can sense that the king is becoming increasingly concerned
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and worried and starting to look for ways out of this situation.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46The hereditary system seemed to have failed both king and country.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Inadequacies in the royal bedchamber would now force Henry
0:07:50 > 0:07:52to do the unthinkable...
0:07:52 > 0:07:56and consider changing his religion.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Henry broke with Rome and dissolved the monasteries
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and created the Church of England,
0:08:02 > 0:08:07all to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry
0:08:07 > 0:08:09the younger, prettier Anne Boleyn,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11who might, just might, give him a son.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15On the one hand, Henry's divorce was a matter of high state
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and international diplomacy.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18On the other, though,
0:08:18 > 0:08:23it was an intensely personal story about a man who was absolutely
0:08:23 > 0:08:28desperate for a son and a woman who was too old to give him one.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33But Henry's new wife, Anne Boleyn, did not bear him a son.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Instead, she had another daughter, Princess Elizabeth,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40and this failure would ultimately cost her her life.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45It was Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, who finally gave him a son.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Prince Edward was born in 1537,
0:08:49 > 0:08:5228 years after Henry had come to the throne.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56After a divorce, a religious schism and a beheading,
0:08:56 > 0:09:01the king had paid an extraordinarily high price for his heir.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04And there's a very touching moment when finally a boy is born,
0:09:04 > 0:09:05Edward is born.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The king takes him and he cries that finally he's got a male heir.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Yeah, and it's a very human moment.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15And I think it's at moments like that when you think, "Actually,
0:09:15 > 0:09:20"this role is extraordinarily privileged on the one hand
0:09:20 > 0:09:25"and can be extraordinarily painful and troubled on the other hand."
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It's a moment that shows you
0:09:27 > 0:09:31the pressure for the line of succession there has been,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34a moment intensely emotional,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39actually, for him. The sheer weight of relief that he would have felt
0:09:39 > 0:09:41as he held Edward in his hands... And it's easy to misinterpret him
0:09:41 > 0:09:46as tyrannical, running through these various marriages without
0:09:46 > 0:09:49any feeling, but in fact what we have here is a man who's been
0:09:49 > 0:09:54quite desperate to actually fulfil what has been expected of him.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Are you saying that we should feel a bit of pity
0:09:57 > 0:10:00for the man who's seen as the English Stalin?
0:10:00 > 0:10:04We have to get beneath the iconic images
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and we have to say to ourselves, "Yes, on the one hand,
0:10:07 > 0:10:13"he's a king, he's pragmatic, he's political, he's state-focused."
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Of course he is, that's his role.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19But on the other hand, there is a human being here who feels,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23who's troubled, who is under pressure,
0:10:23 > 0:10:28who's got to make his contribution in his lifetime in particular ways,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and the most important way is to ensure that line of succession.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38Henry would die convinced that he'd finally secured his dynasty
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and certain that the country's religious traumas were worth it
0:10:41 > 0:10:46to have won the son and heir that he left behind.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Like his father, Edward VI seemed the model monarch -
0:10:49 > 0:10:53he was vigorous, intelligent and, most importantly, male.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58But when he succeeded Henry on the 28th of January, 1547,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Edward was but a boy.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08On the eve of his coronation, the young prince led
0:11:08 > 0:11:11a procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14The streets are lined with spectators,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18people hang tapestries out of the windows of their houses
0:11:18 > 0:11:22and there's a great cavalcade of noblemen on horseback.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24The Privy Council are there, the trumpeters are there.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27But when they reach Old St Paul's Church,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29the whole procession comes to a stop.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32People start saying, "What's going on? Why have we stopped here?"
0:11:32 > 0:11:36What had happened was that the king himself had stopped the show.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39He'd had his eye caught by an acrobat.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41He watched his performance on the tightrope,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43he was laughing his head off, enjoying it.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46He was, after all, only nine years old.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49It was a really charming and amusing moment,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53full of hope for the future, but there was a dark side to it.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56People did remember the Old Testament saying,
0:11:56 > 0:12:02"Woe upon thee, O land, when thy king is a child."
0:12:03 > 0:12:07The first test of the new king's reign would be his faith.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11England had broken with Rome just 13 years earlier and, in the
0:12:11 > 0:12:16hands of a child, its religious future looked deeply uncertain.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Edward wasn't yet considered old enough to rule in his own right
0:12:20 > 0:12:24and his youth left him dangerously vulnerable
0:12:24 > 0:12:27to manipulation by his leading courtiers.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30What happens when Henry dies, then?
0:12:30 > 0:12:32There's this power vacuum with a nine-year-old on the throne.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Well, almost immediately the reign is thrown into turmoil
0:12:35 > 0:12:39because someone needs to take charge and there's a battle between
0:12:39 > 0:12:41whether it should be a council, a minority council,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43as there had been in sort of previous generations
0:12:43 > 0:12:46when a child inherited the throne, or whether there should be
0:12:46 > 0:12:48a single person, a protector,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51who was actually going to look after the king.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And actually the idea of this protector wins out
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and it becomes Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, Edward's uncle.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Somerset became the sort of de facto king with that authority
0:13:00 > 0:13:02while Edward was that young.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05While Somerset ruled in his place,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Edward was educated to be a thoroughly modern monarch.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12The training for a king in the medieval period was very much
0:13:12 > 0:13:14how fast could you ride, how...
0:13:14 > 0:13:17could you fight well enough so that you'd actually be able to take on
0:13:17 > 0:13:20sort of enemies in a battlefield. When you get to the Tudor period,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23someone like Edward ends up being the most educated king
0:13:23 > 0:13:28of a generation, and it's his love of Latin, literature, the sort
0:13:28 > 0:13:31of Protestant faith that actually sort of drives forward an entirely
0:13:31 > 0:13:34new kingship based on intellect rather than physical strength.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Can you tell me how Edward begins to mature, then?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40What are the steps that he takes to begin to assert his authority?
