
At Henry’s command Jane Seymour is made a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, to the discomfort and suspicion of the Queen. When Henry is seriously injured in a jousting match all thoughts turn to who might succeed him. ...
The English Reformation is in full swing. Queen Anne suffers from nightmares and feels threatened by Katherine and her daughter. Henry pays an unplanned visit to an old friend, Sir John Seymour, father of Jane Seymour.
As the Reformation gathers pace Sir Thomas Cromwell becomes ever more powerful as propagandist-in-chief of a new moral order. Royal confidence has given way to doubt. Henry is haunted by the memory of the executed Thomas More ...
Attempts to legitimise the King’s marriage and increase his power hit unmovable obstacles as Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher insist that only God can be head of the church. Imprisoned in the Tower of London they face ...
Sir Thomas More refuses to accept Henry’s command that his people swear an oath of « allegiance and recognition of the King’s supremacy » to both church and state. Anne is made aware of the King’s womanizing ...
Henry’s patience finally wears out and he marries Anne in secret, appoints his Lutheran chaplain Thomas Cranmer the head of the Church of England, and strips Queen Katherine of her title and status; the king and new ...
Christmas at the Tudor court is a time for ringing in the new. Mistress Anne Boleyn has replaced the banished Queen Katherine. The King’s chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, makes a fact-finding visit to Lutheran Germany while ...
The King makes himself head of the Church of England while the Catholic Church fights a losing battle to control Henry VIII’s desire for an annulment. Anne Boleyn demands that Henry break off contact with Katherine, so ...
Cardinal Wolsey is down but not yet out. Although exiled, he tries to gather last-minute support from his old enemy, Queen Katherine. She hesitantly agrees to his plan, as she finds herself in a situation similar to that of ...
Cardinal Wolsey’s fall is quick and pitiless. Stripped of office and authority, he is banished from the court and sent far from his much-beloved King. His unlikely successor is Sir Thomas More, a man unlike the ...
A papal envoy has come to discuss the annulment of the King’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon, as requested by the King. The outcome of these discussions will determine Cardinal Wolsey’s future career as well as ...
England’s population is suffering, both from a lack of food and from a lethal plague called ‘The Sweats’. As a result, King Henry feels depressed and not his usual, confident self. He starts having doubts ...
As King Henry gains in confidence, his displeasure with the way the Catholic church handles his request for an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon grows. As a result, Cardinal Wolsey’s position is ...
Henry is shocked when he learns that his ally, Emperor Charles V of Spain, has released France’s King Francis I from prison. He’s equally surprised when Anne Boleyn turns him down after offering to make her his ...
As a reward for his denunciation of Martin Luther, the Pope christens Henry “Defender of the Faith,” but a brush with death causes the king to seek a solution to his lack of an heir. Princess Margaret marries the decrepit ...
A visit from Charles V forces Henry to conceal his growing disaffection from Queen Katherine, who is the influential Spanish monarch’s aunt – even as Henry comes face-to-face with the seductive Anne Boleyn for the ...
Henry contemplates an alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain despite his « Field of Cloth of Gold » ceremony celebrating allegiance to France, and executes a rival; Elizabeth gives birth to the king’s ...
Henry prepares for war with France but receives cautious counsel from the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, who urges a treaty; the king learns that his queen’s lady-in-waiting Elizabeth Blount is pregnant with his child.