0:13:40 > 0:13:42At the beginning of Edward's reign,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Edward's still a bit too young to understand properly what's going on,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48but within two years he's caught up pretty fast and you sort of get
0:13:48 > 0:13:52that sense that this is a king very much on the cusp of maturity and
0:13:52 > 0:13:56he's already beginning to challenge the authority of his protector.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01One unique document lays bare the young king's hardening
0:14:01 > 0:14:03political judgment.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07We actually know what Edward was thinking and feeling
0:14:07 > 0:14:11because he's the first king that we know about to have kept a diary.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13It's amazing - it's here at the British Library.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16And one thing it covers is his whole relationship
0:14:16 > 0:14:18with his uncle, Protector Somerset.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21We pick up the story in 1549,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23when things are beginning to sour for Somerset.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25By the age of 12,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Edward's youth no longer seemed an obstacle to his authority.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32He'd become convinced that his Uncle Somerset
0:14:32 > 0:14:35was abusing his position and must be deposed.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Edward summarises the charges here -
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"Ambition, vainglory,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45"entering into rash wars as Protector,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49"enriching himself of my treasure
0:14:49 > 0:14:51"and following his own opinion."
0:14:51 > 0:14:57Just a couple of years later, Edward himself
0:14:57 > 0:15:00signs the death warrant for his uncle's execution.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And in this diary entry here, it's...
0:15:04 > 0:15:06it's amazing, really.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10It just reads as follows, "The Duke of Somerset had his head cut off
0:15:10 > 0:15:14"upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning."
0:15:14 > 0:15:17That's it. That's really cold, isn't it?
0:15:17 > 0:15:21And it's from this point onwards that observers said the young king
0:15:21 > 0:15:24is now to be feared.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27In just three years, the little boy who'd brought his coronation
0:15:27 > 0:15:31procession to a halt to watch an acrobat had been transformed
0:15:31 > 0:15:35into a king terrifyingly fit to rule.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Edward's ruthless treatment of his uncle showed fanatical zeal
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and so did the way he now set about securing
0:15:42 > 0:15:45England's Protestant future.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Edward himself is the embodiment of the Reformation.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52It was for Edward that actually Henry went through this whole
0:15:52 > 0:15:54process of changing the church.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Edward is the first king who is the king
0:15:58 > 0:16:00and the head of the Church of England.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03It was in Edward's reign that sort of stained glass was
0:16:03 > 0:16:05ripped out of the churches, saints' images were smashed,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08altars had to be changed that were the very fabric
0:16:08 > 0:16:11of the medieval Catholic church, fundamentally shifted.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15How does it affect his relationship with his half-sister, Mary?
0:16:15 > 0:16:18It's one of these fascinating sort of psycho-dramas, really,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21the Tudor family, that you've got all these sort of half-brothers
0:16:21 > 0:16:25and sisters, Mary obviously being brought up a devout Catholic,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Edward being completely on the opposite side of the scale
0:16:29 > 0:16:31and then becoming ever more Protestant.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Despite their differences, Edward and Mary were surprisingly close.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40She was his godmother and walked with him
0:16:40 > 0:16:43in his christening procession here at Hampton Court Palace.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46As a little boy, Edward was sent to live down the river,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50at the Palace of Richmond, and Mary used to pay him visits by boat.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55But Edward would always place his faith over his family.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00At Christmas 1550, the two siblings had a family reunion.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Christmases often go wrong, and this one did, too.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06The problem had been Mary's household.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08It was stuffed full of Catholics.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11She'd been hearing Mass up to four times a week
0:17:11 > 0:17:13and she hadn't bothered to keep it quiet.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Edward challenged her on this.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20They argued so badly that both of them ended up in tears.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23They made it up at the Christmas reunion, but a month later
0:17:23 > 0:17:26he wrote her an uncompromising letter.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30"You're breaking the law," he said, "you must correct your behaviour."
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And he added these very ominous words,
0:17:33 > 0:17:38"I have natural affection for you, do not seek to diminish it."
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Edward was convinced that the success of his reign would
0:17:42 > 0:17:45rest not on his biology, but his theology.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50Yet in January 1553 the teenage king fell ill with a fever
0:17:50 > 0:17:53that was probably tuberculosis.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Edward realised he was dying
0:17:55 > 0:17:58and would never have the chance to produce a Protestant heir.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Zealous to the last,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03he put his faith before the hereditary principle.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07He decided the Crown shouldn't pass to the Catholic Mary,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09who was next in line to the throne,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13but instead to his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18Edward died in 1553, aged just 15,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and Jane succeeded him to the throne.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25But, notoriously, her reign lasted just nine days.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29That was because Mary acted decisively and brilliantly.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33She escaped to her estate in East Anglia,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37she gathered Catholic loyalists around her at Framlingham Castle
0:18:37 > 0:18:40and from there they marched on London.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Despite the fact that she was female,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Mary was the only person in the 16th century
0:18:48 > 0:18:52successfully to lead a rebellion and seize the throne.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58Many people still doubted, though, whether she really was fit to rule.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Her half-brother Edward's problem had been his youth,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Mary's problem was worse - she was a Catholic and a woman.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Mary's opponents said she had to get approval from Parliament
0:19:09 > 0:19:11before becoming queen.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15If she'd agreed, Parliament would effectively have chosen the monarch.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18But Mary stood her ground.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22As England's first reigning female monarch,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Mary was in a unique position.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Just as the Crown had adapted to Edward's youth,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30so it now had to adjust to her sex.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34At her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey,
0:19:34 > 0:19:39she was given two sceptres and crowned as both king and queen.
0:19:39 > 0:19:45Mary was driven by an ambition born 20 years earlier.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50At 17, she'd been sent to live at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55From here, the miserable teenager watched as her father Henry VIII'S
0:19:55 > 0:19:58divorce from her mother, Catherine of Aragon, unfolded.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02As queen, she was determined to right the wrongs
0:20:02 > 0:20:07endured by Catherine, by restoring England to the Catholic faith.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13Do you think that Mary's future fanatical Catholicism is something
0:20:13 > 0:20:18to do with her favouring her mother and seeing her badly treated?
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Yes. I mean, her devotion to the Catholic faith,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25and she was very pious, was certainly reinforced
0:20:25 > 0:20:27by what happened to her mother.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32But we should also remember that she had grown up within that faith
0:20:32 > 0:20:35and she wasn't a young girl and she'd been educated in that
0:20:35 > 0:20:40and she'd been educated to be a virtuous, pious Catholic princess.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45And it's like asking someone to stop believing something
0:20:45 > 0:20:49they've believed all their lives, and she wasn't going to let that go.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54And I'm sure that there is something very defiant in Mary
0:20:54 > 0:20:57and I think what she saw happening made her even more determined
0:20:57 > 0:20:59to hold onto what she believed.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01It was a matter of conscience for her.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03She had the personality of a martyr,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05someone willing to die for their faith, didn't she?
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Yes, she did. And throughout all the troubles,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10when she was out of favour or under...
0:21:10 > 0:21:14when Henry was alive and then when she was really
0:21:14 > 0:21:19struggling under Edward, she said she would rather die than submit.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22And Mary knew that her spiritual mission
0:21:22 > 0:21:25depended on the fruit of her royal womb.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29She chose Prince Philip, son of the King of Spain, as her consort
0:21:29 > 0:21:31and, even more importantly,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34as the prospective father to her Catholic heir.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38She said, "I would rather die a virgin,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42"but I recognise that I need to produce an heir for my country,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46"and this is my choice," and she felt that she...
0:21:46 > 0:21:51that actually God had inspired her to choose Philip.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52I think she says,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55"It's not for fleshly considerations that I do this.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57"I'm doing it for the good of the country."
0:21:57 > 0:21:59That was presumably her belief.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02It was in many ways a very sensible match,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06but he was Spanish and it wasn't popular in England,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10and it wasn't popular cos people worried about what would happen
0:22:10 > 0:22:11if she died.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Would that mean that England was then under Spain?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Could Philip take her away from England as his wife?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Would that mean there would be an absent queen?
0:22:19 > 0:22:23There are many reasons to be worried about it.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25A delegation came from Parliament to Mary
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and begged her to reconsider, to marry an Englishman instead.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34But she refused. The opposition then turned violent, rebellion broke out.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Rebel troops reached the very edge of the city by the river
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and Mary's courtiers were begging her to flee to save her life.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Again, she defied them, she refused.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48She stood her ground and the rebellion was crushed.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54In the uneasy days following Mary's victory over the rebels,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Parliament met to discuss
0:22:56 > 0:23:00whether they were going to approve her marriage to Philip.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03This had never happened when a king had wanted to get married -
0:23:03 > 0:23:06he just did it - but Parliament were clearly worried that Philip,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09as a man, would take over some of Mary's powers.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13They did force the Spanish to make some concessions.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17For a start, if Mary were to die, the next king or queen would be
0:23:17 > 0:23:20her children with Philip, not Philip himself,
0:23:20 > 0:23:21and also they agreed that
0:23:21 > 0:23:26England would not get involved in the wars between Spain and France.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29But here's the really interesting thing - in order to further protect
0:23:29 > 0:23:33the powers of the crown, Parliament passed an act
0:23:33 > 0:23:36saying that a queen was just as powerful as a king.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Philip and Mary were finally married here at Winchester Cathedral
0:23:43 > 0:23:46with 3,000 people present.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49When they were placed in their two chairs,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Mary was on the right, in the position of a king,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58and Philip, on the left, was very clearly just the consort.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Mary was more powerful than any previous queen,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06but the demands on her royal body were just the same as ever.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11It was now Mary's duty as the monarch, as a Catholic,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14even as a woman, to reproduce.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18But time was against her. She was 38 years old.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Only three months, though, after her wedding, Mary felt something
0:24:22 > 0:24:27move inside her and her doctors confirmed it - she was pregnant.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31According to royal etiquette, Mary now withdrew from public life
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and she locked herself away in her private chambers at Hampton Court.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Tudor childbirth was an all-female affair.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42During her confinement,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Mary would have been attended by the most important ladies of her court
0:24:46 > 0:24:51and her midwives, while her male doctors were kept at arm's length.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54It seems to me that Mary's doctors were in a bit of a bind,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56because they weren't physically examining this woman.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59She was telling them that she was pregnant. What could they do?
0:24:59 > 0:25:01They could only believe her.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05They would only be able to go on the information that she gave them
0:25:05 > 0:25:08or that the midwife who examined her gave them
0:25:08 > 0:25:12or the observations they themselves made of her body because, of course,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15even if they didn't necessarily touch her, they would have
0:25:15 > 0:25:20been observing her and looking at the shape of her belly, for example,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24to see if that conformed to what a pregnant belly might look like.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Now, everyone in this scenario -
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Mary, her midwives and the doctors -
0:25:29 > 0:25:32they all really want her to be pregnant, don't they?
0:25:32 > 0:25:33They're looking for the evidence.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Oh, absolutely. Everybody wants her to be pregnant.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39She desperately wants to be pregnant.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43It's so important to produce an heir that...just huge, huge pressure.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47What was the contemporary state of knowledge about pregnancy?
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Well, it was just starting to be published in the vernacular
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and this particular book here, called The Birth Of Mankind,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56written by a German physician, Eucharius Rosslin,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01and translated into English in 1540,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06so for Mary this would have been the up-to-date information to hand
0:26:06 > 0:26:11in English about getting pregnant, what to expect during pregnancy,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14what to expect during labour, how to take care of yourself, et cetera.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18These anatomical drawings look quite accurate to me.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Is that one an enormous penis?
0:26:20 > 0:26:21Well, it certainly looks like one,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25but in fact that's a drawing of the female private parts.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30The understanding of women's bodies was that they were imperfect men -
0:26:30 > 0:26:31women had less heat than men,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35so their genitals were inside them instead of on the outside.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39So, effectively, it would be a penis turned inwards.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42This is utterly, utterly wrong, this idea that the vagina and womb
0:26:42 > 0:26:44are inversions of the penis.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Poor old Queen Mary, she didn't really have a chance
0:26:46 > 0:26:49of understanding what was going on with her reproductive system.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Well, except that's us looking back
0:26:51 > 0:26:54with the benefit of modern knowledge and hindsight.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Within their medical system, which was based on the classical
0:26:58 > 0:27:01humoral model of the body, this made perfect sense,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03it was perfectly logical.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08A pregnant queen presented the country with a novel problem -
0:27:08 > 0:27:11her confinement removed Mary from the daily
0:27:11 > 0:27:13cut and thrust of political life.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17But her condition didn't distract the queen from her ambitious
0:27:17 > 0:27:19programme of religious reform.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24She persecuted Protestants with such vigour that it's tainted
0:27:24 > 0:27:26her reputation ever since.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Nearly 457 years ago, a man was brought here to Smithfield
0:27:33 > 0:27:36to be burnt at the stake as a heretic.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38His name was John Rogers,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42he was a canon of St Paul's and a leading Protestant churchman.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46A huge crowd had gathered to watch him being burnt.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50He was offered a last chance to recant, to say, "Yes, I give in,
0:27:50 > 0:27:55"I am a Catholic," but he refused and the crowd were on his side.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00As the flames rose up to consume him, some of them wept.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04Others of them prayed to God to give him strength to bear the pain
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and not to recant.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Over the next few days, other leading Protestant churchmen
0:28:10 > 0:28:14were burnt, and the legend of Bloody Mary was born.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20There had, of course, been religious persecution under previous monarchs,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23but it was the unprecedented scale of the burnings -
0:28:23 > 0:28:28300 in the next four years - that angered Mary's subjects.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32But the pregnant queen ignored their outrage and distress,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36sure in the knowledge that she was carrying a Catholic heir.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Witnesses to the royal birth were summoned and wet nurses
0:28:40 > 0:28:44and the swaddling clothes of the unborn baby were laid out.
0:28:44 > 0:28:50A few weeks before the baby was due, Mary showed herself at the window
0:28:50 > 0:28:54of her bedchamber so the court could all see her great belly.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59She also signed pre-prepared letters announcing the birth of her heir.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03And one addressed to the Pope very confidently proclaimed
0:29:03 > 0:29:05the happy delivery of a prince.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Mary believed that this baby would secure the Tudor succession
0:29:10 > 0:29:14and the future of the Catholic faith in England.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17The religious fate of the queen's three million subjects
0:29:17 > 0:29:19depended on this child.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21But, after nine months,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25there was still no sign of Mary's son and heir.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27It must have been a horrible feeling,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31- when people started to doubt.- Mmm. - They would have started to think,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33"Hang on, this has gone on for too long.
0:29:33 > 0:29:34"There's something not right here."
0:29:34 > 0:29:38Yes, absolutely, and she would be scrutinised
0:29:38 > 0:29:42very closely for the shape of her belly, for example,
0:29:42 > 0:29:47and whether the roundness was descending to indicate
0:29:47 > 0:29:48that the child was moving down,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51so it would have been a very anxious time.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55A lot of modern historians talk quite glibly about this condition
0:29:55 > 0:29:59as a phantom pregnancy, it was all in the mind, and this seems to me
0:29:59 > 0:30:04to be unfair, cos it fits in too neatly with this long-standing view
0:30:04 > 0:30:10that Mary was Bloody Mary, Broody Mary, Mad Mary, Evil Mary.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14Oh, it's very much an interpretation based on modern psychological
0:30:14 > 0:30:17knowledge but, of course, that's not how it would have been thought
0:30:17 > 0:30:18about at the time.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22At the time, it would very much have been something physical
0:30:22 > 0:30:23that was wrong with her body.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27What do you think may really have been going on, then?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Certainly, we've got a queen who's got a big belly,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32that much is absolutely certain,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34and she believes that she's pregnant,
0:30:34 > 0:30:35but there's never a baby.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37What are the possible causes of the situation?
0:30:37 > 0:30:40It could have been a tumour, it could have been a swelling,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44either of air or of water, or it could have been what
0:30:44 > 0:30:48they would've called a mole or a false conception,
0:30:48 > 0:30:51which was just a kind of mass of tissue
0:30:51 > 0:30:54that was not a fully formed foetus.
0:30:54 > 0:30:59There must have been this really terrible moment of humiliation
0:30:59 > 0:31:02as confidence began to ebb away for everybody round her, Mary herself.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05They must have realised at some point that she wasn't pregnant.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09Utterly humiliating, at the end of the day, for there to be no baby.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14At this time, the queen's health is very much the health of the nation.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17What does this business of the pregnancy mean
0:31:17 > 0:31:18for national politics?
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Her body is very much the body of the nation,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23and there's clearly something wrong with it.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27There is a false conception of some sort here that indicates
0:31:27 > 0:31:31some kind of misalliance there between husband and wife.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33There's a mismatch between them.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35So the queen wasn't pregnant.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Even more tragically, what she'd felt and believed to be a child
0:31:39 > 0:31:43was probably the cancer that would kill her.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Three years later, Mary was on her deathbed.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Her religious vision had been thwarted by the failure
0:31:49 > 0:31:51of her reproductive organs.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56And her dream of returning England to Catholicism would die with her.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58Unlike her brother Edward,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02Mary refused to change the succession on religious grounds.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06She left her crown to her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth.
0:32:07 > 0:32:12I like to believe that Elizabeth had learned from her sister's mistakes.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14She never married. She never had children.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18She reinvented herself as this Virgin Queen.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Elizabeth was quite explicit about it.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25She said, "I've already joined myself in marriage to a husband,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27"namely the Kingdom of England."
0:32:27 > 0:32:30By refusing to share her power,
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Elizabeth proved herself entirely fit to rule.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38But Elizabeth's extraordinary success has eclipsed
0:32:38 > 0:32:41her sister's own achievements.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47Mary's tenacity and her formidable courage have been overlooked.
0:32:47 > 0:32:48This...
0:32:48 > 0:32:52is where Mary is buried,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55although you'd hardly know it at first sight.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Her sister, Elizabeth, was later moved in to the same vault
0:32:59 > 0:33:01and this monument was erected.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Technically, it's to both of them,
0:33:03 > 0:33:07but it's all about Elizabeth the great queen.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11In the inscription, it's Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and her sister Mary.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Mary's one of history's losers.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23Her persecutions, the Catholicism mean that even today
0:33:23 > 0:33:27she's one of our least popular monarchs.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32That's why we have on the top here Elizabeth's body and Mary is absent.
0:33:32 > 0:33:38Elizabeth refused to put her body to the same test as her sister Mary,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42and, by sidestepping the royal duty to bear a successor,
0:33:42 > 0:33:47she made herself into the most impressive of all the Tudors.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49The Tudor dynasty, above all others,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52symbolises the permanence of the English crown.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56But actually they faced a quite astonishing series
0:33:56 > 0:33:58of biological challenges.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Almost every passage of the Crown from one Tudor to the next
0:34:03 > 0:34:05was fraught with difficulty.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Elizabeth was the last of her line.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13After her death, it fell to the new Stuart dynasty to bridge
0:34:13 > 0:34:19the gulf between being at once semi-divine and horribly human.
0:34:19 > 0:34:26In 1603, King James VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30His coronation was supposed to make the transfer of power look
0:34:30 > 0:34:32smooth and inevitable.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34It was God's will.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37But in fact the placing of the Scottish king on the English throne
0:34:37 > 0:34:42had been the result of two years of secret political negotiation.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47It marked the beginning of a new royal dynasty - the Stuarts.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Like his Tudor predecessors,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53James was convinced of his God-given right to rule.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56And yet he also seems to have been blessed
0:34:56 > 0:34:58with enormous political acumen.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01He'd need it to govern a nation which was riven
0:35:01 > 0:35:03by religious conflict.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07Can you tell me a bit about James' training and track record as a king?
0:35:07 > 0:35:09I'm a great fan of James.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13I think he was probably the cleverest monarch in English history,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16but he also came with a very good track record.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18He'd been a very good king of Scotland
0:35:18 > 0:35:22and he was coming to a country which was far wealthier than Scotland,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25so I think it must have seemed like Christmas in 1603.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27He'd suddenly got all these resources
0:35:27 > 0:35:32and he was determined to do well but also to have a good time.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35It seems to me, on one hand, James really does believe
0:35:35 > 0:35:36in the divine right of kings.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38He thinks that he is in charge.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41At the same time, he's really, really pragmatic.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43I think it's very interesting, for instance,
0:35:43 > 0:35:47that in 1605 there was the great Gunpowder Plot,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Catholic plot against the throne, and what was James' reaction?
0:35:51 > 0:35:53Once the plotters had been executed,
0:35:53 > 0:35:58he gave out baronetcies to Catholics to keep them on side.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00I mean, that's the move of a statesman.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05He doesn't want revenge from the situation, he wants a nation united.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09The new Stuart dynasty also promised the country something
0:36:09 > 0:36:14it hadn't had in almost a century - a secure succession.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17So this is the first picture of Henry, Prince of Wales, is it?
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Yes, this is the first one we know about, anyway,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23and I think you can see by the way he's dressed
0:36:23 > 0:36:25what an important child he was considered to be.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27So James is extraordinarily...
0:36:27 > 0:36:31he's done something that Henry and Edward and Mary
0:36:31 > 0:36:33and Elizabeth have all failed to do, hasn't he?
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Well, he's produced an heir, and sort of first time round,
0:36:37 > 0:36:41if you like, and I think there's great excitement
0:36:41 > 0:36:43and anticipation as a result of that.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47So when they become... when they come down to England,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49it's like there's a ready-made royal family, isn't there?
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Yes, and I think, you know, in sort of popular memory, there hadn't
0:36:53 > 0:36:57ever been a functional family, a royal family, in that kind of way.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00There was, as you say, an heir, there was also a spare -
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Charles, Prince Charles -
0:37:02 > 0:37:05there was a daughter who could be advantageously married off
0:37:05 > 0:37:10and Queen Anne was still producing children, so it felt as though
0:37:10 > 0:37:15there was great hope and security for the future of the English throne.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20James appointed capable courtiers to run his government.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23He negotiated peace with Spain
0:37:23 > 0:37:27and he started to heal some of the religious divisions in the country.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29He didn't want to be a warrior king,
0:37:29 > 0:37:35he wanted to be remembered instead as a Rex Pacificus, a king of peace.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39But this very promising king was also human.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43At a time when homosexual acts were a capital offence,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47he was known to be attracted to his male courtiers.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Quite early on, it became clear that what was important to James
0:37:51 > 0:37:54was relationships with good-looking, witty young men.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57With other monarchs, it was good-looking, witty, young women,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59but very much men for James.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01At the court of Henry VIII, if you want to get on,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04you get your young cousin to be a maid of honour, don't you?
0:38:04 > 0:38:06But now, at James' court,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10you get a male young cousin to be a cup bearer or something like that.
0:38:10 > 0:38:11Yes.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14It's a male favourite, and that actually does make a difference
0:38:14 > 0:38:17because female favourites are women
0:38:17 > 0:38:20and that means that they're not important.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Women are not important politically,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26but men are and therefore they are rivals for power
0:38:26 > 0:38:28with other men who are politicians.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I think that's why male favourites were particularly resented.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36James was intent on enjoying the perks of his position,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39but the sexual licence and debauchery of his court
0:38:39 > 0:38:42weren't to everybody's taste.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I get the sense that Henry was a bit disapproving of all the parties,
0:38:46 > 0:38:47the drinking.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Everything that Henry did seems to have really corresponded with
0:38:50 > 0:38:54the sort of most moral, upright way of behaving and, for example,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57we know he had a swear box in his own court that people had
0:38:57 > 0:39:01to put money into, so he does come across as having been very,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03very sort of virtuous, really.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08The 18-year-old Prince of Wales was known for his intelligence,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11his gregariousness and his athleticism.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14He seemed to be the perfect king in waiting.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16But, in 1612,
0:39:16 > 0:39:19in the middle of preparations for his sister's wedding,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Henry suddenly fell ill with typhoid fever.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25The family come to his bedside and there's a very touching
0:39:25 > 0:39:29story about Prince Charles, his younger brother, who was 12
0:39:29 > 0:39:34at the time, sending for the little bronze horse which was in Henry's
0:39:34 > 0:39:38collection and was at Richmond Palace. And, according to the story,
0:39:38 > 0:39:44Charles sent for the horse and then gave it to Henry on his deathbed,
0:39:44 > 0:39:49handed it to his brother as he was lying on his deathbed, presumably
0:39:49 > 0:39:54thinking that in some way it would comfort him, which is very touching.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59He was lying in bed for about two weeks and he gradually weakens
0:39:59 > 0:40:01and weakens and then dies.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Henry's death traumatised the country and his family.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11His little brother Charles led the funeral procession,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15as the king was too distraught to take part.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Henry's memorial service was bigger than Queen Elizabeth's
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and his body lay in state for over a month.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28The person who felt the loss of Prince Henry most deeply
0:40:28 > 0:40:30was his father.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33In the middle of an important diplomatic summit,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35the king burst out crying.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39"Henry is dead," he said. "Henry is dead."
0:40:41 > 0:40:44The tragedy left James emotionally vulnerable...
0:40:46 > 0:40:49..and ever more open to manipulation at court.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53On a tour of his realm after Henry's death,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55the 47-year-old king
0:40:55 > 0:40:59spotted a dashing young man more than 20 years his junior.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04He would become James' new favourite and the love of his life.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09One young man in particular was here when the king came to stay.
0:41:09 > 0:41:10His name was George Villiers.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13He was there for a reason,
0:41:13 > 0:41:18and the reason was that he was good-looking, charming,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21beautiful legs and clearly a great dancer,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and that's exactly what might appeal to James.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27One of the people putting George Villiers forward to be
0:41:27 > 0:41:31the next boyfriend of the king was the Archbishop of Canterbury,
0:41:31 > 0:41:37George Abbott, who really resented the way that the previous favourite,
0:41:37 > 0:41:42Robert Carr, had skewed England's foreign policy away from what
0:41:42 > 0:41:44the Archbishop of Canterbury wanted.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49And so George Abbott, furious at that, pushed George Villiers forward
0:41:49 > 0:41:51as an instrument of foreign policy.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55James showered Villiers with titles and eventually made him
0:41:55 > 0:41:56Duke of Buckingham.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00And he took great care to ensure that his favourite was always
0:42:00 > 0:42:01close at hand.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05This is a very unusual piece of palace design.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07It's blocked now, but this was a doorway that led
0:42:07 > 0:42:10straight from the king's own bedchamber
0:42:10 > 0:42:12into a private little suite.
0:42:12 > 0:42:13Over there was the king's closet,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16over there was the Duke of Buckingham's closet.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18It was just for their own use.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20It's their relationship set in stone.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24James made Buckingham a gentleman of the bedchamber,
0:42:24 > 0:42:29a position that gave him unique access to the royal body.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32What's the importance of this institution called the Bedchamber?
0:42:32 > 0:42:34The Bedchamber, it's not a room, of course.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37It's a suite of rooms, it's an institution.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41And what it is is the monarch's private life, in effect,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43and the importance of that politically
0:42:43 > 0:42:46is that you see the monarch at intimate times -
0:42:46 > 0:42:49last thing at night, first thing in the morning.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53And it doesn't in a sense matter what happens at midday
0:42:53 > 0:42:57among the executive people of the realm, the Privy Councillors,
0:42:57 > 0:42:58because, whatever they decide,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01someone can whisper something in the king's ear just
0:43:01 > 0:43:07before he goes to sleep or gets him in the morning as he's getting up.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Now, that's a really important aspect of early modern politics.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17A series of passionate letters revealed the extraordinary hold
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Buckingham had over the king.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24James' wisdom and astuteness had always been his greatest
0:43:24 > 0:43:29strengths as monarch, but now his judgment seemed to have gone astray.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32This one on the top shows you the level of emotion
0:43:32 > 0:43:33in this relationship.
0:43:33 > 0:43:40This is from James to Buckingham, who has left to go to Spain,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42so he's going to be away for a very long time,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44and look how it starts -
0:43:44 > 0:43:47"My only sweet and dear child,
0:43:47 > 0:43:52"I am now so miserable a coward, as I do nothing but weep and mourn,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56"for I protest to God. I rode this afternoon a great way
0:43:56 > 0:43:59"in the park without speaking to anybody
0:43:59 > 0:44:02"and the tears trickling down my cheeks."
0:44:02 > 0:44:05I mean, this is not a political relationship.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08And nobody knows what it means to have a homosexual relationship.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10- No.- Such a thing doesn't really yet exist.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11No, there's no word homosexuality.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15There's a word sodomy, which doesn't actually just apply to same-sex
0:44:15 > 0:44:18relationships, it's any sort of sexual relationship
0:44:18 > 0:44:22- which is disordered, which isn't in the system, so to speak.- Yeah.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26And, if so, that means that you can place your relationship
0:44:26 > 0:44:27in all sorts of different places.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33It can be father-son or it can be equal or it can be slave to lord.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36And it can change. And it's clearly what Buckingham is so good at,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40is changing it, and that, I think, is the genius of the man.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42He clearly is not a fool.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44He's not just a lover, he's also a child
0:44:44 > 0:44:46and sometimes he's a father and he's also a best friend.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48Exactly. Exactly.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52In this one, he's recollecting what seems to have been their very
0:44:52 > 0:44:53earliest sexual encounter.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Yes, he's pretty explicit, really.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00Buckingham says here, "I shall never forget at Farnham,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03"where the bed's head could not be found between
0:45:03 > 0:45:05"the master and his dog."
0:45:05 > 0:45:10He signs himself off as "Your Majesty's most humble slave
0:45:10 > 0:45:12"and dog."
0:45:13 > 0:45:16What are the risks of this kind of behaviour for James?
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Well, it weakened him politically when he was weak.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Whenever the monarch has done something wrong or foreign policy
0:45:23 > 0:45:26has gone wrong, then this is just a weapon at the disposal
0:45:26 > 0:45:31of those who want to attack him. And so when James was...
0:45:31 > 0:45:35pursuing a peaceful foreign policy...
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Not going in support of the poor little beleaguered Protestant
0:45:38 > 0:45:39states of Europe, for example?
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Yeah, then you can use this as a weapon, saying,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45"Look, it's not manly to pursue this policy of peace.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49"A real man would go out there and bash the Catholics."
0:45:49 > 0:45:54Six years into their relationship, James was making little effort
0:45:54 > 0:45:57to be discreet about his affair with Buckingham.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03In London in the 1620s, there lived a lawyer called Sir Simonds d'Ewes.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06He was a member here at the Middle Temple.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09This is his diary and it records all the gossip,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13the talk of the town, and quite a lot of it was about the king himself
0:46:13 > 0:46:14and the Duke of Buckingham.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18When Buckingham got up to dance with his own wife,
0:46:18 > 0:46:20the king was jealous and he shouted out,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24"By God, George, I love you dearly."
0:46:24 > 0:46:25Then they were at the chapel.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Buckingham was walking along with another man,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30carelessly talking to him.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32Again, the king was jealous.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34As soon as Buckingham was free,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38"he fell upon his neck without any more words".
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Sir Simonds d'Ewes was in quite a privileged position.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48He was a member of an inner court, his friends had been at court, but
0:46:48 > 0:46:53even out on the streets people were reading these anonymous pamphlets.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57This one was written by somebody who called himself Tom Tell Truth
0:46:57 > 0:47:00and again it's full of biting gossip about the king.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05It says that the king here is like a "Grand Signor in his seraglio."
0:47:05 > 0:47:08That's like saying he's a top Turk with a harem.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11And all the Lords at court are his eunuchs,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14"acquainted with his secret sins."
0:47:14 > 0:47:17Well, now the man on the street knows about the secret sins, too.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21Despite his sexual indiscretions,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24James would be judged as a king very much fit to rule.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29When he died in 1625, the monarchy was a popular
0:47:29 > 0:47:31and stable institution.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34For the first time in 80 years,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38the Crown would now pass seamlessly from father to son.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42As a child, Charles had trouble walking,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44and I believe that one of the objects
0:47:44 > 0:47:48in the Museum Of London store can help shed some light
0:47:48 > 0:47:51on the effect this physical problem had on his character.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54What I want to show you is in here.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Have a look at them and see what you make of them.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04When Charles was three and a half, he was given his own household
0:48:04 > 0:48:07and his own governess, Lady Carey, and she seems to have paid
0:48:07 > 0:48:11particular attention to this problem that he had with his legs.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14We know that he had rickets and there are hints that
0:48:14 > 0:48:20Lady Carey got him what you'd call orthopaedic boots, I suppose, today.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31These child's boots are traditionally associated with
0:48:31 > 0:48:36Charles I, and you can see that they've got really odd metal heels
0:48:36 > 0:48:41and sort of little supports here, so the suggestion is that this
0:48:41 > 0:48:45is what helped him to stand upright, and this was a real concern.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47When he was made Duke of York, they were so worried
0:48:47 > 0:48:50that he wouldn't be able to stand for the whole ceremony
0:48:50 > 0:48:55that a courtier was positioned each side to catch him if he fell down.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Now, this is clearly a little boy who's suffering from
0:48:58 > 0:49:03physical weakness, and I don't know if it's reading too much into this
0:49:03 > 0:49:07to suggest that later on he would overcompensate.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12Charles grew up in the shadow of his father's flamboyant young favourites
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and his charismatic elder brother Henry.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17It left him with a sense of inferiority
0:49:17 > 0:49:20that was to haunt him even as king.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24So we've got this king who's an introvert, he's sensitive,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26he's a bit of a swot.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28Is this to do with his childhood?
0:49:28 > 0:49:32I think ultimately, yes, a lot of it goes back to his early upbringing.
0:49:32 > 0:49:33Um... I mean,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36he doesn't have a very satisfactory relationship
0:49:36 > 0:49:38with his parents - they tend to sort of neglect him -
0:49:38 > 0:49:41and, of course, his father has a series of very obvious
0:49:41 > 0:49:45homosexual relationships with various royal favourites,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48which I think are constantly being thrust in Charles' face.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51He has an anxiety about his sense of sort of masculinity,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54amongst other things, and his sense of sort of personal potency.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57How did Charles feel about first being the spare,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59- but then he becomes the heir? - He doesn't seem to have had
0:49:59 > 0:50:01a satisfactory relationship with his elder brother,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03who seems to have bullied him.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05He tends to be pushed into the background
0:50:05 > 0:50:08and doesn't have a great deal of sort of self-confidence.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13He has a stammer, which he himself is very conscious of, and he's very
0:50:13 > 0:50:18sensitive to any...what he can regard as a slight or humiliation,
0:50:18 > 0:50:20anything that affects his personal honour
0:50:20 > 0:50:23and undermines his personal honour.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26And I think that stays with him throughout his life, really.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32In spite of his physical weaknesses and psychological insecurities,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35Charles was utterly convinced that he was, quite literally,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37God's representative on Earth.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46Charles I absolutely believed that he was accountable only to God.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49But, unlike his clever and subtle father,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53he didn't have the skills to persuade other people of this.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58He had to fall back on stubbornly insisting upon his divine right.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Right from the start of his reign, he made unpopular decisions,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and particularly dangerous amongst them
0:51:06 > 0:51:09was his choice of his closest advisor.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13It was his father's great love, the Duke of Buckingham.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I mean, I think it's very different from his father's relationship
0:51:16 > 0:51:17with Buckingham.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20I don't think there's any element of a sexual relationship there.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24I think it's much more a matter of Charles looking on Buckingham
0:51:24 > 0:51:28as the elder brother that he wasn't able to relate to, so he looks
0:51:28 > 0:51:32to Buckingham for worldly wisdom and guidance and advice
0:51:32 > 0:51:34and does become very dependant on him.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37And it's clear that, in the early years
0:51:37 > 0:51:39of his marriage with Henrietta Maria,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Buckingham very much comes between them
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and the queen can't stand Buckingham, she doesn't trust him.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48Charles does.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Buckingham undermined the king's personal relationships
0:51:52 > 0:51:54and his political ones.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57In 1625, he took charge of an expedition to capture
0:51:57 > 0:51:59Cadiz from the Spanish.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01The mission was a disaster
0:52:01 > 0:52:05and Parliament demanded Buckingham be dismissed from office.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08But this challenge to the king's absolute authority
0:52:08 > 0:52:10infuriated Charles.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14He backed his friend and dismissed Parliament instead.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Buckingham was the most hated man in England.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22In 1628, he went down to Portsmouth to organise
0:52:22 > 0:52:25an attack on the French, when he was assassinated.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30He was stabbed to death in a pub by a disgruntled army officer.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Charles now, amazingly, decided to bury Buckingham
0:52:34 > 0:52:39here at Westminster Abbey, amongst all the kings and queens.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The funeral had to be very low-key because of the danger of protest,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48and this is another example of Charles ignoring popular opinion.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53The murder of his closest friend was devastating for Charles,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56yet it did offer benefits for another royal partnership
0:52:56 > 0:52:58that had not begun well.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01It's interesting that, after Buckingham's death,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Henrietta Maria goes out of her way to console Charles
0:53:04 > 0:53:10and recognised that...you know, what a loss Buckingham had been for him.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14And, from that point, they develop a very close relationship indeed.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18She starts bearing children not very long after Buckingham's death
0:53:18 > 0:53:21and the marriage is a great success.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Charles certainly feels that he's fulfilled the role of a monarch,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27the first duty of a monarch,
0:53:27 > 0:53:31in providing for the succession by producing all these children.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35The queen took Buckingham's place as her husband's chief advisor,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39but her influence did nothing to improve his prickly
0:53:39 > 0:53:40relationship with Parliament.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45She's been described as a sort of Lady Macbeth figure
0:53:45 > 0:53:49in Charles' life in 1641 and 1642, constantly sort of pushing him on
0:53:49 > 0:53:54to act more resolutely and strike down his enemies
0:53:54 > 0:53:58in a fairly dramatic way, through a sort of coup against them.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02After ruling for ten years without Parliament,
0:54:02 > 0:54:03the king had run out of money.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05He was forced to recall it.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08With his wife spurring him on, though,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11he was in no mood to compromise with a body that seemed
0:54:11 > 0:54:13intent on challenging his royal prerogative.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17On this very spot in the Palace of Westminster
0:54:17 > 0:54:21used to stand the building where Parliament met in the 17th century.
0:54:21 > 0:54:27And on the 4th of January 1642 an epic confrontation took place here.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31Charles I himself arrived in the building down there
0:54:31 > 0:54:37with a gang of soldiers and he was looking for five leading MPs.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41He felt that they'd committed treason. He wanted to arrest them.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45At this end of the room stood the Speaker of the House of Commons
0:54:45 > 0:54:50and he would refuse to tell the king where the MPs had gone.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53He was effectively saying, "You're not in charge here, Charles.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56"My first loyalty is to the House of Commons."
0:54:56 > 0:54:59The king was humiliated.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02He had to leave without the MPs
0:55:02 > 0:55:05and the mistake he had made was to personalise the situation.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07He'd come himself.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Nobody could say, "This is the king's evil advisors,"
0:55:10 > 0:55:12it was clearly Charles.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15From this point, civil war was inevitable
0:55:15 > 0:55:17and broke out months later.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23After almost seven years of bitter fighting, the king's forces were
0:55:23 > 0:55:28defeated and Charles was brought to trial, accused of high treason.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32The king was adamant that, as a ruler appointed by God,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35he was not accountable to any temporal power.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38But the court refused to accept this.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41They insisted that the king's authority was limited
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and that he must answer to the laws of the land.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46Charles was found guilty
0:55:46 > 0:55:50and a week later he prepared himself for the scaffold.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54What I'm going to show you now is a very, very unique object.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58It's probably... would you help me get it out?
0:55:58 > 0:56:02It's probably one of the most precious,
0:56:02 > 0:56:06if not the most precious object in the Museum of London.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11And it is about 400 years old.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13On the very last morning of his life,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Charles I got dressed with special care.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19We know that he put on two shirts
0:56:19 > 0:56:22and this is believed to be one of them.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26He was about to step out onto the scaffold in the cold January air
0:56:26 > 0:56:31and he didn't want the crowd, the rabble, to see him shivering.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33If you think back to the little boy with the wobbly legs,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36he used his special boots to help him stand up straight,
0:56:36 > 0:56:40to appear to be worthy of his high position.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43As it was with the boy, so it was with the man.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Even at the very end of his life,
0:56:45 > 0:56:51Charles I is anxious to appear in control, a true king, fit to rule.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58As king, Henry VIII had been all-powerful and untouchable,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00God's representative on Earth.
0:57:00 > 0:57:05But just a century later the monarch had become all too mortal.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09The enemies of King Charles I described him
0:57:09 > 0:57:11as "that man of blood",
0:57:11 > 0:57:16and they demonstrated their belief that he was only a man
0:57:16 > 0:57:18by executing him.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21And yet those responsible for bringing Charles down
0:57:21 > 0:57:25weren't necessarily opposed to the institution of monarchy itself.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Their problem was that this particular monarch was not fit to rule,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and the only way of removing him from office was to kill him.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43The monarchy would be restored just 11 years later,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46but it had been powerfully demonstrated
0:57:46 > 0:57:48that kings and queens were only human.
0:57:48 > 0:57:54It was clear what could happen to a monarch considered unfit to rule.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58The will of the people could never again be taken for granted.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01There'd be no more gods, only men.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08Next time, I'll discover how the Crown recovered
0:58:08 > 0:58:09from the killing of a king.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13And how our Stuart and Hanoverian monarchs coped with now being
0:58:13 > 0:58:16answerable to their people and Parliament.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21The mental and physical failures of the royal family became
0:58:21 > 0:58:24more important than ever as their subjects exploited them,
0:58:24 > 0:58:26to devastating effect.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd